| Slot: |
Shock SuspenStories 4 |
| Item: |
Shock SuspenStories 4 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0806037005
|
Owner Comments
Shock SuspenStories #4 is referenced in Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) in the text on pages 387-388.
On page 387, Wertham describes a story as follows “In another comic book the criminal is a police lieutenant. He kills his wife by deliberately running over her with his car. At the end he is undetected and completely unsuspected, and presumably lives happily ever after. Six pictures on one page show this policeman-murderer lighting and smoking a cigar, walking triumphantly, with the full knowledge that crime does pay. He goes free because at the police station an innocent man is tortured into making a confession. The child reader is spared no details. The man is punched in the stomach, hit in the face, his arm twisted behind his back. ‘It went on like that for hours! His clothes were torn – his nose bleeding – his face battered and bruised! Other detectives took over! They worked in shifts – pummeling – threatening – cursing! He [the innocent man] lay sprawled on his stomach, blood trickling from his toothless mouth! The bones in his nose were splintered! His scalp had been opened – his hair was matted with sticky ooze! He sobbed – n-no-more! I…I…did it! P-Please! Sob…sob! No-More!” This story narrative and quotes came from the story “Confession” contained in Shock SuspenStories #4.
In addition to the Confession story reference, Wertham referenced two other stories second from Shock SuspenStories #4. On page 87 Wertham describes a story as follows “A very sexy-looking girl tells her husband that she is pregnant. He opens his jacket and the girl looks at him, horrified. He tells her: ‘You couldn’t be expecting a child, now, could you? Not very well – when your husband is a robot!’”. Wertham used the story “Strictly Business” for this reference. An additional reference on page 388 mentions a comic tale where “An ‘autopsy’ is performed on a man who is still alive and screams”. The autopsy reference comes from the story “Uppercut!” contained in Shock SuspenStories #4.
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