Number 1682: Pig woman

I read the question in the splash panel, Why did they call Edna Crow the “PIG WOMAN”? My first thought was of the old saying, “There are two kinds of faces: pig faces and fox faces.” But then reading further on I saw that Edna is called the Pig Woman because of her bestial behavior.

Oh.

Pardon me, but I never heard of a pig running a speakeasy or killing a drunk for his life insurance. It makes more sense to me that Edna is piggy because artists Mike Roy and John Belfi draw her with a pig face. But whatever the reason, Edna ended up like many pigs: barbecued!

From Crime and Punishment #6 (1948):

Number 1681: Musclebound Skyman

In the early days of Big Shot Comics Skyman, drawn by Ogden Whitney, was presented as a large musclebound hero. Eventually Skyman was drawn as a more lean character. Frankly, I think the big arms and chest make him look a little top-heavy, and perhaps the folks who produced Big Shot Comics thought so, also.

Skyman was a rich playboy (yawwwwnnnnn), who used his tricked-out plane, the Wing, to help him catch criminals. The rich guy who has nothing better to do than put on a mask and costume and fight crime was done to the point of absurdity in those days, but it made it easier to explain how he had the money to get by without having to go to a day job.

From Big Shot Comics #3 (1940):

More Skyman, first with his big muscles, then as he was after trimming down.

Number 1680: Adventures into EC imitation

In the last few issues of their horror titles before the Comics Code was implemented, the American Comics Group dropped its regular vampire/werewolf/ghost stories for less “objectionable” fare. Unlike some other publishers, EC’s Bill Gaines, for instance, who took opposition to the forces that were looking to either kill or censor comic books, ACG decided it needed to voluntarily make some changes. In Adventures Into the Unknown #60 (Nov.-Dec., 1954), an editorial on the state of the horror comics says, “ . . . As violations of good taste [by rival publishers] increased — as pictorial content grew more and more lurid — it was inevitable that a wave of protest should come into being. Such protest is constructive, we feel — save where it attempts to condemn the entire realm of comics because of the sins of the few.” [Emphasis mine.]

ACG was one of the few publishers signed up for the Code able to make the transition and keep the line going. It lasted another 12 years, until 1967. But in the few remaining pre-Code issues something different from what their readers were used to was tried, and that was the “shock ending” type of story. It was a style used by EC, and imitated by some of their competitors. ACG tried it, and as an example came up with this science fiction story. It was a short-lived experiment. The art is by Kenneth Landau.

Two more Landau stories: another pre-Code tale, and the very last story published in Forbidden Worlds in 1967. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1679: Frankenstein and the housing shortage

There was a serious shortage of housing in America at the end of World War II. GIs were returning by the millions and finding there was nowhere to live. That was to be expected from a country which had turned over all its industries to the war effort. It took a while to catch up on producing consumer goods. But that is the reality in the otherwise unreal world of the funky Frankenstein of Dick Briefer, as published in Prize Comics #51 (1945).

The story also gives a satiric nod to Briefer’s friend, Bruce Elliott, a magician and pulp writer who gets credit at times for helping Briefer write his stories.

Going back to the very early days of this blog...just click on the thumbnail for another Frankenstein story that uses the end of the war as a plot device.

Number 1678: A good girl in bad company

Sally Gant is a decent gal who made a bad mistake. She tried to cover for her brother who shot a cop. Tsk tsk. Sally should know that shooting a cop is a bad rap and she would end up in the joint. Apparently Sally has a kindly jail matron who warns her of “tough” females. That doesn’t stop Sally from going to her bunk bare (okay, so her arms and shoulders are bare. I am letting my imagination run away with me). Anyway, after getting out of jail and being shunned by her slovenly father, Sally gets with Irma, one of those tough girls she was warned about by the matron (who, by the way, thinks Sally is a “sweet girl.” I am always reading things into these types of situations, I know, and it is true I have seen a lot of women in prison movies). Irma also kicks Sally out but just in time! The place is about to be raided, and Roger, The Guy Who Really Loves Sally comes to her rescue.

As far as I can tell, Sally was doing just what Irma was doing to be busted: violating her parole by consorting with known felons. Tsk tsk, again. She’s fortunate to be “in” with the parole officer.

The story is from Our Secret #4 (1949). You will notice at the top of each page it says My Secret, but that is because for the first three issues that was the name of the comic and the Jerry Iger Studio, who wrote and drew the contents of this comic, already had the job in to the publisher when the change was made. The publisher is Superior, a Canadian publisher who is more infamous for its line of horror comics, also drawn by the Iger gang. This is probably the most decently printed of any Superior comic I have ever seen, since in my opinion Superior had an inferior printer.

So is this a love story or a crime story? What makes it a love story is Sally ends up in an embrace and not the electric chair, a sure sign of a crime comic.