Born Salvatore Albert Lombino (October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) in East Harlem, New York City, the author known as Evan Hunter used yet another pen name, Ed McBain, to write his best-selling crime novels, many of them touchstones for the police procedural sub-genre. It was no surprise then, when NBC picked up his 87th PRECINCT books for a TV series. Thirty episodes were produced and aired for one season from September 25, 1961 – April 30, 1962.
After having published an earlier issue of an 87th PRECINCT adaptation dated April-June 1962), Dell published a second issue with a July-September 1962 cover date. Even though the first issue featured art by ex-EC artist Bernie Krigstein, the second issue is more notable for its realistic (at the time) treatment of the drug trade and the addicts that were suffering (and dying) from it.
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| A scene from 87th Precinct (Dell Comics), art by Ed Ashe. |
The cast was identified on the cover by their character names on the show rather than their real names, uncommon for TV/movie titles such as this. Robert Lansing plays Det. Steve Carella, best known for his role in another TV series, the war drama 12 O'CLOCK HIGH. Norman Fell is Det. Meyer Meyer, and is most recognizable in his role as Mr. Roper on the sitcom THREE'S COMPANY. Gregory Walcott plays Det. Roger Havilland and if he looks familiar to fans of Ed Wood, he played the lead in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Det. Bert Kling is played by Ron Harper, who would later appear in the PLANET OF THE APES and LAND OF THE LOST TV shows. The great actress Gena Rowlands played Det. Carella's wife in several episodes
It wasn't the first time that comics covered the emerging modern drug problem, including juvenile delinquency and wayward youth. Harvey Comics published the legendary and highly-collectible TEEN-AGE DOPE SLAVES "As Exposed by Rex Morgan, M.D." (COMICS LIBRARY #1, April 1952). Morgan was the main character in a soapy newspaper comic strip written by Dal Curtis (aka psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis) and drawn by Marvin Bradley, Frank Springer, et al.
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| Cover art by Marvin Bradley and Frank Edgington. |
Avon Comics published REFORM SCHOOL GIRL! (1951), a series of tough female delinquent stories based on THE HOUSE OF FURY, a 1950 novel by Felice Swados. It was reprinted numerous times, with one of the editions using the same photo cover as the comic book. Also of note was the play, WEST SIDE STORY (Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Steven Sondheim) produced later in the 1950's, which glamorized youth gangs.
In the 87th PRECINCT comic, this time drugs were addressed as an adult issue and the underlying theme of whether or not drug use was best treated as a criminal offense or as a medical condition that could be treated without criminal penalties, including incarceration. The story was scripted by an unknown writer and illustrated by Ed Ashe.
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| An antiquated description of an addict, but the basic message hasn't changed. |
In any event, this seemingly insignificant, one-off comic foreshadowed these exact same issues over 50 years later which are still being debated today, with any solutions unfortunately being overwhelmed by the incredibly wide use of more powerful and dangerous drugs, a quicker path to addiction and the associated alarming rate of fatality.
WOW! Based on a TV series or not, I'm stunned that DELL Comics-- the "we don' need no *steenking* Code Seal" publisher with their proud "Pledge to Parents" in every issue-- would depict a subject like heroin addiction AT ALL.
ReplyDeleteBut here, it's not danced around or suggested-- we see the needles, the tracks on the arms-- and most surprisingly, we see the repeated graphic depiction of violence and murder committed by junkies desperate to get a fix.
I mean, how do you square that "so wholesome we don't even need to be looked over by the Code watchdogs" image with that panel where a guy is *putting a knife point into a woman's throat, right beside an image of the Madonna and Child over the bed she's being dragged from*?
Or the image two panels later that's almost certainly a sardonic reference to Norman Rockwell's iconic SATURDAY EVENiNG POST cover "The Runaway"-- published just four years earlier-- with the runaway kid at the lunch counter replaced by an adult junkie picking the pocket of the cop substitute on the stool beside him?
And yet just three years later, DELL bowdlerized their MOVIE COMICS version of TWO ON A GUILLOTINE to the extent that the ending barely makes any sense-- including removing what the plot clearly establishes as a FAKE severed head from Cesar Romero's hands in the photo-swipe art, so he's just gesturing oddly and talking to an empty space between his hands.
Was there a backlash to this issue or something?
Thanks for posting this little gem, John! I'd never heard about it-- and I could practically hear Dr. Wertham doing backflips in his grave while I was reading it!
-- hsc
Yes, indeed it checked more than one box off the CCA's "forbidden" list. My best guess is that it passed as a sort of "public service announcement".
ReplyDeleteDELL proudly operated outside the CCA, and this issue was practically like they were flaunting the lack of oversight.
ReplyDeleteThey even threw in a panel with a curvy woman "in need" writhing in bed, thighs open and "headlights" thrusting, while moaning "Bring something!" And this is directly over a panel showing an unambiguous suicide by hanging!
While they may possibly have intended all this as a "public service" alerting the public to the serious problem of drugs, the cover just presents this as a typical issue of 87TH PRECINCT, with the cover blurb promising "A SMASHING SAGA OF ACTION AND INTRIGUE!!"
The inside front and back covers do acknowledge a "great debate" over the issue of drug addiction, but the art for both pages depicting derelicts and the gruesome text for the back cover is still veering towards exploitative, rather than purely educational.
Given that DELL always paid lip service to creating comics that were "safe" for young readers, I'm surprised there wasn't some sort of "SPECIAL MESSAGE TO PARENTS" in this issue. The back cover doesn't appear to be included in this set of scans; was one possibly carried there, or was it just a third-party ad?
Just to be completely clear: I'm not actually knocking this comic book or really even knocking DELL for having published it.
It's just that this comic is so out of character for this publisher that it's like reading that there's a secret "blooper reel" from MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD where Fred Rogers repeatedly flubs lines, spews obscenities each time, and finally drops trou and moons "the stupid paste-eating little f*ckers that just paid for my new Maserati!"
Thanks again for finding and posing this gem, John! (By any chance, do you have an issue of BETTY AND VERONICA where Betty has to raise funds to pay for an illegal abortion?)
-- hsc
This issue is definitely an anomaly. Since I have never (that I can remember) come across any information regarding the why's and wherefore's of Dell's motivation behind publishing it, and any comment is left to the whims of conjecture. It is most certain that it never went to the CCA for review, so it was published without their approval. It is likely that, had they the opportunity, it would have surely been eviscerated per the Code. This is a controversy that may never be resolved. Oh, and it was Veronica that needed the procedure!
ReplyDeleteYes, something was definitely amiss at the Dell offices in '62---Perhaps losing a huge chunk of their licensed properties to Gold Key as well as decreased distribution prompted a "go-for-broke/who cares" attitude towards their output.
ReplyDeleteAlso from that year is issue #1308 of the Four Color series, an adaption of the animated TV program, "Tales of the Wizard of Oz" drawn by longtime animator Larry Silverman and it has to be seen to be believed. The story and its bizarre, unsettling imagery supposedly contain references and symbols of the occult, and all rendered in the show's simple, kiddie-friendly style. It practically comes across as a "underground" comic for the grade school crowd.
Interesting observation, Top Cat James. Perhaps Dell got ticked off at that (and maybe someone else at the CCA, too) and the book was their way of saying "Take that, you #!@$*!!". The Dell Four Color Oz comic sounds fascinating -- will have to check into that. Thanks for the tip.
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