Review: Mansion of Evil

Mansion of Evil by Joseph J. Millard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A very early graphic novel from 1950, Fawcett Gold Medal 129, declares “A fascinating mystery, told in a new picture-book medium” on the back cover. It’s essentially a 195 page color comic book printed in typical paperback size. The plot is interesting enough telling the tale of a psychotic and highly regarded artist who kidnaps a young woman that happens to look exactly like his dead wife - who he accidentally murdered. A lot of padding here, a slew of unlikely coincidences that only serve to drag out the story, word balloons that needlessly state what is evident from the pictures, etc. The prose is pretty clunky - juvenile Golden Age comic book stuff with plenty of anachronisms and old slang. It’s an interesting enough oddity, but not really worth seeking out.

It seems to be in the public domain and available here.