Eerie Bones

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:

"Eerie Bones" from Tales from the Tomb magazine #2, April 1970
(Click on images to enlarge)

The dialog may be simple, but the underlying meaning is full of layered subtexts.

As covers go, this particular issue of TFTT was pretty tame compared to some of the others, which were literally dripping with grue and violence. I had come into the world of the graphic gore and horror of these mags around 1972 and they blew my little mind. I suspect they blew my mother's mind also because my issue disappeared shortly after I bought it. I didn't start getting them again until years later when I was able to pick up some back issues in comic shops, like this one.

"A woman's place is in the tomb," explains the husband vampire.

Here's a skeletally-oriented story that is fun, and illustrates the level of art and writing that was standard for these mags. Nothing truly spectacular, or deep, but good enough to send chills down the spine of the pre-teen audience that would buy it. The forbidden-fruit attraction made them especially exciting and were ones that you never let your parents find if you could help it.

So summon forth the inner kid again and let him enjoy this while your adult self takes a break.

So it's Snake 1, Skeleton 0 as the fight of the century ends. But the snake's victory was an empty one, since it's bony prey had no meat left to ingest. As for the hero's plan of burying the bones in different locations, I wouldn't count on that working for long. You just can't keep a good giant skeleton down.... especially one so eloquent. Using a combination of mime and subtle inflections, the creature was able to make a simple "Aaaarrrrgggrrrr!" communicate a plethora of emotion and loneliness.

Below are some of the later, more gruesome covers of the type that I was first introduced to. You will not find anything like this on the newstands today. Ah, the good ol' days, when a kid could take some change to the corner store and get some candy, soda and mind-searing images of death, mutilation, torture and terror. Today's coddled, over-protected kids would be traumatized. But we ate it up!

I suppose as long as the violence was monster-on-monster, it was easier to get away with. In reality is just desensitized us to the plight of the abused vampires, werewolves and ghouls.

Okay, it's safe, you can call your adult self back in now, and tell it that those cigarettes will kill them someday. And look out, your boss is headed this way.