A Game Most Dangerous, Part 7: Island of Death

Welcome back to A Game Most Dangerous! This time I'm veering over to one of the much-beloved 1950s horror comics published by EC: it's "Island of Death" from Vault of Horror#13 (1950) by Harvey Kurtzman.

Steve and Alec are two pilots flying over the Pacific when their motor gives out and they crash near an island. Steve is separated from Alec in the crash and washes up on the island, where he's surprised to find a castle. Steve collapses at the castle doors but the people inside bring him in and share their hospitality. The next day Steve (full name Stephen Crane; not that Stephen Crane!) greets the owner of the castle, Count Alvar Cabeza.

Count Alvar and his silent servant Mulok show every consideration to their guest. After dinner, the count shows Steve his impressive trophy room full of the most dangerous animals on Earth (many familiar names to readers of Richard Connell's story such as the cape buffalo). No longer challenged by pitting his wits against animals, Count Alvar wants to hunt "the craftiest of animals... homo sapiens... man!" The count tells Steve he has 12 hours to hide in the island's jungle, then the count will hunt him with a crossbow.

Heading into the jungle, Steve finds his only tools are what was in his pockets: a cigarette lighter, handkerchief and his pocketknife. He finds some wreckage from the plane washed ashore and uses it to help build a trap. The count, Mulok and their hunting dogs come after Steve but Steve's traps kill Mulok and the dogs. Still, the count finds Steve and is about to kill him when Alec appears and uses his pistol to shoot the count in the arm. Alec quickly explains he washed up on the opposite side of the jungle. The count stumbles away from the two men and right into a nest of wasps which sting him to death. The two pilots find a boat at the castle and use it to depart.

Thoughts: There was a time when EC was considered by comics fandom to be the unchallenged master of horror comics, thanks largely to the effort EC's professionals placed into promoting themselves. Nowadays, EC is considered "good by the standards of the 1950s" and more and more there are reappraisals of horror comics by other publishers of the time (Atlas/Harvey/Fawcett).

All of this is to say that EC were just as fallible when it came to ripping off other people's ideas as anyone else in the field. This has to be laid at the feet of Harvey Kurtzman, not only as the writer/artist/editor of the story but because his single greatest failing as a creator was that he couldn't manage his deadlines. From that view, it's not surprising at all that he'd rip-off Richard Connell.

But now that I have that off my chest, this is the best story I've featured on A Game Most Dangerous thus far; it's very faithful to the story and depicts the various details of the story to an extent which the other entries have largely ignored. And boy, that Kurtzman knew how to draw!

The Hunter:

• A RussianEuropean nobleman (3/4 points)
• Who is a big game hunter (4/4 points)
• But is no longer challenged by big game (4/4 points)
• So he hunts men on his secluded island (4/4 points)
• Justifying this through a eugenics/Darwinian philosophy (0/4 points)
• He is aided by his servants, including a disfigured mute (4/4 points)
• And his vicious hunting dogs (4/4 points)
• He obtains his prey by scuttling nearby ships (0/4 points)
• His victims are given a time limit of 3 days; if they are alive at the deadline, they win the hunt (0/4 points)
• As a further example of his sense of "sportsmanship", he will deliberately prolong the hunt if he finds it interesting (0/4 points)
• His victims are placed on display in his trophy room (0/4 points)

The Hunted:

• A famous big game hunter (0/4 points)
• Who philosophizes about what (if anything) animals sense while being hunted (0/4 points)
• He is cast overboard and finds himself on the hunter's island, alone (4/4 points)
• The hunter knows him because of his reputation (0/4 points)
• When he learns the hunter's scheme he refuses to hunt alongside him (0/4 points)
• Hunted by the hunter, he flees into the wilderness trying to avoid detection (4/4 points)
• His only tool is a knife which the hunter gave himwas in his pocket (3/4 points)
• In time he constructs traps to kill the hunter or his servants (4/4 points)
• He survives the ordeal by leaping over a cliff (0/4 points)
• Although the hunt is over, he confronts the hunter and duels him to the death (0/4 points)

The Island:

• Is a tropical island in the CaribbeanPacific (3/4 points)
• Surrounded by dangerous reefs which wreck ships (0/4 points)
• The island has a dangerous swamp (0/4 points)
• And high cliffs (4/4 points)

The total: 45/100

The hunt is still on! Be back next time!