| Slot: |
Dagar Desert Hawk 19 |
| Item: |
Dagar Desert Hawk 19 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0940753006
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Owner Comments
Dagar Desert Hawk #19 is referenced in the “Seduction of the Innocent” on page 180. In the passages on this page Wertham discusses the use of various sadistic sexual themes in comic books including the depiction of erotic hangings. More specifically, he states the following:In a comic book, typically full of blood, violence and nudity, the erotic hanging theme is exploited. The average reader, of a generation not brought up on comics, may not realize the connection between sex and hanging, with one of the typical perverse fantasies for wishing to hang an undressed girl and watch her struggles. But this is made abundantly clear to children in their daily reading matter. In one story a man “kills for sport.” There is a sequence with illustrations of half-nude girls where he makes this comment: “Ho-Ho! What a hangman I make! The police are blundering fools! But I am an artist! My noose will fit around that pretty’s neck!” In the next picture the blond girl, clad in a noose, a bra and bikini trunks is hanging from a tree. And you see her again, hanging “in a death struggle.”Wertham’s description is clearly referring to a story starring the jungle character Tangi written by Alec Hope contained in Dagar Desert Hawk #19. In this story, an escaped convict makes his way to a jungle island and conducts several murders through the use of hangings. Just as Wertham describes, one of the hangings involves the main character Tangi - a scantily clad young women warrior of the jungle. She ultimately escapes the attempted hanging and dispatches the bad guy with a hanging of her own. I have include a scan of the page from this story with Tangi in her death struggle – its up to you to decide if Wertham was right in his analysis of this being an exploitation of a sadistic sexual theme. To read the full story, check out the digital comic museum web site (www.digitalcomicmuseum.com). This web site provides free online versions of many golden age comic books.
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| Slot: |
Dagar Desert Hawk 21 |
| Item: |
Dagar Desert Hawk 21 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0075965001
|
Owner Comments
Dagar Desert Hawk #21 is referenced in Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) on page 104. One of Wertham’s concerns articulated in the SOTI included the tendency of comic books to depict non-white individuals as inferior. For example, on page 104, he noted that “A large part of the violence and sadism in comic books is practiced by individuals or on individuals who are depicted as inferior, sub-human beings. In this way children can indulge in fantasies of violence as something permissible.” He goes on to note several examples and cites a panel from Dagar Desert Hawk #21 “In another comic book the hero throws bombs and a Negro from his airplane. A picture shows the bombs and the Negro in mid-air while the hero calls out: ‘BOMBS AND BUMS AWAY!’”The “Bombs and Bums Away” panel is contained in a story entitled “Flood of Death”. In this story, the hero, Safari Cary, is seeking to protect the native population from the manipulations of a tobacco plantation owner. The plantation owner has dammed a river and Cary, using his cargo plane, is planning to destroy the dam. Along the way, one of the plantation workers tries to stop Cary and he is ousted out of the plane along with the bombs meant to destroy the dam. For further reference, I have included a scan of the page from the story that contains the “bombs and bums away” panel.
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