Saturday, October 29, 2011

I Love Atlas Comics#15: "Out of My Life!"

Today we head back to 1953 and Bob Fujitani's "Out of My Life!" from Adventures into Weird Worlds#22, a tale well calculated to keep you in...confusion!

We open on a young woman meeting an older man at a restaurant. The woman, Lise, has just told the man about her lover, Ralph. He's having an oddly muted reaction to hte news.

As she asks him how he feels about her and Ralph he acts like nothing is trouble him, but she suspects he's planning something. Sure enough, the man has something on his mind.

Still, he doesn't give away his secret, offering a creepy toast.

Lise asks what he'll do with himself now; he says he'll travel to Europe, while thinking he needs to take care of Ralph first.

Lise seems upset by the idea of the man being alone and it pleases him to think she'll miss him. Just then, Ralph arrives and the man's horrible secret is revealed!

Wait a minute. WHAT? The surprise ending is the older man is the woman's father? That's...that's not a twist! At least, not a twist worthy of a comic called Adventures Into Weird Worlds. This would have been acceptable fare in Young Love or Love Romances.

It's only a three-page story, but that's about four pages too many. The writer probably thought he was being very clever, hinting toward some dark secret where none actually exists. The author is uncredited, but if he's still alive, he'd be at home with today's dozens of comics-which-hint-towards-things-happening-but-nothing-ever-does. "Out of My Life" fascinates me for being so absolutely out of place.

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