Prepare yourselves for another dandy dose of sex, blood, murder and mayhem that was ubiquitous in 1950's pre-Code crime comics. Truthfully, it's no wonder parents were aghast if they bothered to see the kind of comics their kids were reading. Personally, while there may have been a few instances otherwise, I am against the idea that children got the idea to copy the violence they read in comics in real life. It may have been fun to play monsters, super-heroes and cops and robbers, but as far as my research has taken me, there was no wide-spread plague of physical violence and bloodshed acted out by youngsters as a result of reading a comic book story. As Bill Gaines once said during his Senate Subcommittee testimony: "Nobody has ever been ruined by a comic."
This is the only horror comic represented here and it's a glaring example of Fredric Wertham's coined phrase: "injury to the eye motif."
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Mister Mystery #12 (Stanley Morse, July 1953).
Art by Bernard Baily. |
Make no mistake, many crime comic stories contained a heady subtext of horror, or at least, horrifying imagery.
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| Underworld Crime #7 (Sept. 1953). |
Even ALL-NEGRO COMICS got in the act with unabashed violence as seen on this page.
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| All-Negro Comics #1 (June 1947). Art by John Terrell. |
The third panel suggests possible sexual assault as well as murder in this pre-1950's comic. LAW AGAINST CRIME #3 (Essankay, August 1948). Art by L.B. Cole. |
| Multiple, bloody bullet holes. |
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A woman beaten and bloodied. Her dress off the shoulder
adds a sexual element. |
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| Five shootings in six panels!. |
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| Fangs and claws makes this murderer a monster. |
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Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #1 (Charlton, Jan. 1953).
Art by Stan Campbell. |
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| "Getting A-Head", art by Dennis Laugen. |
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| A brutal and explicit car crash. Art by Lou Morales and Dennis Laugen. |
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| Beauty and the Blast in "Yesterday's Murder", art by Stan Campbell. |
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Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #11 (Charlton, March 1953).
Art by Lou Morales. |
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| Vicious dismemberment with a side-order of cheesecake. |
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Strangulation was one of the most-used methods of murder.
Art by Dick Giordano and Al Fago. |
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| More cheesecake and a violent end for this gal. |
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Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #12 (Charlton, May 1953).
Art by Art Cappello. |
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Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #13 (Charlton, July 1953).
Art by Dick Giordano. |
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| "Sharp Idea", art by John Belfi. |
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| "Change in Script", art by Carl Memling and Stan Asch. |
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Strange Suspense Stories #15 (Charlton, Nov. 1953).
Art by Dick Giordano. |
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| Attacked and eaten by ants. Art by Stan Asch. |
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| Acid in the face. Art by ? |
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| Fingerprint removal gone horribly wrong. Art by John Belfi. |
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