I've got it 7-1 for HCRoyall right now, but still lots of time for those Beeko votes to come pouring in.

So far the luycky competitors who will seek glory in the 2nd round are: Jesly, Brycekain, not_scycess, RCColaman, 4_legged_tripod and LadyJ

Which brings us to our FINAL FIRST ROUND MATCH UP gabe_billings vs lima!

The rules for this match come ALLLLLLLLLLL the way from CC340 hosted by boloboffin. The rules are:

boloboffin wrote:

---

I've been thinking about different ways of using the Stripcreator engine. I don't want to get too far away from teh funny, but I have fond memories of the old EC comics (no, I'm not old enough to have bought originals, thank you very much).

So for CC 340, your mission is to scare us out of our wits. The winning comic can be funny (EC had a wicked sense of humor), but I need a little of that chilly frisson I get from watching Rosemary grab a knife and head for the hall closet. If you can evoke that, you're in the running.

---

Guess I didn't make it into this event, huh?  I thought I'd posted interest.

Oh well, that's one fewer flaming loss to hang on my mantelpiece.

---
ken.kaufman@gmail.com

You kept up with your commitement so well, that you didn't even realize the contest had started! I'm happy with the individuals we have and I'm glad people are keeping up as well as they are. Let's keep up the good work everyone!

My vote goes to HC

I'm going with HCRoyal on this one.

---
"He was cursed with a horrorshow of a face, like Guiseppe Archbold doing a study of mollusk tumors."

First off, HCRoyall gets my vote for the last round.

And here's my entry for this round.  It got a little longer than I expected, but it's hard to do scary as a one-liner.  Once I got going it was hard to stop.  I even skipped the last episode of Lost for this. 

But don't worry, I DVRd it, plus I'm three episodes from being caught up anyway.  SO NOBODY DROP ANY SPOILERS IN THE NEXT DAY OR TWO.  Thanks.

I by gabe_billings 5-23-10

I've been an athiest for as long as I remember being old enough to worry about those kind of things. Never held much stock in all the hooplah surrounding the bible. So it was a mite strange that I found myself down at St. Mary's on Sunday night. Kneelin' in the front row and prayin' to God that the demon that had moved in next door didn't kill me next.

II by gabe_billings 5-23-10

The first thing that was odd was how she showed up. The little bungalow next door had been empty for months. Then one day, she just showed up. Never saw a moving van or nothing. She was just there. It was only neighborly of me to go introduce myself. Plus she had this cute little sundress on I just had to get another look at. Wanted to stop on by and say hello. The name's Dave. Monica. Good to meet you.

III by gabe_billings 5-23-10

Nothin' seemed wrong with her at first glance. Sure got yourself moved in fast. Woulda been happy to tote some boxes around for you if I'da known you needed help. I got in pretty late last night, and there wasn't much to move. Thanks for the offer, though. But if I'd had half a clue of what she was all about... Lemme know if you need help with anything else. Sure thing. I've got some more things to put away, but maybe you could come by later this week for dinner. My ass woulda been on the road and outta town that first night. Might just have to take you up on that. Nice meetin' you, Monica. You too.

IV by gabe_billings 5-23-10

The scream came just after two in the morning. It was a sound like nothing I'd ever heard before. Chilled me right to the soul. Like nails down a chalkboard, only a hundred times worse. But it stopped almost as soon as I'd flipped on the light, and after that it was silent.

V by gabe_billings 5-23-10

After I got my heart back out of my throat, I pulled out the Louisville Slugger I keep under my bed and made the rounds. Everything was locked up tight, and I hadn't heard anything else since gettin' out of bed but my own ragged breathing. Didn't see anything goin' on outside after a peek out the front door. Thought about callin' the cops for a minute before sayin' 'Fuck it' and headin' back to bed. I finally slumped back against my pillow, hopin' like hell I could get back to sleep.

---
100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

VI by gabe_billings 5-23-10

As I lay there in the dark, a new sound came to my ears. Barely audible, but nearby. It was a thumping. Solid, and deep, like someone settin' a heavy book down on a countertop. Over and over, a few times a minute for nearly half an hour, until finally it stopped. Some time after that, sleep finally took me.

