Web of Evil
Entry updated 25 November 2024. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1952-1954). Quality Comics. 21 issues. Artists include Jack Cole, Leo Morey, Charles Nicholas and Louis Ravielli. Script writers include Jack Cole. 36 pages per issue, usually comprising four long strips and a short text story. #1 and #2 subtitled "weird adventures into the supernatural", subsequent issues "spine tingling tales of mystery and suspense".
Web of Evil was a noteworthy Horror comic, nicely illustrated with a high rate of good or better stories. Its range was narrower than many contemporary Horror comics: witches, werewolves and vampires are rare or absent, whilst the marked fondness for storylines involving the dead seeking vengeance can be a little repetitive. Nonetheless it is a consistent and entertaining read, if ghoulish at times; doubtless the early-1950s moral panic over horror comics (see Fredric Wertham) played some part in its rapid demise. Like many such comics it seemed to respond to the criticism by increasing its sf elements.
#1's opening tale "Ghosts of Doom" has the chanting ghosts (see Supernatural Creatures) of dead slaves haunting the Everglades: in a nearby mansion Melissa Harraby, last-but-one descendant of the brutal family that owned them, dies: her corpse (see Zombies) leaves her deathbed and joins the ghosts and their giant crocodile – which is bipedal – in the swamp. She promises them the revenge they have chanted for, and sure enough the last of the Harrabys arrives to claim his inheritance: unlike Melissa he is as vile as the Harrabys of old. After his gang is picked off one by one, he is eaten by the crocodile. "Custodian of the Dead" concerns an undertaker who robs graves but is angered by the rats that steal the corpses, and owes a debt to Henry Kuttner's "The Graveyard Rats" (March 1936 Weird Tales). The carnival freaks in "The Phantom Freaks" seems to be genuine animal/human hybrids: they are killed by the carnival owner when he discovers they call him "pig-face"; their ghosts take their revenge by transforming him into a humanoid pig. #2's tales all involve the dead punishing those responsible for their misfortune. The vengeful dead in the first three are a crusading politician, a pirate and a theatrical make-up artist; in the fourth a man hires a translator to work on a sorcerer's book (see Magic) written 4,000 years ago in Sanskrit, specifically a spell "for returning the dead to their graves". This is because there is something slithering in the hallway of his decrepit mansion – who turns out to be his brother, whom he killed the previous week: the translator does not complete his task in time to save the murderer from his sibling's revenge.
All #3's stories have people pretending to be Monsters or supernatural creatures. They include "The Killer from Saturn", where a town suffers the depredations of a serial killer: witnesses reporting an eight foot tall Alien, but a homicide detective (see Crime and Punishment) discovers it is the disguise of a meek civil servant taking revenge on those who intimidated him. "The Beast from Beyond" has a monster terrorizing a wilderness territory used by hunters; this turns out to be mobsters scaring off visitors whilst they searched for buried loot. "Goddess of Death" has an American collector murdering priests and stealing a statue of the Goddess Kali from a temple: he takes it home, to discover it is a worshipper skilled at yoga who decided to impersonate a statue; they demand the collector brings victims for him to kill. The monsters and supernatural creatures in #4 are real, including a Scientist discovering a giant fish-eating sea serpent; not wishing the serpent to leave the coast, he feeds it sheep – however, the taste for mammalian flesh now acquired is not limited to lamb or mutton. "Satan's Spectacles" has the devil (see Gods and Demons) tempting an optometrist by providing him with a prescription for glasses that gives them the ability to read minds and see through walls: he duly falls into sin.
In #5, "The Man Who Died Twice" is executed for a murder he did not commit, but then awakens: his fiancée informs him she hired a scientist to bring him back to life, but their device was only partially successful – only whilst the machine stays on will he remain alive. In return for this he must kill the judge, executioner and doctor who pronounced him dead; going for them in the wrong order he learns his fiancée and the (bogus) scientist are lovers who faked his death to get him to commit crimes. In #6, when an archaeologist discovering the descendants of ancient Phoenicians (see Lost Races) still worship Moloch on a volcanic island, he offers his niece and her fiancée as sacrifices hoping to obtain some of the Religion's treasure: then the volcano erupts. In "The Man Who Saw Doom" a police agent arrests a fortune teller for fraud, so the "Hindu mystic" hands him a ring where the wearer sees those who will shortly die as having featureless faces. In #7's "The Man Who Cheated Death", the Scientist employed by a rich man to research cell-decay in the hope of discovering Immortality, succeeds: despite the scientist's warnings, the millionaire drinks the liquid. When an accident leaves him blind and limbless, he regrets not being able to die. #8's "Creature of Doom" has a nuclear scientist (see Nuclear Energy) shot on a testing ground by a foreign spy (see Cold War); when the atomic bomb explodes he becomes a ghost and can possess his own corpse, enabling him to gain revenge.
