The Dark Side - Mort Meskin Goes Gothic in this Inky Nightmare Comic

LOOK in the doorway Kirby gothic horror
An interesting change of pace in this last dream story from The Strange World of Your Dreams #1

I just learned from Ger Appledorn and Steven Brower (after mis-attributing this story to Kirby/Meskin) that Mort Meskin was the co-creator of this comic series with Jack Kirby, and that it's Mort Meskin's art that brings this story to life!

This story breaks the usual format and tells a self-contained tale without the ever-present dream analyst Richard Temple. This poor guy is left to wander his inky dreamscape alone. I love the evocative shadows and inking in this story (Steven Brower suggests that George "Inky" Roussos was the inker).

Anyway -- to me, the panel below is the creepiest drawing in the whole story...

creepy sihouette of a man in doorway

Here's the whole tale below. Pleasant dreams!
Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 01The Dreaming Tower
Click on pages to open a nightmarishly BIG comic scan
Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 02 Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 03
Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 04 Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 05
Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 06 Gothic nightmare Jack Kirby 07
Many more nightmares to come! See you soon...

5 comments:

  1. Eerie!

    I agree with you that Meskin had a hand in this one.

    Good stuff here.

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  2. Hi Chuck -- the thing I like most about Mort Meskin is the fast and loose dynamic inking over solidly constructed drawings.

    There's an unbelievable splash page by Meskin coming up in a story from issue #3 of the Strange World of Your Dreams called the Edge of Madness. It's about three Kirby posts away, but it'll be worth the wait!

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  3. Sherm,

    This one probably is pure Meskin. No Kirby involved. Meskin was credited as the guy who thought up this title (as a result of his own time with a psychiatrist). I don't know if Simon and Kirby sat in on the story conferences, which they did on some of thei other titles.

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  4. Sherm,

    Didn't see the additional note the first time. If I have to believe Harry Mendrick (who runs the Simon and Kirby blog and is a great art spotter) this story probably isn't inked by Roussos. Meskin and Roussos worked together a lot and learned each other's tricks, so it can be hard to spot who did what. But if I take som eof Roussos' solo work a a measuring stick I'd say he was not involved here.

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  5. Thanks, Ger...I always know I can count on eagle-eyed golden age comics fans like you and Steven Brower to set me straight (I can use all the help I can get)!

    I appreciate it, and I've corrected the post. Thanks!

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