VII by gabe_billings 5-23-10

The next day it was like a bad dream. I didn't have much time to mull it over before headin' downtown to check on a job lead a friend had given me. The next time I saw Monica was that evening. I was in my living room looking across the yard into her kitchen at her, sitting at her kitchen table having dinner. I'd only been at the window a moment when she spun around to look me straight in the eye. When she did I could see that her entire face was covered in blood.

VIII by gabe_billings 5-23-10

I stepped out of sight as my heart began to thud against my chest. I told myself I couldn't have just seen what I thought I had. I'd just about convinced myself when I heard a knock at the door. I ignored it, staying put pressed against the wall. But it came again, louder, and more insistent.

IX by gabe_billings 5-23-10

After the third time, I gave in and went to open it. It was her. And there wasn't a speck of anything on that face of hers. I'm so embarrassed. You saw me over there, choking down my barbecue like a wolf, didn't you? Is that was that was? That's when I noticed the foil covered dish in her hands. Don't think I forgot about you. I brought over a whole rack of ribs for you to try. Much obliged.

X by gabe_billings 5-23-10

I'd be lyin' if I said that plate didn't smell damn good. I tried to tell myself that when I saw her she'd just had a faceful of barbecue sauce. But my imagination wouldn't let up. So I ended up dumpin' that plate straight in the trash. And even though it felt a little childish, when I went to bed that night, I left the light on. And I had the bat lyin' next to me on the bed.

---
100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

XI by gabe_billings 5-23-10

Didn't see her at all for the next couple days. Probably because I spent most of my time down at the local burnin' through my unemployment check. I'd get myself good and drunk and stumble home to bed. Which was workin' out fine, up until Sunday, when curiosity got the best of me and I decided to go peekin' out my window again.

XII by gabe_billings 5-23-10

When I'd gotten through the door, I'd left all the lights off. I stood a few steps back from the window to make sure no light from outside would fall on me. It was dark outside, but the lights from her kitchen were bright, and her blinds were open wide. I saw her puttering around the kitchen, working at the counter. And then she moved to the fridge.

XIII by gabe_billings 5-23-10

She leaned it and drew something out with both hands, then spun around, nudging the door shut with her hip. For a moment, her front was toward me, and I could see what was sitting on the platter held between her hands. It was a human head.

XIV by gabe_billings 5-23-10

I stood there, frozen, for what seemed like hours. I almost choked as I realized I'd been holding my breath. Then I noticed something else. While I'd only been staring for ten seconds or so, Monica had been just as still. I wrenched my gaze from the hideous sight upwards, and saw her peering at me. And she was smiling.

XV by gabe_billings 5-23-10

One glance of that and I lost it. I flew into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. I had no problem callin' the cops this time. Not with Psycho McBitch next door with a fucking head on a platter. I dialed frantically and waited for someone to pick up, until finally realizing that the line was dead. Then I heard the knock.

---
100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

XVI by gabe_billings 5-23-10

It wasn't a pounding, just a solid, polite knock. It scared me shitless just the same. I hoped to hell I'd remembered to lock the front door as the knock sounded again, echoing through the house. I heard it a third time, but by then I'd managed to ease open the kitchen window at the back of the house and was halfway out onto the lawn.

XVII by gabe_billings 5-23-10

Lucky for me Jimmy next door had never gotten around to fencing his yard, it being the route out of my backyard that didn't lead right past my front door. I slipped through the dark of his yard, and continued through the Petersons next to him, before cutting back out to the sidewalk. As I headed away, I couldn't help but glance back. And there she was, on my front walk. And damned if she wasn't looking right at me.

XVIII by gabe_billings 5-23-10

That's when I started running. I've never been much for exercise, but that didn't slow me down none. I hauled ass down that block, and the next, hardly paying any attention to where I was headin. It wasn't long before I was nearing downtown, and I saw the lights of St. Mary's, glowing like a beacon.

XIX by gabe_billings 5-23-10

...and that's when I hoofed it in here, padre. That's quite a tale, lad. You're not kiddin' Now let's get to that phone you mentioned. Tell me again how much you had to drink before this all happened. Damn it, padre, I ain't drunk. I know what I saw.

XX by gabe_billings 5-23-10

I was gettin' ready to just go find the damn phone myself when I heard it. A knock at the heavy wood door of the church. Not too hard, just a firm, polite knock. And that's when the lights went out.

---
100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

Holy crap! I didn't know that reading stripcreator before bed might be nightmare-inducing.