"The Subterranean Beast" in #9 is an enormous ape found in a cave by a mining engineer: apparently "trapped in the walls of lava rock" since prehistoric times it is somehow still alive. When he shows it to his girlfriend it escapes, but fortunately the ape falls in love with her. The locals want it imprisoned; as this will prevent him exploiting it he furiously uses a photograph of his girlfriend to cause the ape to rampage through the village. When his girlfriend remonstrates he hits her, angering the ape who grabs him and takes him deep into the caves; neither is ever seen again. "The Monster in Flesh" is an ugly man whose treatment by society leads him to violence: a sympathetic plastic surgeon moulds his face with handsome features, but his personality has already been permanently warped and his crimes lead to the electric chair. The surgeon observes it is society's responsibility to change the way they treat such afflicted people. #10's "The Cavern of the Damned" has three-eyed Aliens who have been infiltrating society for the past century: though hidden from direct sight by a spray, mirrors still show the third eye. A man discovers their secret, but also that they have reached positions of authority. "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is that of an executed criminal genius, stolen by a scientist who wants to study it. Discovering it is still alive and communicating with thought waves (see Telepathy), he uses his equipment to sustain it in a bell jar (see Brain in a Box). However, the brain wants revenge on those responsible for his death and the scientist is manipulated into committing murder: captured, they both think the brain's testimony will get him off – but it turns out only the scientist can hear him: he is declared insane and the living brain thrown into an incinerator. "The Monster They Couldn't Kill" in #11 is Dr Fry, a scientist whose Invention enables him to feed on atomic energy – he has doubled in size and continues to grow with each treatment – seems to have lost his reason and is indestructible. A Computer named Maniac is fed data in the hope it will find a cure, but instead reports Fry will soon grow larger than the Earth; but the authorities know if they stop feeding him he will go on a destructive rage. Fortunately he escapes and overfeeds himself on a nuclear power station, turning to dust. #12's "The Walking Dead" has a circus owner capturing King Zog, the Zombie giant of Zaku – an island near Haiti – to put on display; however, his zombie subjects go to America and rescue him (while the police assume they are part of the act), also taking the circus owner, who is turned into a zombie. In "The Shrunken Heads of Dr. Death", Marie Fleming and her fiancee arrive in the jungles of Brazil searching for her missing brother Frank; they find Dr Death and his pet chimpanzee Bola, the latter grieving for his dead mate Lola. The couple investigate, finding the Doctor is creating shrunken heads – mainly human (including Frank's) but also – hidden away – that of a chimp. Discovered by the doctor, Bola kills the fiancée; but Marie is quick witted and realizes who the hidden head belonged to, revealing it to Bola, who kills the doctor – his excuse that Lola was killed for science carries little weight with the mourning ape. Marie takes Frank's head home with her in a box.
In #13's "Prehistoric Beast", a prehistoric man (see Origin of Man) frozen in ice is found to be in Suspended Animation, so the museum curator that discovered him transfuses some of his blood to revive him, but then finds he now feels any pain the other feels. #14 and #15 are dominated by supernatural horror, including King Tut's demon coat (see Ancient Egypt in SF). #16's "The Hamlet of Horror" has an attractive couple lost in the deep south discovering a village with deformed inhabitants who consider the couple hideous – so capture them and bring them to a surgeon who promises he can rectify their ugliness. #17's "Return of the Dead" has The Great Zendali, magician and escape artist, promising he will return three months after his death. Meanwhile, a scientist attaches "radium activated electrodes" to a 12-hour-old corpse's skull to rejuvenate the dying brain cells, which enables him to communicate – but as the brain's replies are produced on a print-out, there are accusations of fraud. He responds by stealing the body of the recently passed Great Zendali, his device enabling him to learn and perform their most celebrated acts – which had baffled his peers – then sell the secrets to the highest bidder: unfortunately for him and the buyers, Zendali keeps his promise. In "The Fiend Who Lived Forever" the results of a scientist's human experimentation turns him into "a man who cannot die", but his body is still damaged by any physical injury he receives.
In #19 "The Half-Creatures of the Sargasso Sea" are "aquatic mammals that appear to be half man and half fish", the descendants of mariners wrecked in that sea centuries ago who live in "Sargasso City", formed from the derelict ships that have foundered there. "The Fiend from Outer Space" is actually a would-be astronaut in a rocket simulator that goes out of control, subjecting him to 15g's (see Gravity) that temporarily forces him into another Dimension where one of the brutish inhabitants takes possession of his body (see Identity Transfer), and returns to our dimension. It wants to take over the world – how is not explained – but is foiled. #20's "Katumba – The Man-Made Terror" has two men building a gigantic mechanical apeman, then faking its discovery on the island of Martinique – the intention being to then put it on display in America. The story twice misleads the reader into believing it has somehow come to life; in fact it is controlled by someone inside and can be considered a Mecha. One man is double-crossing the other, who then gets his revenge. "The Monster from the Deep" has atomic tests in the Pacific opening an underwater fissure and a Dinosaur-like creature crawling out. "Make-Up for Horror" has a make-up artist creating monsters by kidnapping actors and using a chemical that allows him to mould and shape their skin.
"The Man Who Lived Forever" in #21 has three prospectors parachuting onto a Canadian plateau, to discover a small dinosaur and a man who has lived for centuries – the result of a green herb he eats. Assuming the herb is worth a fortune the trio fight among themselves; the survivor leaves the plateau, only to quickly die of old age, a side effect of the herb when away from high altitude. "One Night of Terror" is set in a midwestern desert where a town has sprung up due to rumours of gold. A Spaceship lands nearby: it contains Robots from an alien civilization who have "travelled ten thousand light years – to study you of Earth – your language has been studied by radio waves"; they have been ordered to bring back live samples, so abduct the town's population, save for one who hides. Later, his tale is disbelieved, everyone assuming the town is deserted because the gold rush fizzled out. [SP]
further reading
- Web of Evil – Volume 1 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2015) [graph: collects issues #1-#7: in the publisher's Pre-code Classics series: illus/various: hb/Chuck Cuidera and others]
- Web of Evil – Volume 2 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2015) [graph: collects issues #8-#14: in the publisher's Pre-code Classics series: illus/various: hb/Chuck Cuidera and others]
- Web of Evil – Volume 3 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2015) [graph: collects issues #15-#21: in the publisher's Pre-code Classics series: illus/various: hb/Chuck Cuidera and others]
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