First published back in December of 1971, Issue 24 of the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ comic series was titled ‘Hands Of Evil’.
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 85 different 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 eminent Egyptologist, Professor James Catlin, was holding a dinner party at his isolated moorland house. In attendance was the professor’s sister, Griselda, along with the local doctor and his wife, Ben and Marcella Reeves. The professor had also invited the local medium, Blanche Mason, to provide some entertainment for the evening.
However, what the professor wasn’t aware of was that Blanche Mason was a fraud. She spent time investigating and learning things about those she was conning, then used those facts in her extravagant spiritual shows. Tonight, she planned to use this same tactic. She also had her lover, Joe, with her for support, should anything go wrong.
The evening’s entertainment had been going well, until Blanche let out a scream and collapsed. This wasn’t part of her usual act. In fact, Blanche was adamant the scream wasn’t hers, but rather someone screaming through her.
Things continue to get even more worrying. That night the professor’s dog is strangled to death, and the next morning they learn the storm has caused the nearby river to overflow its banks, leaving them stranded within the professor’s isolated house.
Despite her increasing desperation to leave, Blanche is forced to stay in the house until the flooding subsides. Which is when they learn of the professor’s collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts. One of which is the Hands of Queen Ramusi. A pair of hands once belonging to an Egyptian Queen. Hands which were cut off the queen after she strangled to death their only child. Now, more than three thousand years later, and the hands are still as pale and soft as when she lived.
But now Blanche Mason’s presence has woken the ancient spirits, and the Hands of Queen Ramusi are seeking further victims. The hands are after their revenge…
This one is brilliant! Starting out with a textbook PCL setting – an isolated house owned by an Egyptologist who has a vast array of artefacts which he’s smuggled out of Egypt. We also have a fake spiritual medium looking for her next con. Oh yes, this is all classic PCL stuff.
However, this one’s all about the stranglers’ hands! A sort of cross between ‘PCL - Issue 56: The Rope’ (1973) and Cliver Barker’s ‘The Body Politic’ from ‘Books Of Blood - Volume IV’ (1985). Yeah, that’s right, we have severed hands on the rampage, strangling as they go. We’ve also got a whole Ancient Egyptian curse vibe going on, which again, became somewhat of a recurring theme within these PCLs.
The story here, however, is tight and full of wacky horror and suspense. We have these severed hands strangling its victims each night. We also have the (now reanimated) mummified corpse of Pharoah Nedesi getting up and stalking around the place. But it’s when Blanche’s own hands become possessed and start strangling of their own accord, that’s when things go wild.
You do perhaps wonder if Clive Barker happened upon this comic before penning ‘The Body Politic’. I so hope so! Nevertheless, honestly, there’s so much crazy horror going on in here. It’s packed with twists and turns and characters constantly pleading at each other, flying into anger and generally getting into a right old state.
We also have a glorious absolute acceptance at what’s going on. Oh, the hands have come to life and been causing mayhem, have they?! Not to worry, they’re now just a pile of dust, so we might as well just forget about them. Hang on, that reanimated mummy has been walking about too?…no bother, it’s probably just ventured out into the moors and succumbed to the elements. Hilarious!
The artwork throughout is pretty standard PCL quality (i.e. pretty darn good). The characters are all well-defined with enough detail to capture their emotions and our pal The Pharoah Nedesi is wonderfully horrifying in all his rigidly stalking poses. The cover artwork however, has been reused from ‘Tales Of Terror Picture Library – Issue 7: Black Death’ (1966) and other than including a hand in it, has absolutely no bearing whatsoever to that of this story!
However, all in all, this one’s a classic PCL with one of the better storylines in it, weaving a wacky tale of utterly ludicrous horror all the way to the delightfully dark ending!
The comic book runs for a total of 64 pages.
© DLS Reviews
