Mort Drucker's "Gone Is the Gargoyle"

To honour the recently-deceased Atlas Comics artist Mort Drucker, today I'm looking at the story "Gone Is the Gargoyle" from Marvel Tales #127 (1954), one of his earliest comic book credits. The story was featured on the cover, although Harry Anderson drew it instead of Drucker:

The cover has a very whimsical tone which doesn't match the story within, as we'll see. The story is set in Paris, France, nearby Notre Dame Cathedral. Our lead character, a French policeman named Georges L'Agent, witnesses an ugly green gargoyle descend from the cathedral and attack a man in the street. L'Agent does absolutely nothing to stop the creature; once the victim is dead, the gargoyle returns to the top of the cathedral and transforms back into stone (his name might be Goliath). When L'Agent reports in to his superiors he doesn't even mention the death he witnessed.

L'Agent goes home to his wife and we quickly learn she's his second bride; his first wife was killed in the streets. When the new bride brings this up, L'Agent becomes angry and strikes her. The next day L'Agent sees the gargoyle come to life and kill another person. This time another man also witnesses the killing, but L'Agent accuses the man of being drunk and arrests him. However, another witness steps forward and both men insist that not only did they see the gargoyle, they observed L'Agent react to the creature. The police investigate the gargoyles but find nothing unusual - they're simply stone statues, after all.

L'Agent goes out on a stroll with his bride when suddenly the gargoyle descends and attacks the woman. L'Agent draws his pistol and shoots the gargoyle to death. However, the dying creature tells the wife the truth: L'Agent murdered his first wife so that he could marry her. L'Agent is himself a gargoyle and the creature is his son. Realizing his secret has been revealed, L'Agent puts the gun to his own head and shoots himself; in death, his body becomes a gargoyle just like his son.

Thoughts: Although this is early Drucker and not at all like the Mad art he would become famous for, it's still very well-drawn, as professional as any average Atlas artist. The story is a little too complicated, particularly with the business about L'Agent murdering his wife. L'Agent's refusal to kill the gargoyle because he's his son is a pretty typical Atlas twist, but throwing in an off-panel murder of a character we readers never met is a bit too much.