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Chamber of Chills 19 club of Misfits
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Started by jjfversion1,

60 posts in this topic

N e r V

N e r V

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here's the page the story was from.

 

fcd16a106795c6b75e20c80da31686e13fb57b41.jpeg

 

This girl from a later story probably looks more the part of the girl on the cover.

 

a841621c6993cdb85587f81d635c1dd0e4c32a5f.jpeg

 

 

When I first saw this cover many years ago my first impression was the girl was turning into the skull face (maybe a reflection of her evil or whatever). Later after taking a closer look I realized it was a reflection of the guy looking at her. You can easily pick up on that by just looking at his hand. I still like to think the artist was being extra clever though and the skull face is actually that, a reflection of her evil and not his own face reflected.

 

Still I like this cover for the play it gives me at first glance that somehow the beautiful girl is turning skull ugly although that's not really the case. I thinks it's this beauty/death combo that gets the attention.

Edited by N e r V
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Point Five

Point Five

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Posted
When I first saw this cover many years ago my first impression was the girl was turning into the skull face (maybe a reflection of her evil or whatever). Later after taking a closer look I realized it was a reflection of the guy looking at her. You can easily pick up on that by just looking at his hand. I still like to think the artist was being extra clever though and the skull face is actually that, a reflection of her evil and not his own face reflected.

 

Still I like this cover for the play it gives me at first glance that somehow the beautiful girl is turning skull ugly although that's not really the case. I thinks it's this beauty/death combo that gets the attention.

One of the things I truly love about this cover is that there's not just one possible interpretation of the cover's meaning. You can bounce between all the interpretations you suggested, and there's room for still more. Most of the Harvey horror covers are very literal and over-the-top, and I wish more of them were done with this degree of subtlety.

 

To my way of thinking, either we're seeing the woman's inner self through the glass as you suggest, or else the glass holds poison intended for the woman and we're getting a glimpse of the eventual result. (She doesn't see fazed about her table companion being a green skeleton himself, so I don't place too much stock in that.) I also see some commentary about the superficiality of ANY kind of beauty, though perhaps that's not what was intended to begin with.

 

As an aside, in the prelims you posted, I note that the editor refers to the cover as "skull thru glass". Which doesn't necessarily negate your interpretation of a reflection in the glass, but an interesting data point that the editor (whoever it was) saw the skull as something revealed rather than reflected.

 

 

 

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october

october

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Posted
When I first saw this cover many years ago my first impression was the girl was turning into the skull face (maybe a reflection of her evil or whatever). Later after taking a closer look I realized it was a reflection of the guy looking at her. You can easily pick up on that by just looking at his hand. I still like to think the artist was being extra clever though and the skull face is actually that, a reflection of her evil and not his own face reflected.

 

Still I like this cover for the play it gives me at first glance that somehow the beautiful girl is turning skull ugly although that's not really the case. I thinks it's this beauty/death combo that gets the attention.

One of the things I truly love about this cover is that there's not just one possible interpretation of the cover's meaning. You can bounce between all the interpretations you suggested, and there's room for still more. Most of the Harvey horror covers are very literal and over-the-top, and I wish more of them were done with this degree of subtlety.

 

To my way of thinking, either we're seeing the woman's inner self through the glass as you suggest, or else the glass holds poison intended for the woman and we're getting a glimpse of the eventual result. (She doesn't see fazed about her table companion being a green skeleton himself, so I don't place too much stock in that.) I also see some commentary about the superficiality of ANY kind of beauty, though perhaps that's not what was intended to begin with.

 

As an aside, in the prelims you posted, I note that the editor refers to the cover as "skull thru glass". Which doesn't necessarily negate your interpretation of a reflection in the glass, but an interesting data point that the editor (whoever it was) saw the skull as something revealed rather than reflected.

 

 

 

Interesting. I always took it as the first, that the glass was acting as a mirror sometimes does in myth by revealing the true nature of the person. Probably just a clever play on the "Death and the Maiden" archetype though. Not sure there was subtext intended, but who knows.

 

I also like the prelim version better, with her also holding a glass.

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N e r V

N e r V

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Posted
Here's Chamber of Chills #19 CGC 9.4

 

 

Chamberofchills19.jpg

 

Cue Dandy Don..."...turn out the liiiights, the parrrty's overrrr..."

 

 

That's a beautiful book but I'm pretty sure I've seen a CGC 9.6 somewhere and there are a few I know of raw that would easily climb the 9.4-9.6 ranks if their owners decided to drop them in a tomb. A 9.8 wouldn't shock me either on many Harvey's of that period.

 

It's not a rare book in grade. It is an expensive one though in grade. It also seems to have split interest on the boards here as to its ranking as a key PCH book.

 

 

 

 

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Jayman

Jayman

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Posted
When I first saw this cover many years ago my first impression was the girl was turning into the skull face (maybe a reflection of her evil or whatever). Later after taking a closer look I realized it was a reflection of the guy looking at her. You can easily pick up on that by just looking at his hand. I still like to think the artist was being extra clever though and the skull face is actually that, a reflection of her evil and not his own face reflected.

 

Still I like this cover for the play it gives me at first glance that somehow the beautiful girl is turning skull ugly although that's not really the case. I thinks it's this beauty/death combo that gets the attention.

One of the things I truly love about this cover is that there's not just one possible interpretation of the cover's meaning. You can bounce between all the interpretations you suggested, and there's room for still more. Most of the Harvey horror covers are very literal and over-the-top, and I wish more of them were done with this degree of subtlety.

 

To my way of thinking, either we're seeing the woman's inner self through the glass as you suggest, or else the glass holds poison intended for the woman and we're getting a glimpse of the eventual result. (She doesn't see fazed about her table companion being a green skeleton himself, so I don't place too much stock in that.) I also see some commentary about the superficiality of ANY kind of beauty, though perhaps that's not what was intended to begin with.

 

As an aside, in the prelims you posted, I note that the editor refers to the cover as "skull thru glass". Which doesn't necessarily negate your interpretation of a reflection in the glass, but an interesting data point that the editor (whoever it was) saw the skull as something revealed rather than reflected.

 

 

 

Interesting. I always took it as the first, that the glass was acting as a mirror sometimes does in myth by revealing the true nature of the person. Probably just a clever play on the "Death and the Maiden" archetype though. Not sure there was subtext intended, but who knows.

 

I also like the prelim version better, with her also holding a glass.

 

Interesting takes on the cover image. (thumbs u

I always took it as the girls date was Death (unseen to her), and he was just toasting his eventual victory over claiming her. As a result we get to see her fate in the glass (as a lens).

 

I agree that the prelim is a tad better to my liking also! :headbang:

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Point Five

Point Five

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Posted

Guys, check this out:

A discussion in the Pulps section sent me to this great pulp artist's site: Gloria Stoll Karn

Take a look at this Dime Mystery cover she did from September 1944... thus predating Chamber of Chills #19 by nine years.

But it's conceptually identical... even down to the extra tiny skull on the ring!  :whatthe:

 

2v7xyjm.jpg

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