The action artwork is by artist Robert Q. Sale. “Tension!” is from Atlas’s Crime Fighters #12 (1954), a few months before the Comics Code went into business, and would probably have given a first-round knockout to a story like this.
As a person whose weightlifting and muscle building regimen means lifting a pencil, or getting my butt out of bed in the morning, this is another good example (of many) of why I would not want to go to prison.
In 1945 the Department of Corrections for the State of California issued a 12 page pamphlet for new prison inmates. It shows prison to be a place where training for improvements in one's life can be made. Which depiction do I believe? That is a rhetorical question. Since my personal belief is I would not last a day in prison, I have to go with prison being an unpleasant and rough place, and not believe the relatively placid look at captivity in the latter.
The artist, who signed his name “Peek,” was described only as “a talented inmate.” Peek showed the skills of a commercial artist from that era. The display lettering, which was important to an artist in those days, is impeccable. The illustrations, probably done from photographs, are also good. I hope when Peek’s time was up he got out, got a job as an artist, and never went back to prison.
Popular fiction about prisons often imputes an honor code to the prisoners, such that, for example, Brandon is able to bait Kelt into a battle of blows. Codes do develop within prisons, but they are based in the various perceived interests of the prisoners.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's just unimaginable that the warden would give the prisoners access to the arsenal in order to save the lives of the hostages. It's by grabbing someone with access or by brute mechanical force that inmates get into prison arsenals.
Setting aside Alcatraz and the San Quentin Penitentiary, I know little about California's prisons in 1945 but, when last I knew, California's prisons were grotesquely over-crowded. There was a measure on the ballot some years ago to extract most non-violent offenders from prison and subject them to some alternative, but that measure was soundly defeated. People are taught to see the government — the institution of violence — as the means to answer all our social questions, so we have mass incarceration. And the costs to those outside of prison are held-down by allowing the cost to those inside prison to be inhumane. Further, it is in the nature of things for the most terrible costs typically to be borne by those prisoners who had been the least troublesome outside of prison. There is plenty of room for disagreement amongst reasonable people about what should be done with those who violate the rights of others, but our current criminal code, judicial system, and penal system are inexcusable.
Your position, when convicted of a crime, might now be less dire than that of the typical prisoner, as you'd probably be housed amongst older inmates. However, it seems that some prisons have done a very bad job of protecting their older inmates against SARS-CoV-2. I don't know what to tell you, though, because our prosecutors have become disinterested in guilt and will convict those whom they can.
Fascinating. Peek is fantastic. I also like Q. Sale and, if I recall correctly, several years ago Pappy you had a Crime Wave marathon here on the blog and mention Q. Sale died in his 30s'.. is anything else known about him?
ReplyDeleteWm, thanks for the note. The only things I know about Sale is he shared studio space in the forties with Harvey Kurtzman and John Severin. He went into commercial art after comics, and he died at the young age of 38. As one source says, he was "underrated," an assessment with which I agree.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago I got a note from Sale's daughter asking me if I knew anything about him. He died when she was very young, but like you, I could only refer her to what is published about him online.
Daniel, I agree with you, "...our current criminal code, judicial system, and penal system are inexcusable." There are so many flaws in not just written law, but the administration of same. The worst thing is what is evident with police, and prejudice having a lot to do with what happens to someone being arrested...or killed by police.
ReplyDeleteIn 1970 I spent two weeks with an Army Reserve unit from Los Angeles. All white guys, mostly police. I overheard some LA County Sheriff's deputies talking about minorities and what they did to them when they pulled them over for a stop. I was shocked. They didn't sound like the two cops on Adam-12! A few years later when I saw the videotape of cops beating the shit out of Rodney King it reminded me of those cops at the Reserve camp.
I also listened to my wife's stepbrother, who spent several years working as a guard in prison, and he had nothing good to say about any of it. It left an impression on me.
P.S. I don't plan on going to prison because I am probably the most law-abiding guy I know. Like the old saying, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." Amen!