---
I am a delicate fucking flower. https://beacons.ai/jesskent

If only the pizza guy had shown up right when you were finishing.

---
100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

Holy crap I'm glad I'm not in this matchup.

---
peddling the funny around since 09/24/2002

Amazing totally amazing. It would have been scary if I wasn't looking for a joke the whole time. Good luck to lima.

---
Resident Masochist & Adrenaline Junkie -I'm probably not god but you should worship me just in case-

Let's all hope lima shows up soon! I'm going to give him until wednesday to get an entry in. If not all his votes will be voided and whoever takes his place can then vote in the past rounds.

Open Your Eyes. by lima 5-24-10

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances." That quote's from Shakespeare, right? Almost. Shakespeare has Jaques say it in 'As You Like It', but the phrase was as hackneyed to Shakespeare's audiences as it is to ours. Like 'Wake up and smell the coffee'? Yes, like 'Wake Up and smell the coffee. It's a cliche, but that doesn't mean it doesn't contain a grain of truth. I can smell coffee. I wonder if someone's having lunch.

Open Your Eyes.. by lima 5-24-10

The world is indeed like a stage. Its players - its people - are actors. They wake up and enter the stage, and they carry out the scenes which make up the plots of their lives. I was never much of an actor myself. I don't think I could wake up on a stage. So much pressure.. Exactly, but if an actor doesn't go out on stage, can he even wake up in the morning and call himself an actor? Meaning? Meaning if you spend your time sleeping.. You can't live..

Open Your Eyes... by lima 5-24-10

Exactly. Even if you don't want to face the audience, you have to get up, get up and get on the stage. You have to wake up and give your performance to an audience who loves you Well, you know, some people can't. I read that victims of rape, or torture, or abuse can often refuse to wake up. But they have to The trauma they suffered.. they can't wake up, they can't face the world, and in their subconscious they chose to stay comatose. But.. Their coma. Their dream, it's a safe place, and in their dreams they create simplified versions of their lives, without even a hint of what may have caused their distress.

Open Your Eyes.... by lima 5-24-10

But it isn't real. You can't hide away, waiting in the wings, sensing the other actors and hearing the crowd but not waking up and giving them the performance they need from you. It's much better to live Their friends can try to send them messages, coded messages for the victim to decipher from their safe place. To wake up and embrace life.. To please wake up

Although it hust my brain to read that much, I give the nod to gabe.

---
"Humiliation is humiliation only when you choose to suffer." ~ Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

Sorry, "hurt" my brain.  See what I mean?

---
"Humiliation is humiliation only when you choose to suffer." ~ Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

I don't know what to do with rules that basically say the comic shouldn't be funny.  So I'll give it to lima because it required me to waste less time reading a comic with no punchline.

---
peddling the funny around since 09/24/2002

Lima's was decent.

BUT...Gabe's was extraordinary so my vote is to gabe_billings

---
Resident Masochist & Adrenaline Junkie -I'm probably not god but you should worship me just in case-

God this was tough. Gabe's was spine tingling, but lima's was creepy as hell once it finally hit me.

In the end I'm voting for lima.

---
It was such a waste of everyone’s time and money that even the Tokyo stadium’s rape robots apologized– something they were programmed specifically never to do.

Gabe's was the closest to chilling as I've seen on SC in a while (next to Retard ...)

But my vote shall go to Lima

---
...and if you liked that one, here's a link to my other stupid shit.

Gabe

---
Okay, Lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. The world's first analrapist.

HCRoyall summed up my feelings on this one perfectly. I really waffled between the two of them a lot, but in the end, lima's got to me more.

I don't know how they could have possibly been done better. I'm glad these two strippers were the ones in the match-up, because they both had fantastic entries. I'm seriously impressed, and relieved it wasn't my round.

---
I am a delicate fucking flower. https://beacons.ai/jesskent

Gabe gets my vote!

A very tough decision indeed.  I'm awarding my vote to Lima only because of the first-person draw-in factor, as it made me feel I was the one in a rape-induced coma with a life of horror to wake up to.  The third-person distance of Gabe's comic made it feel (comparatively and slightly) safer on a personal level.  Both strips are phenomenal works though.

---
"He was cursed with a horrorshow of a face, like Guiseppe Archbold doing a study of mollusk tumors."