Psychoanalysis - The Complete EC Series (Dark Horse)

EC Comics ("An Entertaining Comic") was never a publisher that I bought comics from (mainly because that company stopped publishing comics well before I was born!).  When I would come across titles in the back issue bins of comic stores and at comic conventions, I would see titles such as The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt, Crime SuspenStories, Two-Fisted Tales, Shock SuspenStories, Weird Fantasy, and the like.  None of these particularly appealed to me, and I viewed the as merely trash comics that could never rate the same as those published by the "big" companies, DC and Marvel.  Well, as an adult, I look back and realize those some of those comics I wrote off as garbage were actually not as bad as I thought.  Dark Horse publishing has been collecting some of these EC series, and after enjoying the Modern Love collection (Modern Love), I began to seek out some of the other collections.  

Psychoanalysis was a four-issue series published bi-monthly in 1955.  The book was a result of the shake-up that occurred in the comic industry after the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, which cast a disparaging light on comics at the time, claiming they were contributing to juvenile delinquency.  EC ended up canceling a number of its titles and started up a line of new titles referred to as their "New Direction" line.  This included the fantasy title Valor, the war title Aces High, the medical title M.D., among others.  Psychoanalysis, was one of the five titles that launched this new line under cover date of March/April 1955.  Sadly, it was also the first of these titles to end, after only the fourth issue bearing a cover date of September/October 1955.

The comic was certainly unique for its time, as it did not deal with fantasy at all.  No superheroes in colorful tights.  No horrific tales of terror with frightening creatures of the night.  No over-dramatized stories of war or western adventure.  As described by the editors in the first issue, EC, with this series, intended "to portray, graphically and dramatically, the manner in which people find peace of mind through the science of psychoanalysis" (p. 12)  The second issue came with a disclaimer, indicating "these portrayals are fictional people with fictional problems, and with fictional solutions for these problems!  In no case should the solutions to their problems be applied to problems which might appear to be similar" (p. 44).  One can assume after the publication of the first issue, EC grew concerned that readers might actually take the advice given by the fictional psychiatrist to heart and act upon it!

I have to think the series was geared towards older readers, as I cannot imagine too many pre-teens finding these stories to be interesting.  As the editorial said, the patients who come to see the psychiatrist in these stories are dealing with very life-like issues that plague people in society, and even though these comics were published back in the mid-1950s, it is interesting to see how the same issues are still talked about today.  Dan Keyes and Robert Bernstein authored the stories, while the very talented Jack Kamen provided both the interior art at the cover art for all four issues.  The book was set up so that each issue has three case files - with each patient taking a different number of sessions (issues) to resolve their problems.  Case No. 101 (Freddy Carter) took four sessions, while Case No. 102 (Ellen Lyman) only took three sessions and Case No. 103 (Mark Stone) took five sessions.  Originally, it was intended that when Ellen's story completed, a new patient would take her place, and then when Freddy's story finished in the next issue, another new patient would take his place, and so on, as patients cycled in and out; however, since the comic was cancelled after only four issues, these original three case files are the only patients we get to read.

The first page of the first issue was devoted to the unnamed psychiatrist.  It was an interesting choice of storytelling to leave the pivotal character in all of the stories unnamed - he is merely referred to as "the psychiatrist," and the patients simply refer to him as "doctor."  Instead, we get introduced to this ambiguous man who is to be our host through the stories, who will be listening to all of the problems and doling out advice to set his patients on the path to recovery.  Each of the three stories begin with a file card at the top, indicating the case number, the gender of the patient, and the subject's name, as well as identifying what number session it is.  The formality of it all gives the reader a very real feeling of professionalism and makes the reader think they are actually right there in the office with the doctor and patient!

Case No. 101 - Freddy Carter.  Young Freddy is a teenager, fifteen-years old, whose problems clearly stem from his parents (which is made obvious after just the first two pages).  A mother who coddles him too much and an overbearing father who expects his son to excel at everything and follow in his footsteps as an engineer.  It's even neither parent is really thinking about their son.  But Freddy spends all four issues working through his feelings, not only towards his parents, but towards his own goals in life and how he handles his emotions.  The time period really shines through here, because the author makes it clear Freddy has to stop being a child and "man-up" - and although the treatment is supposed to be leading Freddy to a place of healing, it reads more like a path to becoming what the 1950s deemed to be a "man."

Case No. 102 - Ellen Lyman.  Ellen is described as a nineteen-year old woman, but the way she is drawn makes her appear to be a twenty-something librarian or secretary.  Once again, her issues stem back to her family life, where, as a child, she was always out-shined by her older sister, which led to resentment towards her sister, as well as her parents.  Ellen definitely is written as the weakest of the three characters, always breaking down, crying, and claiming helplessness.  While there are moments where it seems the doctor is leading her to independence, by the end of her three sessions, it all boils down to Ellen wanting to get beyond her past so she can have a relationship with a man - again, a very 1950s theme.

Case No. 103 - Mark Stone.  To me, Mark is probably the most interesting of the three cases (which is why, perhaps, he has the most sessions - a total of five, with one in each of the first three issues, and two in the fourth and final issue).  A writer, Mark writes scripts for Hollywood (mostly television shows), but his issues also go back to his parents (see the common theme here?).  A son of Jewish immigrants, he resents his mother's needling him to always eat and is angered that he has never been able to meet up to his father's expectations of success.  What is interesting about his sessions is that he deals with a lot of internal hatred, not only towards his parents, but towards himself - lashing out at others before they can hurt him, a defense mechanism I've seen in a lot of people (including myself!).  This one came across as probably the most realistic, and while the doctor was rather harsh at times, I think a lot of his advice here actually made sense.  What was also interesting about this series of sessions is that Mark changed over the course of the four issues.  While he started out overweight and rather frumpy, by the end, he was drawn much slimmer and a much sharper dresser.  While not addressed in the dialogue, it was a distinction that was clearly drawn to make the reader realize the changes happening to Mark as he continued therapy.

It's actually rather sad this comic did not continued.  Perhaps it was ahead of its time.  I wonder if, given time, the series might have actually provided a name for our psychiatrist host, and just what other psychological matters would have been addressed.  I guess we'll never know...

One thing I do feel I have to mention.  The third issue contained the first actual letter column, with thirteen letters from fans of this new series.  What I found amusing is that one of the letters came from "Nelson Bridwell" from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  I checked, and yes, E. Nelson Bridwell, a rather prolific comic book writer who wrote a number of titles I enjoyed back in the day (Inferior Five, Super Friends, The New Adventures of Superboy, etc.), did reside in Oklahoma City as a young man - he would have been in his early 20s in 1955 when this comic was published.  I always find it fun to see future comic writers have letters published in comic books before they eventually entered the industry themselves.

A big thanks to Dark Horse Comics for collecting these EC series, and I look forward to more of them!

RATING:  9 dreams of walled-off gardens out of 10 for daring to publish "an entirely novel and unique kind of reading experience!"

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Comic (a Dark Horse Mini-Series)

So, after discovering that Dark Horse published a MST3K comic book mini-series that included and parodied the Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter comic from Dell Comics (see my post from back in November 2021 -Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter), I had to track down all of the issues - and so I did!  And let me tell you, a couple of those issues were not so easy to find at reasonable prices.  Good grief, who knew the Mystery Science Theater 3000 comic would be so sought after!  But, at last, I did manage to track them all down, and I had a fun time reading them.  Not only did it feature a parody of the second issue of Johnny Jason, it also included parodies of the old Harvey comic, The Black Cat, as well as a horror title I had never heard of before.  I have to give huge kudos to Joel Hodgson, Harold Buchholz, Matt McGinnis, Seth Robinson, Sharyl Volpe, Mary Robinson, Todd Nauk, Mike Manley, and all of the others who managed to make this comic such a joy to read!

 

Now, I should start off by saying I've never actually seen an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  I know, I know - it's been around for quite a while, and I've heard lots of friends talk about it.  But, quite frankly, it was just never something that I was interested in watching.  To be honest, the only reason I sought out this mini-series was because it poked fun at the Johnny Jason comic; otherwise, I would have never picked it up.  But after reading these six issues, if the television show is anywhere near as much fun, then I may have to go back and watch some of them!  I mean, I haven't laughed this hard when reading a comic since the days of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!  And it's not just the cheesy jokes and one-liners from the characters during the bridge sequences - it's the way the creators managed to take old comics from over 50 years ago and re-write them (to a certain extent) with some characters with today's perspectives.  I mean, take a real character (well, supposedly real) and place them into a comic book, and this is exactly how I would imagine them to react!

So, as the story goes, Jonah, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, GPC (Gypsy), M. Waverly, and Growler are basically trapped on the Satellite of Love - and Kinga Forrester and her crew of mad scientists and henchman have created a new machine that can insert people into comic books - and guess who the test subjects are going to be?  The first comic that Kinga Forrester selects is Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter (the second story, published by Dell Comics, June-August 1962).  As the green bubbles wash over the gang, Tom Servo becomes the focus as he finds himself a character in the comic book, standing on the outskirts of Green City.  And thus, starting with page 11 of the very first issue, readers find themselves transported back to 1962 with the second issue of Tom Servo, Teen Reporter in "The Brat"!  And with that, all of the fun begins...

Joel, Harold, and their co-horts do an absolutely amazing job of not only fully reproducing the original art of the 1962 comic (trust me, I read each issue of MST3K right next to the issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter, and it truly is the same art!), but they seamlessly insert Tom Servo into the role of Johnny Jason!  His body remains exactly as it was in the original comic, it is only his head that has been replaced by the top portion of Tom Servo's neck and gumball machine head!  The dialogue and text boxes are nearly identical as the original comic, although the writers do take liberty from time to time in reducing the lines of dialogue in order to make room for commentary by Tom and his fellow crew members, as well as even members of the comic itself (such as on the third panel of that first page of the story, when the doorman comments on how his whistle that he is clearly trying to blow is clogged (that line did not exist in the original comic).  With each page, there is plenty of comedic commentary on the comic - from comic book tires that "light up when they blow" to Shelley Marks calling out for Professor X to save her with both hands put to her forehead to a police officer thinking how he just gave his gun to a hobo - although one of my favorites is the last panel of page four of the story, when the editor of the Green City Journal questions where the back wall went (as all of the furniture against the wall in the previous panels is oddly gone for that final panel, and instead, the original artist simply left the background blank).  

 

In the first issue, we only get 14 pages of the Johnny Jason story, and we are left to pick up the story in the next issue - but, the only thing is, the second issue features Jonah being flung into a Black Cat comic (not the Marvel Black Cat, but the old Harvey Comics Black Cat!).  This was a rare treat for me, as I have several of those old Black Cat comics, and I love the character.  It also featured a short horror tale from a comic called Horrific - whether that was a real comic or not (sounds like something from the EC realm of comics), I don't know, but the tale was definitely in the same vein as the old EC horror comics.  Therefore, it wasn't until the third issue that we return to the Johnny Jason comic, or rather, the Tom Servo comic, to see what will happen next!  We only get a brief glimpse into the adventures of Tom Servo, as the comic also has more on the Black Cat and Horrific stories.  But it's those Tom Servo pages that really had me laughing!  Tom's observations of the all-pink backgrounds, Shelley's father being self-aware that he has no authority in the house, the characters' acknowledgement of word balloons (wondering how readers will know who is talking when you see the balloons, but not the characters!), and Shelley's agent saying the actress is her parents' Star Wars - it certainly gave me a totally different view of the comic story!

