Crime Patrol #11 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

(Issue read was Crime Patrol #5, the Gemstone Publishing August, 2000 Reprint Edition)

Though 1950-55 was the heyday of EC Comics, William Gaines and company were perfecting their brand in the late 1940s. Starting out as International Comics before a name change to International Crime Patrol, what would become just Crime Patrol with issue #7, focused on gritty violent crime stories. The police might not get their man. But justice was always done by the end of each story.

In 1949, when this issue was originally published, publisher Gaines and editor and artist Al Feldstein had begun to experiment with horror. That's why the middle story, 'The Werewolf's Curse'!, was included in a book devoted to criminal activity. As readers of Crime Patrol began to write letters praising these tales of terror, Gaines and Feldstein saw the merits in releasing an all horror comic. Crime Patrol #15 introduced readers to the Crypt Keeper who hosted the Feldstein tale 'Return From the Grave' Two issues later, Crime Patrol morphed into The Crypt of Terror, hosted by the ghoulish Crypt Keeper. Another two issues later, the publication would make more final name change to Tales From The Crypt and the short-lived Age of EC Comics was born. As a cost-cutting measure with US Postal Service permits, the numbering was never altered throughout the publication's lengthy evolution.

Crime Patrol #11's first story claims to be a true life tale taken from the files of the FBI. Proclaiming that the names were changed to protect the innocence, the true crime moniker was more than likely a story gimmick to sensationalize the kidnapping of a wealthy socialite for ransom by a couple of small time crooks. 

The third story is an account of a female pickpocket forced into working as a card sharp for a seedy carnival owner. There is no mention of this tragic tale being based on reality or not.

As for the middle feature, 'The Werewolf's Curse!', it's based on a classic horror trope. A pair of siblings have inherited a castle. Legend has it that the fortress is cursed by a werewolf which both heirs laugh off as pure legend. That is until their faithful dog and the caretaker of the manner are both mauled by an unseen assailant. This story lacks the signature twist ending that would become the staple of the EC line. Instead, the reader is left to wonder if there really was a curse of a lycanthrope or if the countryside was terrorized by some other unknown beast that could walk on two legs.

With this issue, featuring art and story Al Feldstein with contributions by Richard Krause, Howard Larsen, H.C. Kiefer and a dramatic cover by Johnny Craig, this isn't a perfect EC Comic, but you can see that things are slowly falling into place for William Gaines and company.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #18 (An EC Comic (Reprints are allowed) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Classics Illustrated #62: Bret Harte's Western Stories (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

I think it's an unwritten rule amongst established comic book collectors- if you find an original issue of Classics Illustrated and you can afford it; YOU BUY IT! Even if you have no idea who the author is, as was the case with me and this issue.

Bret Harte isn't a former professional wrestler. Instead, he's a rather obscure writer of Westerns; in particular tales about mining towns and the drunks, gamblers and outlaws that occupy them. A New Yorker, Harte went west to California in the 1850s. After a couple of years trying his hand at mining, Harte took his experiences and wrote a romanticized version of the West that gained immediate popularity. 

In between jobs as an educator, journalist and even the secretary of the San Francisco Mint, Bret Harte penned a number of short stories with tragic endings. 'The Luck of Roaring Camp' and 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat', both of which are collected in this 1949 issue are no exception. All of the main characters die tragically, despite amazing tales that bring the reader into an almost awe of the surroundings and events. 

Unlike the characters he created, Bret Harte returned back east in 1871. Having found his fame and fortune, Harte did something unusual on his return home, he stopped writing about life out west. Instead, Harte began writing historical romances about aristocrats. Almost immediately, the writer lost his audience and later attempts to recapture that lightning in a bottle came to naught as interest in stories about the gold rush had become passe, replaced by the mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Poe and the science fiction fantasies of H.G. Wells and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Harte died in 1901 and would have faded into near obscurity if not for the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1919, John Ford directed the first of at least 5 adaptations of The Outcasts of Poker Flat which tells of a group of settlers run out of town only to get snowed in at a makeshift camp in the harsh Sierra Nevada. Over the years, Harte's body of work has been captured on celluloid including 1955's Tennessee's Partner starring Ronald Reagan, an acclaimed musical, a spaghetti Western; even a Soviet era cowboy flick!

Classics Illustrated #62: Bret Harte's Western Stories were reprinted 9 times with the last edition debuting in 1968. The artwork was by Henry C. Kiefer, a student of such studios as the Iger Shop and Funnies Inc. Along with a biography of Mr. Harte, this issue contains prose articles on the opera Pagliacci, the discovery of the magnetic south pole and a popular breed of dog. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #1 (Comic from the Golden Age (1938-1956) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.