Well, I Sure as Hell Didn't Expect THAT! Unexpected #210

I usually post something about Saturday Morning superhero cartoons of the 60's on Saturdays, or nothing at all. But today, as I wind down "Ape-ril In January" week, I thought I'd treat you all to a bonus.

Amy and I bought this little number at ChicagoCon one year for $0.25. It was purchased solely on the strength of the cover image.

Now, of course, I know that the above comic is from the Bronze Age, but it has a friggin' vampire ape on it! I have a soft spot for bronze age horror comics. With all the CCA restrictions placed on comics companies (self-imposed or not), it was nearly impossible to do a horror comic that was actually, well... scary. What you usually get is either a ridiculous, predicatable piece of tripe that is unintentionally funny (and therefore highly enjoyable) or, on rare occasions, something that manages to manipulate the limitations of the format and still produce something exciting- and when they're good, they're great!

The above comic is of the former variety. In fact, most issues of Unexpected from the 70's and early 80's are just plain awful. They rely heavily on twist endings, as the name would suggest, but the twists are usually not just unexpected, they're a complete non-sequiter. It almost works in a Dadaist or Absurdist way. I usually joke that a better name for this series would have been "-'The Hell?!?"

So, no, I can honestly say that a big gorilla with bat wings surprising a bunch of people in a grave yard was not something I would have expected. Mission accomplished!