Thursday, March 31, 2022

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Many people have referred to the horror comics of the 50's as "disposal entertainment", and maybe that's true, but occasionally precode comics also offered invaluable information over the years as well-- like in this story from the May 1953 issue of Fight Against Crime #13. Did you know that the apparent old Chinese custom of burying fish heads in your garden helps to create wonderful fertilizer? Now you do. And if you've also read the title of todays post, then you probably already know exactly where this smarty written, predictably awesome crime creeper is (be)headed!

6 comments:

JMR777 said...

Once more I ask the question 'Who says comic books are not educational?'

They say bone meal is good for plants, so the remains of these two bone heads should lead to a bumper crop of roses come next spring.

Guy Callaway said...

I'm sure I read this story in an EC mag, but rival publishers would never copy from another company, would they? ;)

Mr. Cavin said...

It's cool the way Goldfarb draws ears from behind like old timey typewriter keys or flat mushrooms or something--sticking off the head on a stalk. Examples are here and there, but my fave is the third panel of page three. That's a pretty sly piece of work in another way, too. Illustrating the fifties' convention of married couples in separate beds straight across like that centers the window, sure, but it also makes it look like Big Ed Conway's wife is right on top of him. Speaking of windows, Big Ed Goldfarb does seem to love them. There are fifteen frames of this thing with at least one window, and three of four more with hints--like shutters or panes of light projected onto a wall. There's one great frame near the end with a window seen through another window! How Hitchcockian.

I love that panel with Ed and Lola's floating heads surrounded by green paper and some kind of yellow coins. It summons up memories of contestant heads floating around the WHEEL OF FORTUNE set picking the best prizes. But the image really looks more like the kind of temporary tattoos you'd get out a coin-op machine at the county fair. And if it was a devil and an angel, insteada these two, I'd be happy lick 'em and put 'em on my arm.

Mr. Karswell said...

> these two bone heads should lead to a bumper crop of roses come next spring

Haha, yes... time to get a"head" of the gardening game by summer time!

>rival publishers would never copy from another company, would they?

Oh never... it's like we've also probably never seen a couple hundred+ examples on this blog alone, lol

>How Hitchcockian.

It is absolutely a repetitively strong, good anchoring background / framing motif. Some of the artists back then clearly knew a thing or two about "circle / square" design theory.

Thanks for the comments --and hey, how about one more from this icky issue? Got a real sucky one up next, stay tombed...

Brian Barnes said...

One thing I love about crime comics is how the deck gets stacked against criminals; throughout this whole story our married couple are drawn pretty angular and lined, it makes them look angry and bitter, as if to say crime doesn't pay.

Well, in this case, it certainly didn't!

There's an actual ax connecting to neck panel in this, that's pretty graphic for the day, usually that would get hidden in shadows or just suggested off panel.

Todd said...

I quite enjoyed this one. Couldn't have happened to a nicer couple!