A new month of macabre posts now begins, and we pick up where we left off back in June-- with more bloody 'n brutal Bentley of Scotland Yard cases directly from the crumbly 'ol crypt of crime! And this is a great 1942 double feature via Pep Comics #29 and #31 featuring some creepy cop crucifixion, -PLUS- a truly horrific church steeple impaling! Oooo that's gotta hurt! Can you solve both mysteries before Bentley himself reveals the terrifyin' truths? See for yourself! And each story features some of my absolute favorite Paul Reinman art ever, especially both of those jaw-dropping splash pages!
4 comments:
I really like the gimmick here -- a catchy gory splash panel, character introduction and clues, then the "guess before you turn the page."
Again, the artist isn't the best a human figures but really goes all out; the splashes, the ringing bells, the subway fight, all really well done in showing action and movement.
So the first one is a bit unfair, we don't see what is on the note (why is it there in the first place) and certainly don't know people's watches. That said, I guessed Anne anyway, I am a master detective!
Did not get the second one, and I'm going to blame the colorist! I didn't see the flags clearly and didn't realize they were marking the murders (even though the caption says so, as a master detective, I'm kind of dumb) as it's all one gray color. So I guessed he was swimming the river, I am no longer a master detective! So that one was a pretty good clue, actually, and pretty fair.
These were a great pair of whodunnit tales.
I had expected the killer in the first tale to be a spy and would ring the bells to guide the Luftwaffe to their target.
In the second tale, the artist drew a police phone on a wall. He didn't know that in Great Britain their were special phone booths for reserved for police use.
Had this story been drawn today, the Bobby would have entered a blue phone booth and found a certain doctor inside instead of a phone.
These crime tales can be as gory as any monster tale from the 50's and earlier. Thanks for the whodunnit posts.
I have to admit, I am still a little skeptical about this "retractable church steeple" thing. If such a thing does exist, it would have to retract into a space in the tower above the bells, which are hung on beams that cross the belfry over the open arches that let the sound out. Retracting it to below the bells would be impossible. Honestly, I'm not to sure where the works of that clock fit into this scheme, either. But no matter.
Because I'm just as skeptical a conniving couple of bigamists would be so careless with proof of their conspiracy--both motive and evidence neatly fit onto one page, folded-up and rammed into a trouser pocket on the way to the scene of the crime. Tsk tsk.
But what I spent most of the story wondering was exactly how they got that body off the spire in the first place. Clever dodge by Reinman here: They go up the ladder empty handed and then come back down it with the body. But without a saw--or a much longer ladder--I don't think they'd be able to... erm... actually pull that off. And I guess nobody but the villainous wife and butler know about the trick steeple? Because this would have been the perfect time for the priestly sexton to bring that little detail up.
Excellent art by Paul Reinman again today. The church splash on the first story strikes me as very difficult to draw. The action sequence on page four is also very nice--bold and weighty, very dynamic. The second story is probably even better on a panel-by-panel basis (I love the image in that fourth frame of the last page). But I don't get why a psycho who hides in sewer system to get the drop on his victims, shooting (and crucifying) them via manhole, would not then use those same hidden sewers to escape. This guy stayed undercover only until there was a good reason to hide, then he came out and ran down the street, smoking gun in hand. Tsk tsk.
I feel like these do a pretty good job in aping the poverty row mystery films of the era, with slightly confusing plots, out of the blue red herrings, and all of the other wonderfully wonky things that make those movies so much fun in the first place. There's more Bentley on the way too-- so stay tombed, and as always, thank you for the great comments!
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