Excerpt from "Nightmares from the Crypt" by Lewis Lovhaug,[1] talesfromthelongbox.syn.uasr
"We've discussed Red and Black Publications, one of the early collectives founded by comics pioneer Maxwell C. Gaines, in several earlier entries. Through the First Cultural Revolution, they had a steady stable of characters, including Red Tornado, the Flash, Green Lantern, and of course, Marston's Wonder Woman, along with other notable titles in the romance and crime genres. However, by the end of the war, most of their superhero titles had been cancelled, with only Wonder Woman remaining as a weekly title.
After several failed attempts at new heroes (including "Moon Girl" and "Blackstone, Master Magician"), Gaines began to lean more towards educational comics. Picture Stories from.... was such an attempt, with topics such as history, Marxism, science, etc. with the express purpose of giving these books in schools or in communes. This venture, while mildly successful, had caused the collective to stagnate creatively, so Gaines kept up more creative enterprises in the form of romance and crime comics.
In 1948, Gaines was severely injured in a boat accident, and the reigns of leadership came under his reluctant son William, despite his desire to become a chemistry teacher (some sources say Gaines senior pressured William to take the position). Bill subsequently took on young artists Al Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman into the R&B editorship, and distanced themselves from the Picture Stories From....
With the eclipse of superheroes, an increasingly popular genre was horror and crime anthology books. Most of these initial books either focused on counterrevolutionary comeuppance or the terrors of pre-revolutionary capitalism, in the tradition of “Sinclairian horror”.
With the market filled with those sorts of tales, Gaines and Feldstein, figuring something different was needed to distinguish them, decided that more contemporary stories were needed. To test the waters, they published a horror story in one of their crime comics Crime Patrol.
The story was a success, and Crime Patrol became The Crypt of Terror, and eventually just The Crypt. Following suit was The Horror Vault and Tales from the Morgue. Stories featured in this often contained supernatural elements in a distinctly modern setting. Living dead, vampires, vengeful spirits, and ghouls were often depicted, alongside more mundane killers. More importantly, it showed contemporary issues. Sometimes, the villain was a corrupt public official, or a socialist driven to the brink. Capitalists or pre-revolutionary villains were rarely shown. Instead, killers (supernatural or otherwise) were often average people, driven by emotional or psychological reasons. Worst, sometimes, the villain got away with their nefarious schemes.
Another novel idea was for the horror host, a transfer from television, who would narrate the stories. The Crypt Keeper, the Vault Keeper, and the Coroner became synonymous with these books, and some of the most beloved parts of them.
While the modern setting was not their own invention ( other horror comics had already been moving in that direction), R&B’s use of encouraging fan participation and loyalty(from the horror hosts to published fan letters), as well as artwork from legendary artists like Jack Kamen, Wallace Wood and Johhny Craig bringing these lurid images to life helped bring it above their competition. Just as well, it would bring a number of imitators, who would bring in their own anthologies and hosts for their audience.
Of course, they eventually placed new spins on other genres. Kurtzman would bring a sense of cynicism and realism to war comics with Frontline Combat, which situated it above its more-Internationalist contemporaries. Star Squadron , a book we previously discussed, was morphed into a general Science fiction anthology, Weird Science Fantasy, which Gaines and Feldstein would write themselves, and would include work from authors like Ray Bradbury and Otto Binder (using connections from editor Julius Schwartz). While adhering to the general futuristic communist aesthetic of many science fiction of the period, it would deconstruct it to explore whether human behavior would change when humans reach that point in time.
Crime and Suspence Stories would push the envelope even further, with stories tackling contemporary issues of racism, sexism, terrorism, and even public corruption. Bernard Krigstein’s “Master Race” would see a Nazi haunted by the souls of those he had condemned. [2] Another featured a former True Democrat, haunted by his experience in prison, committing suicide at the climax… only to reveal he was framed by an ambitious politician to gain points for “fighting counterrevolutionaries”.
Of course, the shocking amount of gore and violence in these comics, as well as their depictions of crimes, caused a considerable amount of controversy. Daily Worker denounced “corrupting messages which encourage juvenile violence” within comics. Parents and caretakers were concerned about the level of violence in comics, as were international distributors.
The biggest voice against comics was Dr. Fredric Wertham. A German-Jewish psychiatrist trained by Carl Jung, he had come to fame as a leading witness in the trial of serial killer Albert Fish. Specializing in Child Development, in 1939, he published a wide ranging study of the new school system under socialism, which overwhelmingly endorsed the success of the Deweyite system. By the late 40’s, he turned his attention to comics. He saw comics as a danger to child development and social behavior, turning them against society and encouraging violence.
Using certain studies (which were later shown to have been fudged and distorted), he began a series of articles in 1950 that attacked various comics, and implored a sort of system to prevent them from distribution.
This would begin the Comics Scare.R&B and other publishers would push back against Wertham and others calling for the censorship of comics. Wertham and Gaines would face off in a number of public debates (one held before a PBS audience), over comics and their values..
In the meantime, despite endorsements for Wertham from public figures like C. Wright Mills [3], ultimately, attempted bans of comics were struck down as violations of free speech by either the soviets or the courts. Similarly, other researchers were disputing Wertham’s findings that comics were uniquely part of juvenile delinquency. Wertham himself found himself heavily criticized as a “bourgeois-esque censor”, and his work was ironically being used in Cuba and the FBU as a sign of comics being “communistic defilement of the youth”. Wertham would level down, and basically withdraw from his crusade, though still advocating a ratings system. He would also come to battle other figures during the period.
Ultimately, sales would do what Wertham couldn’t. By the late 50’s, the demand for R&B’s “New Direction” had declined with every passing year, with some criticism leveled at the increasing monotomy of the stories. At the same time, Schwartz would bring the Flash and Green Lantern back (ironically in Crime and Suspence and Weird Science respectively), and R&B would later absorb the artists and writers of Red Circle Comics, which would form the modern Marvel Comics Group, and release Fantastic Four, bringing back superheroes.
While the New Direction would disappear in the 1960’s, it would be remembered, with titles like the Crypt and Weird Science having occasional revivals through the decades. The 90’s revival had notable artists like Andre Guitterez, Alan Moore and Kim Newman writing and drawing it. Many artists, including George Romero, George Lucas, and Stephen King would cite R&B books as leading inspirations for their work.
Oh, yeah, remember Harvey Kurtzman? After tiring of war stories, he was given the reigns of a humor comic called Tales to Drive You MAD. His tenure, and how it changed American humor, will be explored next time.
[1] Special thanks to
@Nevermore
[2] Real story, from EC’s “Impact” magazine
[3] OTL, he wrote a positive review for “Seduction of the Innocence
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