Sometimes I am quite shocked by what my parents let me read. I would have picked this book up off the spinner racks just before my 9th birthday. I am certain that I was drawn in by the Joe Kubert cover featuring some sort of mysterious vampire robot. It turns out that it was just another 'bait and switch' Kubert cover from this era, as
Stalker on a Starless Night is really more about a standard visitor from space and some of the theological questions raised by his appearance. The story holds up very well to this day. This may have been one of my earliest exposures to Tom Sutton's artwork, and it certain stuck with me.
Two of the stories contained herein are particularly brutal and I don't think would have passed my parent's vetting process had they actually flipped through it. The final tale,
Fetched includes a particularly nasty scene in which a man clubs his wife over the head with an oar. Of course, he gets his comeuppance, but it is quite disturbing. The tale from this one that still sends a chill down my spine is
Creature Comforts, a much more gruesome tale than one would normally expect from George Kashdan. It plays out like Tod Browning's
Freaks with a terrific EC twist ending. All in all, this one is great stuff that still resonates nearly 30 years later.
Sometimes I am quite shocked by what my parents let me read. I would have picked this book up off the spinner racks just before my 9th birthday. I am certain that I was drawn in by the Joe Kubert cover featuring some sort of mysterious vampire robot. It turns out that it was just another 'bait and switch' Kubert cover from this era, as Stalker on a Starless Night is really more about a standard visitor from space and some of the theological questions raised by his appearance. The story holds up very well to this day. This may have been one of my earliest exposures to Tom Sutton's artwork, and it certain stuck with me. 
Two of the stories contained herein are particularly brutal and I don't think would have passed my parent's vetting process had they actually flipped through it. The final tale, Fetched includes a particularly nasty scene in which a man clubs his wife over the head with an oar. Of course, he gets his comeuppance, but it is quite disturbing. The tale from this one that still sends a chill down my spine is Creature Comforts, a much more gruesome tale than one would normally expect from George Kashdan. It plays out like Tod Browning's Freaks with a terrific EC twist ending. All in all, this one is great stuff that still resonates nearly 30 years later.
2 comments:
I just picked this up a couple of weeks back and am looking forward to giving it a whirl.
That was a fun story. It was only one of two or three times I got to work with Tom Sutton.
--Jack C. Harris
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