 

Interestingly, in the fourth issue, instead of giving readers actual pages from the Johnny Jason comic, we get give pages of "never before seen" pages from Johnny Jason's world as Crow T. Robot, GPC (Gypsy), M. Waverly, and Growler make themselves at home at the Bar S Ranch, and Shelley's mother serves them some lemon bars and punch - but Kinga has other ideas, and she inserts herself into the story as Miss Gulch, bringing with her a tornado of Totino's Pizza Rolls (which is an ongoing joke throughout the series, because every comic must have ads, and the Pizza Rolls are the advertisers supporting the stories - in the comic!), but, of course, it doesn't go as planned, creating more havoc than anything else.

Issue five sees the return to the Johnny Jason ... er, Tom Servo, Teen Reporter comic - with a cover that even pays homage to the original Johnny Jason cover.  We pick up where issue three left off, with the plane Shelley is piloting getting ready to crash.  We only get six pages, before the action switches over to the Black Cat again.  But we do get plenty of re-written dialogue, witty commentary, and hilarious thought balloons as the characters  think about the most off-the wall things - such as one of the kidnappers wondering if the pennycress that are in bloom would make a nice salad, another kidnapper wondering who painted the mountain pink, and Tom wondering whether the ceiling of the cabin where they are held is up to code!

The sixth and final issue of the mini-series wraps up the Black Cat tale and gives us the thrilling (?) conclusion to the Tom Servo, Teen Reporter story!  As Tom helps Shelley escape the kidnappers, and the watch as the avalanche collapses on one of the men chasing them, Tom can't help but think about making a move on Shelley ... and how fun she is ... and how this has been a date that she will never forget!  Of course, as with the original, it is Johnny ... er, I mean Tom ... who reveals the true villain to be Shelley's agent, whose drink turns into a gun in just one panel and he tries to make his escape - but Chuck stops him, grabbing him around the neck (and so astutely observing that "If you grab an agent by the tie, they're powerless!").  As the final panel arrives, so do the green bubbles, which even the editor of the Green City Journal notices (with the comment, "Calgon, take me away!").

This series was definitely an ingenuous idea, and the MST3K guys did an amazing job pulling it off!  After reading it side by side with the original issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter, for comparison purposes to see what was changed, if anything - I went back and just re-read it for fun, and I had a blast.  I would love to see them do more of these - I mean, let's face it, there are a plethora of comics from the '40s, '50s, and '60s that are just ripe for this kind of riff-traxx!  They've been doing it for movies for years, so let's see some more comics - cheesy super hero comics, outrageous western and jungle comics, over-the-top romance comics, and so much more are just waiting for the MST3K treatment!

I definitely give this series a big two thumbs up!

RATING:  10 plates of Totino pizza rolls out of 10 for seeing all of the craziness of the comics from the '60s and sharing the hilarious commentary in comic book format!

The House of Lost Horizons - a Sarah Jewell Mystery

This mini-series from Dark Horse has the tag: "From The World of Hellboy."  I've never read a Hellboy comic, I've never watched a Hellboy movie, and I've never had any interest in the character whatsoever.  However, when a comic series touts itself as a mystery with a female detective as the lead character, then it's a pretty sure bet I'm going to pick it up and give it a try.  The supernatural element to the mystery is simply icing on the cake!  Now, I am not really familiar with the writer (Chris Roberson) or the artists (Leila Del Duca and Michelle Madsen), but I will say they really knocked this one out of the ballpark as far as storytelling and visuals go.

The House of Lost Horizons mixes a couple of standard mystery tropes - a group of people stranded on a remote island in a spooky house and a murder that takes place in a locked room at a time when everyone else was accounted for.  The year is 1926, and our protagonist, Sarah Jewell, has been called to the small San Juan Island off the coast of Washington state at the bequest of her friend, Lilian Makepeace Whelstone's lawyer.  Sarah and her friend, Marie-Therese LaFleur, find themselves smack dab in the middle of a murder mystery upon their arrival.  It seems that upon the death of Lilian's husband, she set about to auction off all of the occult items her husband had collected over the years.  A number of guests had come to the island to bid on the items, and the previous night, the lawyer, Mr. Severin, had locked himself in his room to continue going over the catalogue of items.  That morning, he was found dead in his room, and no one can figure out what happened.  Sarah and Marie-Therese immediately set about to find out just who killed the lawyer and why.

