This issue has stuck with me for years since I
first read it back in 1990. The cover bears the image of a group of child
carrying a scratch made coffin down a dirt path. The story is titled ‘Let The Punishment
Fit The Crime.’ In this tale, a group of children hold a mock funeral through a
small town. The town’s folk then recall how the kids asked them each questions
about justice and capital punishment. It’s only on the last page do we learn
that these kids have found one of their peers guilty of a criminal offense
(kidnapping a girl’s dolly) and had him killed by pushing him onto a live wire
and then buried.
Now my biggest peeve is if kids pushed
someone onto a live wire, how did they get the child off the electricity and
into a coffin without killing themselves in the process? But in the 1950s,
child advocacy groups hit a conniption fit with this issue, saying it
encouraged children to exact vigilante justice. (Interestingly enough, when Dr.
Wertham attacked the most well-known vigilante superhero, Batman, he didn’t
criticize his sense of justice. No, Dr. Wertham implied that since Batman hung
around with a young boy who wore hot pants, he must’ve been a homosexual! - Don’t
believe me- look it up on Google!)
Anyway,
back to this comic. I mentioned that civic groups saw this issue as a prime
example of being a bad influence on children. But I would argue that it would
be the advocates for children who did more damage than these comics. Wertham
skewed his research by twisting around the responses of the children he
interviewed until they forcefully admitted that they were deviants and in need
of therapy thanks to the damning influence of comics.
There’s another instance that I cannot
remember how I found out about this but I both read about it in the great book
about the comic book scare of the 50s called “The 10-cent Plague” and I saw a
video of the episode somewhere and I just cannot recall it for citing purposes.
But the program I recall was a 1950s news show that devotes one episode on
juvenile delinquency. In the episode, it showed kids reading EC Comics and then
smoking, playing with knives, and then tying up a chum and beating him up.
The
newscaster’s narration blames comic books for this wanton behavior. What he
does not mention is that producers of his show hired kids off the street, and
filmed them while encouraging them to use weapons and hog-tie one of their
friends. The only thing the kids reportedly did on their own volition was to
read the comic books. It was a bunch of so called responsible adults who put
the kids up to acting like a bunch of thugs.
There
are 3 more really good stories in this issue. First up is ‘Together They Lie,’
a creepy story of a man who discovers that his wife may not have been as
faithful to him as he originally believed. The ending of this story seems to me
might have heavily influenced the first vignette in the classic Stephen King
tribute to EC Comics, Creepshow.
After the cover story, we join old Doc
Swanson as he tracks down a killer in a small town in a story called “A Slight
Case of Murder!” I was on edge trying to guess who the killer was and I admit I
was shocked when I found out. But looking back, I can see that this issue must
have inspired the film Men In Black in a way. I won’t spoil it, but if you read
this tale, you’ll know I am right. Lastly, a marionette artist spends his final
night on earth reflecting on his art and his marriage that suddenly went sour.
It’s got a gruesome ending, but in my opinion the weakest of the 4 stories.
This
issue reprints Vault of Horror #33. It’s a favorite of mine and a spooky
classic.
Worth
Consuming
Rating:
9 out of 10 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment