Blasting its way through the sex and drugs of the underground comics world was this homage to pulp fiction, THE SKULL KILLER. Intended as a sequel to the obscure and rare 1939 one-shot pulp magazine, THE OCTOPUS. The oddly-named protagonist also appeared in another one-shot pulp, THE SCORPION. After that, the trail runs dry until April 1975 when Pulp Mania, Inc. published this continuing story, "Curse of the Octopus". Scripted by Brendan Faulkner and drawn by Garry Terry, it was edited by Simon Deitch, brother to Kim and Seth and printed in black and white, with the exception of a few pages that were colored by Deitch. Faulkner went on to an acting and directing career, and Terry drew for Pulp Mania and DC Comics. This comic sells for upwards of $100 at various sites.
Wow! Thanks for posting this. With your permission I'd like to add a link to this comic on the post I made about the original Octopus story. This was weird and wild ride, and the creators went out of their way to make the Skull Killer more like the Spider, which wasn't a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteNo problem -- please do.
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