Number 2307: The world goes to the dogs...and rats

Jack Kirby’s “The Last Enemy,” from Harvey Comics’ Alarming Tales, reminds me of Kirby’s later Kamandi series for DC. When Kamandi came out some fans were reminded of Planet of the Apes (as I recall, Kirby denied that it was the basis.) Animals taking over the planet is not a new idea. Having animals take over for humans is only a step away from the anthropomorphized animals that humans have created in fiction, and in real life with their pets.

I like the story’s compact 6-page format, and Kirby’s dramatic artwork. Something I wonder about, though: Where do the rats and dogs get tobacco for pipes and cigarettes? Do they grow tobacco, make cigarettes in factories or roll their own? Just askin'.

The Grand Comics Database gives Kirby sole credit. From Alarming Tales #1 (1957).

Number 2251: Not-so-alarming Alarming Tales

I bought a copy of Alarming Tales #1 from a drugstore comic book rack in 1957. I tried to keep it away from my mother, who was a born censor. Printed material she didn’t approve of would be tossed into the incinerator.

I loved the comic, which came from the Simon and Kirby studio. The stories, six decades later, still carry a punch. I especially liked “The Fourth Dimension is a Very Splattered Thing.” Grand Comics Database gives Kirby credit for both pencils and inks and the script. Jack got a chance to draw some surrealism and have a boy-meets-girl romance, all in five pages!

Mom did find it, and disposed of it. [Sound effect of my gnashing teeth.]

Alarming Tales is not a horror comic. To Mom it was. (The title, Alarming Tales, and the dark cover probably pushed her inner Dr Wertham button.) Publisher Harvey Comics decided not to confuse their usual young readers and not chase away older readers; they put a different colophon in the upper left corner of the cover, calling it a Thrill Adventure. It gave me a thrill...especially when Mom reminded me of her parental disapproval with her comic book burnings.

Number 1225: Mom alarmed by Alarming Tales

In 1958, when bringing home a stack of comics from my weekly trip to the drugstore, anything that looked like a horror comic went to the bottom or middle of the stack so Mom couldn't see it. Even though 1958 comics weren't horror comics like the pre-Code horror, if it looked like horror to Mom it was banned. I slipped up, and she saw me reading this when she came into my room. She snatched it out of my hands and I didn't see another copy of Alarming Tales #3 for several decades.

The cover was drawn by Joe Simon in Jack Kirby's style.

I'm showing three stories today, the cover story, “They Walked On Water,” “The Strange One,” both drawn by Doug Wildey, and “Get Lost,” drawn by Ernie Schroeder. Schroeder we know from several Airboy stories posted on this blog. These stories are all Code-approved, but even without being horror they are  moody and have a lot of atmosphere. The first two stories are swamp gothic, and “The Strange One” is set mostly in the dark, with deep shadows and dark figures.

This is the fourth Harvey posting this month. It's a coincidence and I didn't notice it until now. You have to admit, despite all being from the same publisher, the entries are very different from each other. I even have more Harvey Comics coming up in the next few weeks.