Tales from the Tomb: Mr. Green Must Be Fed

[alicemacher]

Writer John Stanley is best known for two things: his longtime run on Little Lulu and his authorship of the Dell horror comics Tales from the Tomb (one-shot giant, 1962) and Ghost Stories #1 (Sept-Nov 1962). Some have called the latter two the scariest comic books ever published. Are they? You be the judge, over the next few posts o' mine. To start with, here's the Tales from the Tomb lead story. Art by Frank Springer. This comic is in the public domain (scans courtesy of ComicBookPlus.com).

Comments

[zapbiffpow]

I like how at no point in the story there's no explanation for that monster. Still, I can't imagine how long Mrs. Wittly can keep this up. Hell of a lot of missing persons involved here.

Also, I like the art. Reminds me of early TFTC, I think.

[donnblake]

Yeah, even with it being mostly people passing through town, who she doesn't charge, so there's no paper trail, one a night is a lot.

I imagine Mr. Grimes might be her downfall.

[crinos]

Given the kind of creep Mr. Grimes was, I seriously doubt anyone will miss the old man. He probably didn't have any family anyways.

[alicemacher]

Yeah, not only does Grimes come across as unlikeable in his own right, but one can imagine, given how manipulative Mrs. Wittly is, that she's given the "what a horrible man" speech not only to her intended passer-through victims, but to other townsfolk.

[icon_uk]

Even worse, she could blame Harry for it, that he'd said he'd tried getting a room from Mr Grimes before he came to her door, and she hadn't thought to link the argument she heard coming from there with Grimes disappearance until right now....

[icon_uk]

Demonically possessed throw-rugs were fairly common back then... IKEA has a lot to answer for, but they DID cut back on the prevalance of hand woven gateways to hell.

[q99]

It's aided by the fact that, once fed, you can examine the rug with no problem...

Though I also wonder how long this has been going on, and regardless of being able to pin it on anyone, how long before people just stay away.

[captainbellman]

I see someone at Dell was a fan of Roald Dahl and H.P. Lovecraft.

[crinos]

On the subject. I seem to recall that a few years ago someone posted a horror story from one of these old comics a bout a little girl with an adoptive family. She insists on seeing a red door that no one else can see, so she waits outside her home, and in the morning the foster family is dead. Her dialog indicates this has happened before.

Anyone remember that comic? I have searched for it to no avail.

EDIT: And wouldn't you know it? I just found it. Its actually from Ghost Stories #1.