Hey, hey, hey, my Groovy Ghoulies! Ol' Groove just noticed that I've done two posts on Atlas/Seaboard's amazing, twisted, stupefying, and far-out Morlock 2001: one on the first ish here and another where I rap about the third and final issue here. I haven't, though, posted on the second, perhaps most controversial, ish (January 1975). "Morlock Must Be Destroyed!" by series creators Michael Fleisher and Al Milgrom (with Jack Abel providing inks) has to be one of the most chilling sci-fi/super-hero/horror tales ever. (Not that there were that many sci-fi/super-hero/horror mags floating around the Groovy Age, but ya dig where Ol' Groove's comin' from, right?) Morlock was such an offbeat and out-of-control anti-hero that even artist/co-creator Milgrom found our "hero" rather "unsavory". I mean, how can you (wait for it) root (yeah, that was bad) for a protagonist who kills little blind girls? Still, there is some fun to be had with this twisted tale. Added to the 1984/ Fahrenheit 451/etc. mix, dig the winks and nods to A Clockwork Orange and Boris Karoloff's Frankenstein. This terror-tale is not for the faint of heart, Groove-ophiles! Enter freely and of your own will!
Morlock rules!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. I love how this blog continually shows me books I never even knew existed but instantly dig!
ReplyDeleteWow. I've picked up several of the Atlas comics as back issues, but I never picked up any of the Morlock comics. Milgrom and Abel aren't exactly the most exciting art team, but Fleisher really tried to throw a little bit of everything into this series, didn't he?
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