Tales from the Tomb: Crazy Quilt

[alicemacher]

A shorter Tales from the Tomb story. Script by John Stanley, art by Tony Tallarico.














Okay, so this one's not particularly scary in its execution, and the ending is predictable. I like it, though, for the unique premise (I'm pretty sure there aren't too many horror stories involving people being quilted), for Grandma's old-timey nurse outfit, and most of all for poor Miss Birkley's over-the-top melodramatic writhing. Hee hee hee.

More, and creepier, John Stanley tales to come. Stay tuned!

(P.S.: Mr. Quilt looks more like a Mr. Pineapple, wouldn't you say?)

Comments

[zapbiffpow]

How did Miss Brinkley not catch on to this? She should have been tipped off by the delicious aroma of a man made entirely out of McNuggets.

Also, I remember the Simpsons doing something like this too...interesting to know there was a precedent to that. Thanks for posting these!

[drtechnobabel]

Also, the fact that the 'psychiatrist' has the exact same voice as the guy she was talking to should have been a pretty big giveaway.

[zapbiffpow]

For sure, for sure! Oh, these vintage horror comic victims...

[junipepper]

I thought they looked like butterscotch brownies.

[drtechnobabel]

Have to admit, on seeing the title of this story, my immediate reaction was 'the Batman villain? Is this supposed to be his original origin story or something?'

[zapbiffpow]

Same here! I wish DC'd do something like that for Halloween - creepy (not necessarily gory) stories from the New 52, or something.

[icon_uk]

Well, CQ is really a Robin villain, who tolerates Batman when he shows up.

[lonewolf23k]

I think the fact she was under a sedative might've been why she never noticed the truth, even before passing out.

[indyreloadx]

Didn't the Simpsons parody this in their Treehouse of Horror Comic specials?

[crinos]

I don't see what she's so upset about. Who wouldn't want a Significant other made out of a quilt? He's soft, warm, extremely helpful around the house (He picks up stains and can help dry you off when you get out of the shower), and he's probably machine washable.

Of course, the implicaiton at the end is that the Grandmother is going to turn her into a Quilt woman, but there are worse things you can be made into. Remember the red string guy from that one Junji Ito story?

Also, apparently this Quilt guy is a licensed psychiatrist. So me made his way through college, got his license to practice, bought an office, and even paid to get his grandmother nurse training, and nobody seemed to mind or notice that he was made of quilt.

[zapbiffpow]

"...He made his way through college, got his license to practice, bought an office, and even paid to get his grandmother nurse training..."

Oh, my God! Maybe quilting is normal in this universe, and Miss Brinkley really was in need of psychiatric help.

I like this optimistically hilarious interpretation.

[crinos]

Yeah, and she's not going to get her skin quilted, she's just going to get wrapped up in a big quilt made on the spot as part of some aversion therapy.

[writeofway]

"Did you get the Serta?"
"No, all they had left was the Sealy."
"Dammit, Grandma! I specficially asked for Serta!"
"What's the difference? Be grateful I didn't get sleep number!"
"You're right. *shivers* controlling a woman by control pad. What kind of sicko does that? Anyway, we should get started or else she'll wake up before we're done."

[wizardru]

Is it me, or is this whole sequence kind of weirdly sexual? Change some dialogue and Miss Birkley is experiencing having a very different. I feel like this was intentionally done to evoke that visual, then pretend it wasn't.

[doctor_spanky]

Wow that really recontextualizes the grandma's entrance at the end

[junipepper]

Okay, ew.

[althechi]

Here I thought the idea would be that he'd been "quilted" together from bits and pieces of people, kind of evoking this sort of visual. That would've been right creepy, and definitely in the bounds of horror comics of the day.

[icon_uk]

Agreed, I was expecting a cross between Ozama Tezuka's "Black Jack" and Frankenstein's Monster.

The actual reveal was more... "Did the artist not understand the writer's instruction and just take it terribly literally?