(Champion Comics 005, 1940)
"Revenge of the Zombies" is a feature that ran in Champion Comics from issues 003-005 and reads kind like it was written in a free-jazz fugue state, like once the 10-12 characters were introduced by issue 003, page 2, events just proceeded on their own with no real input from the writer. A huge cast gathers at the home of Dr Karl Hartmann in Haiti for no reason that is ever given. Various people are kidnapped. Various people turn out to be other people: the novelist is a police detective; the voodoo cult leader is a gang boss; two guests are crooks but it never pays off. Several people die.
The most striking and interesting thing about the serial is the death's head moth attack in issue 004 that takes out one of the crooks... wait, maybe they were there as disposable victims? After all, who could care if a criminal dies horribly?
Champion Comics 005 saw the wrapping up of several serialized adventure stories in favour of more hero-driven fare (I have Lyle Kenton tagged as the protagonist of this story but he was simply the most proactive member of the cast - it was an ensemble jazz-fusion voodoo mystery). And since gang boss/ voodoo priest Jaques "Frenchy" Atell was already dead: enter Jules Cartier!
Cartier, the former owner of Dr Hartmann's mansion, has not been dead as everyone suspected but just been living in the basement, farming death's head moths and using hypnotic mind control to turn people into zombies.
When confronted, Cartier literally brings a knife to a gunfight, attempting to take on two armed men using only a throwing knife. It's an honourable way to go for a complete dipshit.
Cartier's plan comes out in the aftermath: discovering that he can produce high-quality silk from death's head moths and that they enjoy drinking human blood, he researches a more sustainable alternative so that he can produce at a profitable level relocates to a cave to employ mind-controlled locals as both a labour force and blood supply. It's a frankly ludicrous scheme - a cursory bit of searching indicates that Cartier is engaging in an astounding level of risk for something like thousands of dollars, which even in 1940 isn't worth it. But of course, he was an insane textiles-based super-villain... who are we to dictate his priorities?
And in the end it certainly was... a revenge of the zombies.
No comments:
Post a Comment