art by Bernard Krigstein, story by Carl Wessler
Shock SuspenStories #18 (1955)
This is one of those stories where Krigstein went to an extreme in splitting up the panels, getting fifteen or more panels on a lot of the pages, to make up for what he saw as a lack of space to properly tell the stories in the six pages he was usually given. It's kind of interesting that if he had been given the extra pages he wanted the stories might have been less memorable, since part of what makes them striking is the way the tight, confining layouts control the reading speed and increase the sense of drama.
Anyway, this story is about a cop patrolling the streets when he comes across a suspicious character holding a bag which may or may not have a bloodstain. He follows and confronts the character, who turns out to be quite insane and who confesses to beheading his boss before fleeing. The cop pursues down the rainy streets before making one of those tragic mistakes so common in these stories.
A really nice story, with some good dramatic flourishes in the script by Wessler and heavily cinematic storytelling by Krigstein, especially his use of tone work to depict the rain.
The B. KRIGSTEIN COMICS collection, from which this newly-coloured by Marie Severin image is taken, appears to have been remaindered and is available from several sources for a lot less than half its original $50 price, often as little as $10.
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