As both a comic reader and a (secret) horror fan, nothing pleased me more than to read the comic, Tales From the Crypt--a collection of scary stories meant to delight, disgust, and terrify! And I simply loved it.
The basic structure is as follows--our frightening and disfigured narrator promises to tell us the most bone-chilling story, before revealing it to us in dramatic fashion. In this case, the first story is "The Maestro's Hand"--a story guaranteed to scare the reader.
And terrifying it is--the comic's style was typical for comics in the 1950's. It used fairly realistic drawings, while utilizing flat color and blacks for the shadows. After all, printing in color is not cheap, and the style lends itself to not only being noir-esque, but also very efficient. Also, the style helps to evoke a sense of dread in the readers through its use of exaggeration for the beasts and creatures, while retaining the human quality in the heroes.
Out of the stories, I'd say that "Maestro's Hand" was my favorite. Rather than be a story mainly told in present time, the story is told through the past events of a man named Dr. Hollman. The doctor is a vengeful and regretting man--this is told to us by our wonderful narrator, and it just so happens that the character agrees. In fact, there are a few moments when the narrator foreshadows the miseries the main character will endure down the line. In particular, the narrator mentions how Hollman's demise will occur due to a maestro falling in love with his woman. Powerless to his own story, Hollman must go along with what is planned.
Tales from the crypt is an interesting take on horror comics. Not only does the narrator control the story, but the way the stories are drawn and written are entertaining without being too gruesome. Makes me wish I had an original copy of one of these...
dear doda
ReplyDeletei found you analysis on the style of Tales from the Crypt very enlightening. thank you for teaching me how flat color and black lended to the form and function of printing this comic. you are a genius
What always interests me about iconic styles and traits very often root from places we never would have guessed. It wouldn't pass the mind of any average reader, but certain variables like production cost, methods, and tools all have a heavy influence on how a comic is approached. Like you mentioned in Tales of the Crypt, that bone-chilling, heavily inked look seems more logically to have come from the expenses of color printing rather than anything. While it still is appropriate to the genre and mood, it's funny to learn that it might not have been such a simple style choice.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Tales from the crypt is an interesting take on horror comics. i watched the tv show before i ever knew there were comics so i came to them in a different way. in both the narrator normally known as the crypt keeper i think at least in the show if i remember correctly, foreshadows the misery of demise of the main characters. They style of it is very 1950s and i think that lends itself to the creepy-ness of the story, the color mixed with heavy black shading; its very effective in the approach like you said. if youre interested in more stories like tales from the crypt, creepshow is also i believed made by the same company. it was a comic and also had live action shows like tales from the crypt. the video i watched also had an animated beginning segment that may or may not interest you as an animator i cant remember how good it is but if youre interested in horror and tales from the crypt it might be fun to look at creepshow.
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