Mr. Dedd

Hallowe’en Countdown VII, Day 31

gasp651 Comment

« … but the rain is full of ghosts tonight » — Edna St. Vincent Millay*

Well, I made it through another countdown. Thanks for your interest and support!

In the proper spirit of the thing, I’ve indulged and reserved my very favourite Hallowe’en treat for last, and that’s a Joe Gill–Steve Ditko chiller — for the second consecutive year!

I’ve always adored this one for its adroit juggling of hushed atmosphere and giggles, its casually dropped hints and layered subtlety. Ditko really had no peer when it came to insinuating his narrator into the visual tapestry. In this case, his first and finest host, Mr. L. Dedd (or I. M. Dedd, depending on the source). Ditko is clearly having a ball.

Unless I’m mistaken, Steve Ditko always inked himself (and sometimes gloriously inked Kirby) until 1964, when George Roussos as ‘George Bell‘ (seemingly using the wrong end of the brush, sorry) inked Ditko’s pencils on a trio of early Doctor Strange episodes (Strange Tales nos. 123-125, if you must know).

Even while working at Marvel, Ditko (wisely) kept working for Charlton. At his busiest, he was assigned an inker on a revival of Captain Atom, Rocco ‘Rocke’ Mastroserio, and the combination bore splendid fruit. Ditko was one of those cartoonists who laid down the basics in the pencils, then had most of his fun in fleshing them out in ink. Finishing Ditko’s layouts wasn’t a task just any Joe could handle, as the ensuing years would bear out.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

This is Ghostly Tales no. 60 (March 1967, Charlton), cover art by Rocco Mastroserio; edited by Pat Masulli.

And so we’re done, countdown-wise, for another year. If that’s not quite sufficient to slake your loathsome lust, promenade yourself through our bloated-by-now archives, at this point two hundred and seventeen posts strong :

Hallowe’en Countdown VII

Hallowe’en Countdown VI

Hallowe’en Countdown V

Hallowe’en Countdown IV

Hallowe’en Countdown III

Hallowe’en Countdown II

Hallowe’en Countdown I

Wishing you all a hair-raising Hallowe’en — thanks for all the creepy loitering!

-RG

*did I imagine that someone (David Mamet?) once said that her name sounded like ‘a bowling ball tumbling down the stairs’? It may have been meant as a compliment.

Hallowe’en Countdown V, Day 29

gasp65Leave a comment

« It don’t matter if I get a little tired
I’ll sleep when I’m dead. » — Warren Zevon (1976)

Master stylist Rudy Palais (1912-2004) began his comics career in 1939 with the legendary Harry “A” Chesler shop, where passed such luminaries as Jack and Otto Binder, Mort Meskin, Jack Cole, Charles Biro, Mac Raboy, George Tuska, Edd Ashe…

While he worked for just about every New York comics publisher under the sun (and certainly some under a rock), let’s note that he displayed and gleefully indulged his flair for the macabre at Harvey in the 1950s, and his versatility while Illustrating the Classics for Gilberton, tackling for instance Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, Cooper’s The Prairie and Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Palais kept a low profile during most of the Sixties, but turned up at Gold Key and Charlton around 1967. For the latter, he crafted his final work in comics. Between 1967 and 1974, he sporadically turned his hand to a handful of short tales in the western, war and mystery genres. As far as I can tell, his comics œuvre respectably concludes with the quite amusing Cry for Tomorrow, in Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves no. 46 and The Last Cruise of the Princess III in Ghostly Haunts no. 39 (both July 1974, Charlton), the latter also featuring some of Mike Vosburg‘s earliest pro work. As one door closes…

Beyond the Grave appeared in Ghostly Tales no. 61 (June 1967, Charlton). Script by Joe Gill, art by Rudy Palais. Mark Evanier called Palais’ Charlton work “very odd, impressionistic short stories“, and concludes, on a personal note: “I never met the man but I followed his work and you could tell that he really cared about doing good comic art.” I’m most inclined to agree.

If you enjoyed this one, here’s another Palais short from Ghostly Tales, from our third Hallowe’en Countdown.

-RG