Number 2305: A Seduction tale: Hands off!

This story, from Tom Mix Western #9, is what is called a Seduction of the Innocent (or SOTI) story. The complaint about  “Hands Off!” is told in Chapter 12 of Fredric Wertham, M.D.’s infamous anti-comics book. If you go to the link below you will find a blogsite with the chapter, which will explain more. Why Wertham and Tom Mix Western publisher Fawcett got into the threat of a lawsuit for libel and other back-and-forth between them is fascinating, with its example of how a publisher could become defensive about their product when it was singled out by Wertham.

As for my opinion of the story, I think it is thin; Tom has a dummy of himself, made by Indians. Why? No reason given. It figures into the story’s end, though. In one of his rebuttals to Fawcett’s argument Wertham says there are three pictures of “hacked-off hands” in a box found by two little boys. No hands are shown in the pictures, so that’s misleading. Cutting off hands does seem to be the talent of the tale’s villain, besides being a sharpshooter who has escaped from an “insane asylum.” Wertham doesn’t mention the two pages of panels where Tom Mix is hanging by his wrists from a tree limb. Bondage and torture were big in comic books, but if the victim and villain are both male, maybe it didn’t count with Wertham.

Comedy relief was supplied by a panel of Tom Mix standing on his head and shooting his gun while riding his galloping horse. As a kid I saw acrobatic cowboy action in many of the old B-movie Westerns I watched, but that one was new to me!

Tom Mix Western #9 was published in 1948; Grand Comics Database has no artist or writer listed.

Fredric Wertham, M.D., spoke of this Tom Mix story in his book, Seduction of the Innocent. You can read the relevant information on this website: Altruistic World Online Library.

Number 2275: Mix-ing reality with fantasy

Tom Mix was a Western star of silent movies. He made dozens of movies, but only nine after the silent era was over and sound came in. He made a lot of money and spent it. He died in a car wreck in 1940, age 60. Interestingly, he lived on after death in radio programs, performed by other actors, and in comic books. One comic book was a premium from the cereal company Ralston-Purina, and then a 10¢ series from Fawcett Publications which lasted until 1953.

He looked great in a cowboy hat. Not every man can wear a hat like Tom Mix.

I mention it because in the 9-page story Mix is shown in his trademark 10-gallon hat in only two panels.

Fawcett had a bunch of B-movie Western stars under contract for their line of B-movie Western comic books. William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd got two comics, one as Hopalong, the other as Bill Boyd. Unlike Tom Mix, I don’t believe any of the other comic book cowboys from Fawcett comics at that time were deceased. I probably need not say they are now.

“The Deal of Death” is from Tom Mix Western #17 (1949). The cover was painted by illustrator Norm Saunders. Artwork for the story is by Carl Pfeufer.