Out Come The Freaks
April 26, 2008 by The Fortress Keeper
It’s safe to say that pre-Code horror titles like The Tormented were not appropriate for the young audience that enjoyed Walt Disney’s Comics And Stories. Unfortunately, parents at the time decided it was better to turn the issue over to political opportunists and self-righteous book-burners than actually take the time to monitor their children’s reading material.
(Times haven’t changed all that much either. Remember the furor over the 2Live Crew and Grand Theft Auto?)
Social and political pressure, which ultimately led to the formation of the Comics Code Authority, squeezed the life out of the funnybook industry and doomed a mass-media art form that once reached millions to its current status as a farm league for Hollywood super-hero blockbusters and the resulting merchandise tie-ins.
(At its peak, Lev Gleason’s Crime Doesn’t Pay boasted seven-figure circulation numbers monthly. Even after sales dropped to the point where the publisher could no longer stay in business, the title moved more than 80,000 copies a month - a number that puts modern comics “success stories” in perspective)
However, there is somewhat of a happy ending. Thanks to the wonders of the Net and public domain regulations, many of those wild and woolly pre-Code comics are available once again for perusal.
While much of it is crude - but engaging - schlock, there’s a certain “anything goes” energy about many of the titles that is quite liberating to a reader like your humble host, who has been battered senseless by corporately mandated story-lines that change childhood favorites “forever” … and often for the worse.
But, hey … we’ve gone down this path before. Instead of carping about the good old days, let’s instead share the latest treasure unearthed at the great Golden Age Comics Downloads Web site.
It’s easy to praise the work of a Jack Cole, Reed Crandall or Joe Kubert, but every once in a while the Keeper encounters some freaky-@$% story by an obscure creator that positively blows our socks off.
“Caterpillar House” from The Tormented #1 is such a tale. The Grand Comic Book Database postulates the story may have been drawn by Mike Roy, a name we have not heard before. Still, this story is bizarre to say the least and guaranteed to cause at few nightmares to unsuspecting readers.
Here it is, but remember you’ve been warned!
that’s just wrong. so very wrong. because of that, i am now afraid of caterpillars. thank you.
You’re welcome!
*evil cackle*