Originally Published In Issue 34
Reprinted In Issue 93
First published back in May of 1972, Issue 34 of the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ comic series was titled ‘The Brides Of Death’. The comic was later reprinted within Issue 93.
During the 1970s the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ was a pocket-sized mainstream horror comic which ran for a total of 137 issues between 1971 and 1977. Each month, two issues of the comic were published, amounting to a total of twenty-four issues of the comic published each year.
However, it should be noted that from issue 86 onwards, the publishers started reprinting the earlier stories. Of these reprints, the first 28 reprints (issues 86 – 113) retitled the story. As such, there were only a total of 86 different stories within the series, despite there being more titles.
Unfortunately, each issue was undated, making it difficult to be sure of the date for first publication of each issue. However, it is widely understood the comics were monthly publications, with two publications released simultaneously each month, with the original stories running from January 1971. Therefore, the above date of publication is a relatively reasonable assumption.
Additionally, each issue was unfortunately uncredited to either the writer or the comic artist(s).
Rose and Betty were enjoying a touring holiday when their car broke down miles from anywhere. Fortunately, just past the bleak moor they’d found an old inn, where they’d managed to take a room for the night, so their car could hopefully get fixed the next day.
However, there was something about the house and its isolation which unnerved the girls. When they awoke to a scream piercing the silence of the night, followed by a series of dull thumps, that was when Rose in particular knew there was something very wrong with the place.
The next morning, in the light of day, everything seemed a little less unsettling. Although the girls still found the owner of the inn, Mrs Annie Tye, to be a tad strange. However, her son, David Tye was much more normal. In fact, he and Betty hit it off almost instantly. Before long, Rose found she’d been pushed aside and almost forgotten by the two love birds.
Despite Betty and David getting along so well together, Rose was convinced there was something not right about the isolated old house and its owners. She could sense it. And it’s not long, before she finds the dark secrets are far worse than she’d ever have thought…
DLS Review:
Absolutely brilliant! This one is definitely one of the better PCLs. Essentially, we’ve got a plot that’s not too dissimilar from that of Robert Bloch’s ‘Psycho’ (1959) or Guy N Smith’s ‘Mania’ (1988) etc. However, the plot within this PCL story has its own particular avenue of horror which the insane owners have gone down, from which the comic goes to town on with wonderful effect.
Whilst most PCLs are either in the camp of being quite dated ‘Hammer Horror’ era style pieces, or if not that then wacky over-the-top B-Movie-esque stories, this tale however feels much grittier and more of a psychologically driven horror. In fact, the horror exhibited within the comic is to the point of actually being properly gripping – rather than just entertaining due to the far-fetched wackiness or cheesiness of the piece.
You’ll find there’s only a small handful of characters in the comic. Basically, the two hapless girls, along with the mother and son owners of the old inn, and finally a feeble-minded old peg-lady called Nellie who comes knocking to see if they want to buy any pegs. Now, poor old Nellie’s a fab character. She basically knows all about the goings on at the old inn, but she’s quite frankly not right in the head herself, so simply can’t grasp the gravity of what’s going on.
The ending of the comic is a classic down beaten PCL style of ending. It works incredibly well with the mounting psychological horror and is executed to near-perfection with its ice-cold delivery.
The illustrative artwork is your usual PCL style of pen and ink comic art. That said, the handful of dead bodies (yikes, was that a spoiler?!) which are seen in the comic are perhaps more grisly depictions of corpses than those that appear in most other PCLs. We’re talking corpses with eyeballs hanging out as well as a shrivelled-up breast on show. Nothing hugely grotesque, but perhaps a tad more visceral than is the norm for these comics.
So, all in all, an absolute stonker of a PCL comic. Grisly and psychologically chilling, with a properly downbeat ending.
The comic book runs for a total of 64 pages.
© DLS Reviews
