When the clock strikes midnight, The Podcasting Hour shines a creepy candle on the dark corners of DC Comics... Brought to you by the ghastly PJ Frightful!
On this premiere episode, Ryan Daly and guest Rob Kelly review “The Demon Within” originally published in House of Mystery #201. Then Ryan previews some of the other comics to be featured on upcoming episodes of Midnight…The Podcasting Hour!
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Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com.
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Music by Neil Daly.
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This podcast is going to illuminate a lot of DC blind spots for me. This sounds like a terrific story with an important message that transcends its genre and it’s time. All of us have felt different, weird or known someone who struggles to belong and it’s great to celebrate differences and love people despite the challenges.
Great first episode.
Big blind spot for me , too. But am looking forward to Count Ryan and his circle of guests discuss some horror and educate this man (me).
Great first episode, Ryan.
Something Rob and I didn’t mention on the episode, “The Demon Within” won the award for Best Short Story from the Academy of Comic Book Arts in 1972. It was the first year the ACBA awarded something in the short story category, almost as if they created it just to honor this story.
If that’s the case then the story is lucky. Seems like more often than not the fix is made AFTER the thing that should have one didn’t qualify (i.e. “Wow it would have been nice to include The Dark Knight on our list of Best Picture Oscar nominees… better open up for more nominees next year.”)
PJ Frightful is great. He should be in the episode more.
I’m happy Lonely Hearts has a cousin now. Non-superhero comics genres need love too!
PJ Frightful will be in the show for as long as my voice holds up on any given recording session. 🙂
Damn, I thought you brought in John Kassir!
I loved all of these DC horror books back in the day. In those early years where I didn’t collect titles monthly and instead spun the spinner rack and picked something cool looking, they were a ‘go to’. Multiple stories, usually with some gore, and twist endings! I loved them.
This one is clearly an allegory for conformity. The ‘demon’ could be anything from dressing Goth to sexual orientation to even political orientation depending on how stifling the family is. As you say, that last panel of the glassy eyed boy is the most haunting image of the book … and the most normal … frightening.
Looking forward to hearing more!
Great start to what I’m sure will be a fantastic series! I’m not as up on my DC mystery/horror books as I should be, so I’m hoping this helps remedy that situation.
For instance, I had never read this story! I remember that Kaluta cover, and I’ve heard of it, and seen some art samples, but I’ve never actually read it, so thanks for posting the entire story.
It deserves all the accolades it has received. I could see this as a Twilight Zone episode, with an Aparo drawn Rod Serling at the end. So haunting, and speaks volumes about conformity for certain.
Great work Ryan and Rob!!!
Chris
As I said on the show, very much looking forward to future episodes, a great addition to the network!
Last time I commented I said bravo now encore sir can’t wait for the next episode
Great first episode! Perfect for All Hallows’ Eve!
First read this in the Best of DC Limited Collector’s Edition. Great little story, of which House of Mystery had many. It was kind of DC’s Twilight Zone comic book, where offbeat tales were told and young creators got a tryout.
Forgot to mention…
I am a big fan of Night Force, I am a big fan of Swamp Thing (although I stopped reading after Moore left). I was a big fan of these horror anthologies. So I am looking forward to all of this podcast.
Great first episode. I have never read this story, but now it looks like I should.
Definitely digging the whole PJ Frightful persona. Incredibly entertaining.
I’ve been sitting on a stack of old Night Force comics, just waiting for the right moment to read them, and voila, that moment is here!
Great idea for a podcast and really wonderful first show – a terrific story and that Jim Aparo art is fantastic! I’m looking forward to following along and learning about some great horror comics that I always wanted to read growing up, but just never got around to. Probably because I was too busy sitting on the front lawn staring blankly into the middle distance.
This helped make it a happy Halloween for me! Great new show for your awesome network! I dug the intro, which really set up the show nicely. Try giving PJ Frightful a lozenge, Ryan, and watch your back. I don’t trust him! Great first guest who picked a terrific story to kick this off.
This will be an interesting one for me to check out as it’s a whole realm of stories and characters that I like the concepts of more than the reality most of the time. I’m sure I’ll get to talk more about that in my inevitable appearance and then it will incite a comments wildfire as I’m accused of being a neophyte again. Rabble rousers of the world unite!
Excellent first show Ryan. The Jim Aparo art was so good in this story and given how he comes up in a lot of the Phantom Stranger and Spectre stories, we are going to see a lot of his art in the upcoming shows, which is always a good thing!
Congratulations on a terrific debut episode Ryan, and very special guest star Rob. Somehow I’ve never read this story, and I enjoyed it loads. Aparo is on top form (I like him best when there’s not a superhero in sight) and Orlando and Albano certainly knew how to put together a pithy story. The only thing I’d change would be the traditional intro by Cain, that’s far too on the nose – as you said, this isn’t subtle.
Well done on the production values, the tinkly précis music was perfect, please keep it around as a regular tool.
Now, as you said you’re keeping it loosey goosey right now rather than locking down a format, might I suggest one mystery short each episode alongside whatever else is being covered? One every six episodes just isn’t enough for me – or, make those sixth episodes a triumverate of terror, with three guests on three stories. I realise it’s more work for you, but you’re used to working every hour God sends…
Held off listening to the episode in part because you mentioned this story was reprinted in Welcome Back To… The House of Mystery, the only comic with that name I own that doesn’t have a Manhunter from Mars strip in it (though I’d pick up a reasonably priced set of the Elvira run if it crossed my path.) I finally dug it out of the longbox this week, and was thrown off when someone said the monster was green. The story was recolored, and the “demon” was purplish-pink there. I’d still recommend it though, as the colors overall pop more, and the line reproduction is much crisper. Jim Aparo was in peak form on this story, which is both great and kind of a shame, since it stretches what could have been a killer 3-5 pager into seven that belabor the narrative. Still a good premise though.
Just a pet peeve of mine, but I hate when lobotomies are treated as a universal “off” switch with no therapeutic value. They were insanely popular and widely abused specifically because they worked wonders sometimes, and immediately controversial because those wonders were never verified using scientific method, while the catastrophic injuries and horror stories have been better documented. Rosemary Kennedy would not have been a proponent, but as the techniques improved there were success stories, and they’re still performed today as a Hail Mary pass in severe cases. Regardless, there are tens of thousands of lobotomy recipients who were not rendered zombies by the procedure, and the main reason for its largely passing into history is the development of antipsychotic medications that were safer with fewer side effects. Electroconvulsive therapy also gets a bad rap as some sort of modern day medieval torture technique because of past abuses and media exploitation of same.