Something Spooky: ‘Midnight Tales’ #10 Before Halloween
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
Summary: Professor Cyrus Coffin and his niece Arachne visit a famous Sculptor. This artist relates three tales with a basis in horror and humanity. Yet, why does he have such a mysterious interest in Arachne? Also are his tales truths or falsehoods?
Overall
7/10We’re nearly at the end of the scariest month of the year, and Benjamin takes a look at another classic in his last entry in our series of Spooky stories.
Note: a majority of the creative credits do not appear in the actual comic. So the missing attributions come from the website Grand Comics Database.
The cover is by writer, artist, colorist, and letterer Wayne Howard. This cover is way higher in quality than the interior narratives Howard works on. There is a great use of depth along with lots of detail for the textures. Although the choice of facial expression for Arachne does not seem to fit the scene. While the miniature version of her uncle Professor Cyrus Coffin, alias the Midnight Philosopher, in the rectangle is completely unnecessary.
The first story “The Sculptor” is a framing one by Howard. It is arguably the least horrifying of the tales. Yet, there is a lot of effort from Howard on display in this narrative despite the lower quality in comparison to the cover. For example Arachne’s mole on her right cheek is always in roughly the same spot. Unfortunately, despite the effort Howard puts into this narrative the reveal at the end makes the story fall flat while leaving questions.
Writer Nicola Cuti, artist Tom Sutton, letterer Ray Burzon, along with Howard as the colorist are responsible for ”The Strange Mr. Milque” the second tale in this anthology. Sutton utilizes an art style that feels a bit like the original volume of Mad Magazine and underground comix of the time (Mad Magazine 1952-2018) (The Collected Trashman Vol. 1 #1 by writer and artist Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez). Howard’s choice of hues differs between art styles and therefore he is able to enhance the cartoonish sleaziness of Sutton’s work. Regrettably, Cuti creates with an overabundance of words which crowds Sutton’s work despite the efforts of Burzon. As for the plot, it is debatably more a tragic romance than one of horror.
“The Incredible Simia” follows after a bit of the framing story. This installment is completely the creation of Howard. There is some commentary on prejudicial behavior with the costume Simia wears and the way most people treat her. Howard does a fine job handling this in a way that may make one wonder why this did not get a full issue. Not to mention the draftsmanship and coloring is much better in comparison to Howard’s work on “The Sculptor.”
“The Unbelievable Doll Fin!” features the talents of Cuti for the script and Howard on colors while artist and letterer Joe Staton does the rest. Arguably, it does not feature any of their best work, but it is a serviceable narrative despite being a science fiction tale with horror adjacent themes in a horror title.
Midnight Tales #10 was printed originally by Charlton Comics.
