The Undead Thread: Pre-Code Horror 21 21

[ajaxfarrell]

FIGHT AGAINST CRIME # 20 in this vintage group of PRE-CODE comic books.

I cross posted this in the NEWSSTAND PIC thread

 

Title: City councilman Ernest Debs holding horror comic books that were purchased in his district in Los Angeles, Calif., 1954

Publication: Los Angeles Daily News

Publication date: 1

LINK

[rjpb]

Somewhere in Los Angeles the files of former councilman Ernest Debs are boxed up and sitting in storage, and stuffed in a file folder is a slightly manhandled copy of FAC #20 and five other pre-code gems.

[PokerKid]

Somewhere in Los Angeles the files of former councilman Ernest Debs are boxed up and sitting in storage, and stuffed in a file folder is a slightly manhandled copy of FAC #20 and five other pre-code gems.

 

I know my press pass must be around here somewhere. Time for a public records request.

Nice collection, I can see why the media was so interested.

[precodekeith]

Does anyone find it somewhat ironic that the front facing book in the other hand is an ACG, when many pre-code collectors still consider the company "tame" in comparison to the "other guys"??

[BB-Gun]

I found a scan of a beat up copy of Dark Mysteries 13 and thought it needed a little cleaning up. It also needed a little color added. Doesn't it make more sense this way?

bb

[Jayman]

New pick-up! Contains a canabalism story but the gem for me was the first story by Ingals, "About Face".

 

 

This issue also contains an E.C. editorial plea to it's readers to defend horror and crime comics right as the Senate Subcommittee was about to pull the plug on the whole violence in comics deal. Very interesting, as there is a certain amount of desperation within it.

 

[ajaxfarrell]

"These people are militant." and " ...the pressure from this minority may force comics from the American scene."

 

also, "The newsdealer gets frightened and removes them (comics) from the display"...

 

This would be a great subject for a documentary.

 

I would love to hear peoples recollections of just how poorly comics were looked down upon. The real-life stories would be great. Maybe interview some old fella who used to own a newsstand and felt the HEAT to remove the CRIME and HORROR comics.

 

Cool Article.

[Jayman]

I love this era in comics, where the government gets involved with witchhunts!

Great stuff! I like the line: Among these “do-gooders” are a psychiatrist who has made a lucrative career of attacking comic magazines...

 

Gee, ya think they mean Wertham?

[BB-Gun]

I found a scan of a beat up copy of Dark Mysteries 13 and thought it needed a little cleaning up. It also needed a little color added. Doesn't it make more sense this way?

bb

 

 

Above are before and after scans. I think my changes make it more anatomically correct. Scans from GA.UK

 

I thought that the stories couldn't be as gross as the covers. But I was wrong.

bb

[rjpb]

"Horror of the Mixed Torsos" is a demented classic! After reading a B/W reprint in Tale to Terrible to Tell - and then seeing what the cover looked like - it became a must have.

[precodekeith]

I love this era in comics, where the government gets involved with witchhunts!

 

I'm with ya! I like the editorial as well. I don't recall any other publishers doing anything like this. Just shows how Gaines' activism was another cutting edge type of thing, that was leading the way.

[precodekeith]

OT here. Shiverbones broke the news earlier in CG, and I'm pretty torn up over this. I don't usually take celeb deaths with any difficulty (especially w/me being a hospice nurse), but this one is bothering me. Lux Interior, singer for the Cramps, has passed away.

 

The reason I want to mention it here is because the Cramps were (I can't believe I'm using past tense) a band that just WALLOWED in 50's culture, especially horror & b-movie camp. So, if you've interest in pre-code horror comics, you may just want to try & give the Cramps a listen if you haven't yet.

[rjpb]

I haven't listened to the Cramps in years (my Cramps albums are on vinyl - to give you an idea how long) - and their sound and style (and often the songs themselves) were taken from the 60's garage band era - but I would agree that they were part of the pop culture nexus that includes pre-code horror - B movies - and stripped down rock n' roll.

[mike h]

Lux was a big fan of EC comics.

[precodekeith]

Yes he was, as well as a serious vinyl collector. I'm betting if he collected EC's, he probably had other pre-code horror, too.

[precodekeith]

... and I will try to see if I can dredge it up, but I seem to recall some B&W pics of Lux & Ivy in what looked like a record store/comic shop, but turns out it was a room in their house! Gotta find it...

[precodekeith]

...another gap filler in the old AIU run...

[shiverbones]

The Burt Reynolds Death bat!

[shiverbones]

... and I will try to see if I can dredge it up, but I seem to recall some B&W pics of Lux & Ivy in what looked like a record store/comic shop, but turns out it was a room in their house! Gotta find it...

 

the pics were from the ReSearch Incredibly Strange Music book, but I forget if they were in Vol.1 or vol.2. Geat interview with the two of them talking about obscure old records they love.

[Jayman]

Just scored this off ebay!