Sunday, March 20, 2016

Mystery Comics Digest Number 5: Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery

First off I have to say that I have some doubles of these comics. A few are in very good shape. And some aren't.
This one is in deplorable condition.
I feel embarassed to post pictures of it.
I got it sight unseen on Abebooks  (http://www.abebooks.com).
It's chewed, and had suspicious stains on the first few pages that look like the comic was involved in a murder mystery of its own.
So it's either skip this entry or give it a go, in the hope that I track down a decent copy in future.
With that in mind, here we go:
Not bad you might say?
Check out the table of contents:

If you're still with me, I'll give it a go.
This is a so so Digest, there are three good stories. The Doctor Spektor artist is featured three times, and  these are; "Midnight Mysteries - The Boy and the Beast", a werewolf tale with a happy ending; "A Macabre Mystery - The Eternal Prince", another Egyptology story; and the first Doctor Spektor appearance in these Digests, "The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor - Of Inhuman Bondage", about vampire siamese twins. The best of the lot is "Boy and the Beast".
The other good stories are "Thriller - The Island" - in which a mousy bank employee makes off with the cash to an island paradise, and "Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery - The Man who Stole Immortality", a good story about a man who uses the magic of Merlin to become immortal, for a dark price.
There are two text stories, "Diary of a Demon", which runs for 21 pages, and a short story "The Phantom Rescue" all of three pages.
The cover art refers to a story about a typecast actor who gives a final performance in "Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery - Phantom of the Films".
There is also a cross over with Ripley's Believe it or Not! in a single page story called "The Dream". Later in a Ripley's Digest it expands on the story of a girl who dreams her lover is still alive after the First World War. Her determination drives her to find him trapped in the cellar of a ruined castle.
So there it is, an average Digest compared to later titles.

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