Gourmet

The Gourmet is a scary horror comic about a rich, fat man who loves frogs’ legs. It’s from Plop #1 (September-October 1973) and it was written by Bernie Wrightson.

Vernon Glute was a fat, gross slob. He was rich and selfish and had no concern for anybody but himself. He considered himself a gourmet and spent a lot of money constructing a state-of-the-art kitchen in his mansion. He hired a top French chef to cook a succession of exotic dishes.

Every evening, Vernon would sit down at the dining table and gorge himself on food. His favorite delicacy was frog’s legs. He would eat them by the bowl. No matter how many bowls of frogs’ legs the chef put in front of him, Vernon would always demand more.

Vernon Glute demanded that the frogs’ legs be as fresh as possible. He claimed this made them taste much better and he ordered the chef to slaughter the frogs right there in his own kitchen.

One evening, Vernon was waiting for the chef to bring out another batch of frogs’ legs. When his food didn’t arrive, the fat man became extremely impatient. He lifted his incredible bulk out of his chair and decided to go into the kitchen and see what was taking so long.

Just then, he heard a strange noise. It sounded like the croaking of frogs and it was followed by a blood-curdling scream. Vernon Glute had no idea what had happened, but he was scared.

The stange sounds continued and he didn’t know what to do. He was froxen by fear. The croaking was all around him, filling the dining room, seeming to come from behind each and every door. The croaking grew louder and louder until it was almost unbearable.

Suddenly, there was a thudding sound against the door, as if thousands of small, slimy objects were throwing themselves against it. The wood began to splinter and the door buckled, finally giving way.

As the wooden door fell off its hinges and clattered to the ground, Vernon Glute got his first glimpse of what was coming for him…

Thousands of small, wet, slimy frogs came pouring into the room, leaping over each other, climbing up his body and slithering over his face. They were croaking and screeching and seeking revenge.

Vernon let out a blood-curdling scream.

A few days after that, the police found his mansion empty and Vernon Glute was never heard from again. Nobody ever knew what happened to him, but stories about him became legend.

Years later, I walked into a cheap, greasy diner on the poorer side of town. It was dirty and smelly and flies were buzzing around the food. One of the cooks gave a whistle and a strange figure wheeled itself out of the kitchen.

It seemed like it was barely human, but it looked like a big fat man with no legs. He was perched on a makeshift cart and was pulling himself along with his hands. The cooks referred to him as “The Fly-Catcher”.

As I watched in horror, his long tongue shot out of his mouth, snapped a fly out of the air and dragged it back into his mouth where he swallowed it down.

It was a terrible fate for a man who had once eaten only the best of foods. He was reduced to a strange, half-human creature, forced to dine for the rest of his life on common house-flies…