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"The Rats in the Walls"
16 pgs. Appeared first time
in
Skull Comix #5 (1972).
Reprinted
in
Richard Corben Complete Works #3 (1987),
in
From the Pit #1 (1994) and
in
Heavy Metal #179 (1999).
Story: H.P. Lovecraft. Color: Beth Corben. Adapt./Art: Richard Corben
(signed as Gore, 1972). Lettered (in original versions) by hand (unknown), (in color remakes) printed.
FRA:
as "Les rats dans les murs" in Horrilor
(1977) and L'Echo
des savanes spécial U.S.A. [I] #19 (1981).
ITA :
as "I ratti nel muro" in Image
[I] #4
(1983).
GER :
as "Die Ratten in den
Wänden" in U-Comix
Sonderband #3 (1974).
NL :
as "The Rats in the Walls
[NL]" in U-Comix
Sonderband [NL] #3.
SPA :
as "Las ratas de las
paredes" in Creepy
[SPA] #19
(1980) and Richard Corben obras
completas #6 (1986).
SWE :
as "Råttorna
i väggen" in Pox
Special #3 (3/85).
Style: Black line with zipatones. Also exists a full CG color
version. Genre: Horror. Time
Span: Gothic/Ancient time. Nudity: None.
Keywords: Castle. Ancestors. Cellar. Druid Temple. Inner
cult. Rats. Family secret. (In)sanity.
Story Origin: H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The
Rats in the Walls".
Synopsis: Descendant of feared Delapore family moves back
to his ancestors castle only to wake up all old horrors (cf. "A
Gothic Tale").
Through his dreams and investications down the cellars of castle
he started to hear rats running down inside the walls, to knock
the walls of sanity.
Comment: Though B&W versions includes a lot of brilliant
frames and pages, I never really liked this story with overcharged
explanations. B&W original and reprint are equal, but through
coloring (in From the Pit) Beth Corben changes outlook
of story quite much (coloring is made by computer with beautiful
depths in it). There is several digital effects, mostly on last
page: Delapore's face is morfoed by computer, also last two frames
have computer genered psychedelic distortions. In From the
Pit Corben changed a lot of dialogues; Delapore has thick
southern accent, for instance.
Copyright © 1997 Heart-Attack-Series,
Ink!,
Created: Sept. 13, 1997. Modified:
June 24, 2012.
