Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine

Number 611


Eat it raw!


Here's a scary story about meat. It's from Tiny Tot Comics #7, 1947. If this story had been shown to me when I was a kid it's possible I could be a vegan today. It's drawn by Tiny Tot regular Burton Geller. We'll have some more by Mr. Geller in the future, but nothing this bizarre.

Tiny Tot was an EC Comics title, back when Max Gaines was the publisher/editor, and when EC stood for Educational Comics. Max Gaines died in the summer of 1947 from a boating accident. The company wasn't doing very well, and at the behest of Max's widow was taken over by their reluctant son, Bill Gaines. Bill dumped the kiddie books, although he retained the use of the name Tiny Tot as one of the various names used in the indicia as publisher of record.

A couple of years later EC Comics published titles like Tales From the Crypt, Haunt of Fear and Vault of Horror. It was in Crypt #32 that another story of meat was published. "T'aint the Meat, It's the Humanity," was a story of greed, in the best EC tradition. During World War II meat was rationed. Butcher Zach Gristle was offered some black market meat and was able to make a big profit for himself. Unfortunately, some of the meat was tainted, and led to the confrontation with Mrs. Gristle, shown in the panels below. It was one of the more gruesome EC endings, but also ghoulishly funny.

"Peter and Pinky in Meat Land"* is also gruesome in its own way, but not so funny. "Raw meat...raw meat anyone? Eh, eh..."