Tales from the Crypt #38
In "Tight Grip!", a grotesque prankster’s cruel joke from the past comes back to haunt him in this chilling 1953 tale from EC’s *Tales from the Crypt*. Written by Bill Gaines and Albert B. Feldstein, with art by Bill Elder and inks by the same, the story unfolds with dark humor and escalating dread as a man’s past mischief catches up to him in the most grotesque way. The cover by Jack Davis, with its signature macabre flair, perfectly captures the story’s unsettling tone.
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An obese practical joker with a stomach problem visits a doctor and relates a practical joke involving getting old clothes and bloody butchered chunks of horse flesh to take down to the trainyard near where some children regularly play. When the train rolls through, he lets out a scream after dropping the gory mess on the rails, and finds the ensuing panic tearfully funny. Unfortunately, the doctor's son died from that prank, so gets his revenge by giving him some capsules that contained fish hooks and he straps the obese man to a table and tickles him so that he will literally 'die laughing'.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).