Originally Published In Issue 55
Reprinted In Issue 114
First published back in April of 1973, Issue 55 of the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ comic series was titled ‘The Strangler’. The comic was later reprinted under the same title within Issue 114.
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).
The first victim of the strangler was a cripple girl who lived by herself within the small London square known as Ridley Gardens. The ghastly murder shocked the local community. However, for Lila Grey and Pearl Morris who lived together in a flat in Ridley Gardens, the close proximity of the murder was worrying.
However, the girls had their own lives to live, so they tried their best to put the murder to the back of their minds. Lila was starting a new job at the local beauty parlour, which was enough to occupy her thoughts. In fact, the owner of the parlour – Barry Crewe – had managed to take Lila’s mind away from thoughts of the strangler.
Barry was certainly charming and good looking. The sort of man a girl like Lila could easily fall for. Although he seemed to have suffered from a troubled upbringing. Now, as an adult, he admitted he couldn’t stand ugliness. He’s mentioned early on he’d seen so much of it in his childhood that he’d since dedicated his life to bringing beauty into the world. Luckily for Lila, she had good looks on her side. In fact, Barry said to him she was perfect.
However, as the days progressed and the pair gradually started to become close, more murders began to emerge around the small London square. Each victim strangled to death.
Of course, Lila and Pearl were becoming increasingly concerned. More so, because they’d spotted a strange figure wearing a cloak, skulking outside their flat window.
Could this be the strangler? Could the man in this shady black cloak be the one responsible for targeting defenceless women, and strangling them to death?...
Despite the utter predictability of the story, this PCL’s still a thoroughly entertaining read. Essentially, it’s a serial killer thriller, with a maniac at large strangling women to death. However, there seems to be a pattern emerging. Each one of the victims has something physically wrong with them.
The first victim is a wheelchair bound cripple. The second has her arm in a sling. The third was reportedly dumb from birth. Oh yeah, we can see where this is going.
Then we have good old charming Barry Crewe. He’s instantly swept Lila off her feet with his good looks and charm. Although he seems to have something from his past that’s constantly at the back of his mind. A repulsion to imperfection – or as he sees it – ugliness. A compulsive mania to seek out beauty.
It’s doesn’t take Hercule Poirot to figure out what’s going on here and indeed who’s responsible for this string of murders! Furthermore, it’s pretty darn obvious when and how Lila will eventually find out, once we hear about her flatmate having a beauty problem she wants to discuss with our Baz.
So yeah, it’s all painfully predictable. Nevertheless, merely sitting back and voyeuristically watching it all play out makes for a fun read. Lila of course is absolutely oblivious to all the glaringly obvious signs. Even when Barry openly declares to Lila he has a mania against ugliness. Nope, she still doesn’t twig!
The majority of the story is given over to Lila and Barry and their blossoming relationship. This is interspersed with news of more murders and a splash of jealousy from Barry. But for the most part, we have Lila and Barry chatting away, with red flags coming from Barry with pretty much everything he says. Honestly, he might as well say he loves giving extra tight neck massages to random strangers! Although Lila would probably still be clueless to it all.
The accompanying illustrative artwork isn’t the best we’ve seen in these PCLs. There’s a distinct lack of detail applied to the illustrations and often the art is a fair bit sketchier than we see in other PCLs. Although in places the illustrations take on a stylised approach, which to be fair, is quite effective. We see the artist making the most of the deep shadows cast in the darkness to obscure the features of the strangler. It’s effective and makes for some interesting frames if nothing else.
So yeah, a relatively entertaining PCL although painfully predictable.
The comic book runs for a total of 64 pages.
© DLS Reviews
