Eerie #17
In "The Case of the Painted Beast," a chilling tale from Eerie #17 (1954), Hinchley’s lifelong terror of snakes takes a dark turn when he recounts a haunting prison memory to a friend. Years ago, he shared a cell with a man who claimed to have killed a witch—only for a talking snake to appear that night, the witch’s spirit reborn, and devour his cellmate. Now, haunted by the past, Hinchley’s fear is more than instinct. The morning after a nap in a boxcar, he vanishes, leaving behind only a snake in the corner with a strangely bloated stomach. Cover by typeset.
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The town of Maple Valley holds an art painting competition. When Ezra Vale's picture of a gruesome monster surrounded by gnomes called "The Forest of Fear" doesn't win, strange things begin to happen. The monster attacks those who mocked the painting and carries them into its painted world. The townsfolk then see the monster's victims have replaced the gnomes in the painting.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).