Originally Published In Issue 69
Reprinted In Issue 128
First published back in November of 1973, Issue 69 of the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ comic series was titled ‘Born To Be Evil’. The comic was later reprinted under the same title within Issue 128.
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 issue 83 and then from issue 86 onwards, the publishers started reprinting the earlier stories. Of these reprints, the first 29 reprints (issues 83 and then 86 – 113) retitled the story. As such, there were only ever a total of 84 unique 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).
Betty Wilson hadn’t liked the sound of the job from the outset. She didn’t fancy living miles away from anything else on some remote heath. Nevertheless, she’d taken the job, if anything just for the money, however the thought of a year on Bleak Marshan Heath did little to cheer her spirits.
Betty was to be the live-in nurse for the Gifford’s only child – Alaric. The boy was said to be incredibly timid and easily upset. A recluse in the Marshan Manor where the Gifford’s lived with their elderly maid, Annie.
Betty was genuinely fond of children, so thought perhaps she might be able to help the Gifford boy become less tense and nervous. However, when Betty finally meets Alaric, she realises the true horror of the situation she’s now in.
Alaric is no small child. Instead, he’s a loathsome feeble-minded brute, with blubbery lips and a stocky, muscular build. Alaric’s elderly mother was clearly insane. And Betty was now their captive. Her only chance of coming out of this alive was to humour the pair, and somehow find a way to break out of the isolated old house…
God damn is this a good one!!! This is possibly one of the most elaborate and involved of the stories to appear in a PCL comic. Honestly, it’s absolutely wild, with more twists and turns in the pulpish storyline than you can shake a rotting femur at.
Essentially, we have a mad old mother who looks after her mentally retarded son – whose appearance is a cross between Igor (Frankenstein’s hunchbacked assistant) and the Creature from the Black Lagoon! However, poor old Alaric hadn’t always been that way. The feeble-minded lad had been subjected to a Black Mass, which messed with him. Or so we’re told from Julian Damaris, the nephew of Colonel Fosters who’d performed the aforementioned dark rights at the ruins of a nearby abbey. Oh yes, the plot thickens like ancient treacle!
Hapless Betty Wilson is caught up in all this madness by becoming Alaric’s live-in nurse. Of course, she’s made prisoner in the house, with Alaric taking an instant liking to her. So much so, that he shows Betty all his toys – which are the dead remains of all of the previous nurses they’ve had at Marshan Manor!
Yeah, as I said, this one’s frigging wild! It’s also one hell of a fast-paced and tightly delivered read. Absolutely no panel in the comic is wasted. Instead, the story races along with the outlandish horror escalating at the turn of every page!
The illustrations throughout this are excellent. Each panel is crammed full of detail, others are injected with bursts of abstract movement to magnify the drama within the frame. It’s definitely one of the better artists. And they’ve done a superb job in depicting the character of Alaric too!
For the absolute lunacy of how much wild horror is crammed into this short pocket-sized comic, I’d say it’s up there with the best of the PCL issues. An insane comic book story, with the entertainment factor ramped up to eleven. The ending is also one of the grimmest and bleakest ones I’ve seen in a PCL. Quite simply brilliant pulp horror!
The comic book runs for a total of 64 pages.
© DLS Reviews
