First published back in July of 1971, Issue 13 of the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ comic series was titled ‘The Nightmare’. Early issues of the comic contained two stories, with the comic titled after the lead story. This issue contained ‘The Medium’ along with ‘The Nightmare’.
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. This particular issue was one of the 33 issues which were not reprinted.
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).
The Medium - 32 Pages
Alexis Starkey had taken his wife to see the medium in a hope of putting an end to her fear that her late husband was angry with her for remarrying so soon after his death from a tragic car accident. An accident that had left Eleanor Starkey wheelchair bound.
Following the session, the medium had sent Eleanor a letter. The medium had seen more in the session than she’d let on. She needed to let Eleanor know everything she’d seen. Before it was too late.
Sending the letter would prove to be the last thing the medium would do. For shortly after, a hooded figure would break into her house and brutally butcher the helpless woman.
What was in that letter, would be the last thing the medium ever communicated to anyone…
What starts out as a relatively standard PCL story – quickly develops into a wonderfully pulpy slasher. First, we have a ‘Psycho’ (1959) style shower-scene-murder, then we have a nail-biting ‘taunting-the-victim’ style of slasher, akin to the phone call taunting in ‘Scream’ (1996). It’s actually a pretty tense escalation of slasher-horror, which let’s be fair, is quite unexpected for an early PCL!
Of course, there’s a hint of a mystery behind the murder and poor Eleanor Starkey’s fate. One which is resolved in the last few pages of the comic, with a quick but satisfying twist ending. It’s all good stuff though. Entertaining, fast paced, zero padding, and with good character-focused illustrative artwork throughout. A quality opening story!
The Nightmare - 32 Pages
Following her breakdown, Daphne Walde hadn’t long been discharged from the rest home when she met Merton Lanyon. Soon after their meeting, the couple had gotten married and settled down together in their large country estate. That was when the strange and terrifying ordeals started to take place.
First it was a strange man who confronted Daphne whilst she was out walking the dog. A man who made a point of purposefully mentioning the name ‘Muriel Lenyon’. When returning to the house and confronting Merton about this strange and intimidating man, and indeed, the mention of another woman’s name, Merton informs his wife the same man has just been found dead. Murdered with a dog lead no less! Their dog lead!
It makes no sense to Daphne. How could she have murdered a man in cold blood and have no recollection of the event? How could she even have done such a thing? Thankfully, her beloved husband was there for her. Willing to cover the murder up. Willing to risk it all for her.
Although, the man’s death would prove to be the first of a string of horrific murders. Each one seemingly involving her. All of which, Daphne has no recollection of…
Oh, this is a frigging brilliant one! Absolutely bat-shit crazy too. Essentially, we have a young woman, not long out of a rest home (which I assume is a polite term for a loony bin), who seems to be connected with a string of strange and seemingly erratic murders. Of course she has no recollection of being involved, but the evidence is always there. Everything points to her being a schizophrenic murderer. Although, we all know this is likely not the case!
However, where the real fun of the story comes from is in the absolutely over-the-top and ludicrously far-fetched nature of it all. This poor lass goes to bed at night, to then be woken in the middle of the night by a strange voice, one thing will inevitably lead to another, and we have another cooling corpse on the property!
If that’s not wild enough, how about throwing a baby into the equation?! Oh yes, we have ourselves a baby killer! Furthermore, when said infant is discovered strangled to death in the cot, the parents of this deceased child only come across as mildly annoyed! I kid you not! No utter devastation at discovering their dead offspring. Absolutely not! Rather she just asks Daphne to leave and to take her scarf with her – the scarf that strangled to death her baby!
Honestly, this is absolutely crazy stuff. But of course, behind it all is a wildly elaborate plot. A twist that’s not exactly hard to see coming, although the delivery of the twist, the intricate wackiness of this elaborate plot, it’s hilarious.
The story ends very abruptly in a particularly downbeat way. The artwork throughout is also pretty standard for these PCLs. Basic but does the job. There are quite a few typos and grammatical errors in the text and dialogue in the story too, although this is probably down to the translation from some European language.
All in all, it’s a cracking story though. Absolute entertainment throughout.
The comic book runs for a total of 64 pages.
© DLS Reviews
