« Swing your razor wide! Sweeney, hold it to the skies! » — Stephen Sondheim
Variations on a theme: The entirely reasonable dread of the straight razor.
First there was this Lee Elias cover that…
Actually, no. Before that, there arose the idea in art director Warren Kremer‘s ever-effervescent mind:
Then, one year on…
More than two decades down the road, Marvel, since they were already borrowing Harvey’s Chamber of Chills title (did they even ask? I wonder), figured they may as well reenact one of its classic covers.
Say, what’s this about the day’s first shave? … is there shaving after death? Hassles, hassles.
Though most would nowadays call upon electric shavers or disposable plastic razors, I presume that straight razors have made a comeback among the hipster set. Still, a niche is hardly universal.
As a bonus, here’s one on the general topic by the immortal Chas Addams. It appeared in The New Yorker in 1957, then was reprinted later that year in his solo collection Nightcrawlers (Simon and Schuster). For more of that excellently-morbid Addams mirth, amble over to this earlier spotlight from our Hallowe’en Countdown’s initial edition.
-RG
Who's Out There? 
That comicbook cover by Lee Elias is a terrific thing of beauty if I may say so…
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I get a “Jack Davis” vibe from that “The Unseen” comic. This is my first encounter with Mike Roy’s art so I checked out more of his work online and was a little surprised as he seemed to lean more towards the Milton Caniff School of Art.
A strong craftman whatever his influences, thank you for the discovery.
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Lee Elias’ original art for “Chamber of Chills #18” sold for $9.000.00 on Heritage.com.
Now, I feel so jealous…
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Hey, at least it survived through all those ensuing decades and, thanks to Heritage’s quality scan, we can admire Elias’ brushwork to our heart’s delight… without having to shell out several thousand clams!
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Sure, I’m still drooling in front of the scan but I’m feeling jealous anyway 😉
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