Friday, July 4, 2008

Weekly Dose Of Weird!

Now here's a dilemma -- look behind or look in front?  This is a new twist!  HAUNTED #67
Haunted #67 -- "Baron Weirwulf" is a great Scary Host name, although I don't know if anything will ever top the horror that is Doctor Frightmarestein.

I. "Strangler On The Loose" -- Detective Joe Smith is tired of his wife's constant nagging, so when an insane strangler escapes from the mental hospital, he sees the perfect opportunity to kill her and get away with it. He frames Strangler Sam down to the smallest detail -- expect for the fact that Sam was captured by the cops an hour before Joe called the crime in.

II. "Death Scene" -- In 1893 London, Modern Wax Museum proprietor Rudolf Klieb specializes in perfectly recreating infamous crime scenes twenty-four hours after they occur, which draws the suspicion of Det-Sgt Harkley of Scotland Yard. When the Sgt-Det finds Klieb sculpting a scene before the crime occurs, Klieb tries to kill him using a post-hypnotic suggestion. Surviving the attempt on his life, Harkley confronts Klieb again, only to find a wax scene of his own murder! Harkley is faster on the draw than Klieb, though, and shoots him dead... and the wax figures suddenly change to reflect the new endgame.

III. "Welcome Home, Darling!" -- Ephraim Meeks and his new wife Melissa return to her home -- the site where she murdered her first husband, Lionel. Lionel is not too happy about this, and returns to haunt Melissa -- who is, of course, a witch! Able to disguise her form in her feline familiar, Melissa tries to murder Ephraim as well, until Lionel's ghost suggests that he buy a dog. A viscious, snarling, attack dog. Needless to say Melissa's spell is soon broken.

Overall Weird Factor: 2.5 (out of 5).

Despite having the Baron on the cover, all of the tales are hosted by Dr. Graves; sensible enough, as all of the stories are reprints fron various issues of The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves. Perfectly enjoyably average mystery comic, with the final segment having the best art (Tom Sutton) and story (Joe Gill). Of note is that this comic also contains not one, not two, but three seperate advertisements to learn mind control. Appropriately, there is also an ad on how to avoid being mind controlled.

No comments: