Number 1367: Three from Suspense

I've taken three stories from Suspense Comics, a title which lasted for 12 issues in the forties, because they remind me of old radio shows or B-movies. And why not? That’s what the people reading comic books were doing for entertainment in those days. (Those poor deprived citizens, with so few distractions in their daily lives. Unlike today, of course, where our whole lives seem lived for distractions. Ah. But I digress.)

The cover of this issue is by L. B. Cole. The stories are drawn by comic book journeymen John Giunta, George Appel, and Don Rico.

From Suspense Comics #6 (1944):

Earlier this year I showed a couple of stories from this issue by the fine artist/WPA muralist turned cartoonist, Louis Ferstadt. Click on the picture to see that posting:

Number 1100


One thousand Pappy posts ago


In Pappy's #100, posted on February 27, 2007, I showed one of the printings of this story, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." I scanned the Strange Suspense Stories version published by Charlton in '54, which was actually the third printing (by the third publisher) of the same strip in five years. Read my original comments at Pappy's #100 to see the unusual publishing history of this story.

The version here comes from Startling Terror Tales #10 in 1952. If you don't want to ruin your eyesight on my crappy 2007 scans, you can see much better scans of the Strange Suspense Stories version at The Horrors Of It All for part 1, and here for part 2.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is drawn by Wally Wood, and I believe it's inked by Wood collaborator Harry Harrison, who once bragged about how fast he could ink a page. This does have a hurried quality to it, but that could be because it was drawn originally for publisher Victor Fox, who was notorious for being late on payments, if he paid at all. Maybe Wood and Harrison didn't want to give it the full treatment because of that. The first few pages have more detail than the last pages, for instance. But despite that it has come down to us as a really interesting and vintage horror comics version of the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The cover is by L. B. Cole.

Number 758


Doc Weiner and CSI 1951


According to the Grand Comics Database, "Seek the Strangler," from Crime Fighting Detective #14, March 1951, is drawn by L. B. Cole.

This is an entertaining 11-page story featuring the work of a New York serologist and bacteriolist, Dr. Alex Weiner, helping build a conviction in a strangler murder. I have no idea how much of this story is true. The science part sounds legitimate. Forensics shows are really popular on television right now. I can think of several, three of which are in the CSI franchise. Like "Seek the Strangler" they feature science, but also morbid murder.

Dr. Wertham might be thrilled to know this, but just as he claimed children were using crime comics to learn how to be criminals, so are some TV viewers using forensics shows for instruction on how to get away with crime.