Number 579
I pity the poor immigrant...
It's a shame that this decades-old story should seem so timely and modern. I'm sorry we're not past tribalism. Old prejudices and xenophobia
The story is written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita, originally published in Menace #3, May 1953.
Stan recycled this in a story called "The Hidden Face", drawn by Steve Ditko. A few of the elements were the same, but the punchline was that the guy was only THINKING he was taking hoods off of his face...his face was perfectly intact when the cops came to get him and realized he was insane.
ReplyDeletePappy: What an amazing clean, well told story. amazing ending. is this artwork typical of Romata, Sr. from this period? It is unlike anything I've ever seen from him, but I am mostly familiar with his much later work. I think, with the fine, feathered line work, it almost looks like Crumb in a few panels. -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteI've probably seen "The Hidden Face," but don't remember it specifically. Recycling stories and plots is bread and butter to a comic book writer.
ReplyDeleteAs for Romita's art, this is drawn for a horror comic so it's done in a slightly different style than he'd do for a love story or superhero. He was always a very versatile artist.
Gee, sounds like Washington's race for governor last year.
ReplyDeleteLove this one Pappy!
ReplyDeleteHe's like the evil Archie Bunker.
ReplyDeletenow THIS is scary!...
ReplyDeleteGreat reprint, Pappy! Though on one hand I know this is Lee following the lead of EC Comics' breakthroughs, I'm glad to see him putting his hand to this kind of realistic melodrama about racism and xenophobia, over 10 years before he and Jack Kirby (essentially) broke the superhero color barrier. I like the fact that the main guy even knocks his wife for being a "Swede," which used to carry a negative charge not unlike the (sadly-still-current) use of "Polak."
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