Roberson provides a number of suspects: (1) Madam Saito, the relatively quiet woman from Japan; (2) Herr Konrad Eckart, a secretive man from Germany; (3) Reginald MacKerrell, a proxy for Rupert Zinco; (4) Marion Loveland, a self-proclaimed spiritualist there to bid on behalf of Alden Albert Kern; (5) Mr. Huang, a respectful businessman from San Francisco; and (6) Dr. John Caliban, a man who is not a typical doctor at all.  There's also Mrs. Li, who is the Whelstone's housekeeper and companion for the widow, Lilian Whelstone.  And, of course, there is Lilian herself, who has never been comfortable in that great house, with all the occult items that her husband has placed so carefully throughout the house.  By the end of the first issue, though, one of the suspects is scratched off the list when Sarah and Marie-Therese discover the body of Herr Eckart in his room - drained of all life, with just a husk left lying on the floor!

The next four issues follow Sarah and Marie-Therese as they question the house guests and try to uncover the truth about what is going on.  Of course, when another dead body turns up, the two female sleuths realize they must hurry before the killer strikes again!  But it seems each of the guests harbors a secret or two, and they all appear to be at the house for reasons other than just the auction of the occult items.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading as Sarah and Marie-Therese followed their own instincts and followed various suspects, interrogating them, and ultimately discovering that only two people in the whole cast are actually who they claim to be!  And, of course, the ultimate discover of the hidden passages in the walls and the surprising secret of who was really behind the murders was just as thrilling, if not more so!  Up until the last issue, the reader is left wondering whether it truly is something supernatural behind the murders, or if it is someone wanting to make it appear supernatural - well, that last issue unleashes all the horrors that come with discovering the truth, and it's a mad dash for safety for our two intrepid sleuths as the walls literally come crashing down around them.

The art by Del Duca and Madsen reminds me very much of Guy Davis' art from DC's old Sandman Mystery Theater series published under their Vertigo imprint. The style very much fits the story and the time period (1926), and the colors certainly set the mood.  I also enjoyed the fact that neither Sarah nor Marie-Therese are your standard female leads in comics - neither of them are overly-proportioned (as many male artists tend to do with their females), and there are no unnecessary and gratuitous panels showcasing either woman's "assets."  They are drawn as normal women (one slightly overweight, the other tall and thin), which allows the readers to appreciate the women for their knowledge, skills, and talents rather than looking at them as simply sex objects.  

I do hope Dark Horse will allow Roberson, Del Duca and Madsen to tell more stories from Sarah Jewell's treasure-trove of mysteries, as I absolutely enjoyed this one and want to see more!

RATING:  10 golden crane tattoos out of 10 for a well-written, superbly drawn mystery comic with two superb female detectives that deserve many more stories to be told!

Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory - a Dark Horse comics mini-series

I have been reading Dark Horse comics' Beast of Burden's series since the publication of their first mini-series back in 2009.  The series follows the adventures of a group of dogs (and the occasional feline appearance) who are not only intelligent beings, but who track down and fights the supernatural forces of darkness that try to invade this world.  While the artists have rotated over the years, the writer, Evan Dorkin, who created the series, has remained consistent (although he has had assistance, on occasion, from Sarah Dyer).  And although the title refers to the fact that the "beasts" live on or abound Burden Hill, I personally think it can also attest to the fact that these dogs (and cat) bear the burden of protecting not just their community and humans, but the entire world!

"Occupied Territory" is the fourth mini-series (not including the various one-shot specials, as well as appearances in Dark Horse anthology books) and features a look back at one of Emrys's past adventures.  Emrys is a sheepdog that is also considered one of the "wise ones" to the animals set with fighting the darkness, and he has been a featured character throughout the series.  In these four issues, Dorkin takes readers back to the year 1947, when Emrys and his companion (the human named Jonathan Hope) were sent overseas to an island in the Pacific to discover what has been causing the unusual deaths there.  

In the first issue, while scouting for information, Emrys ends up rescuing a small dog without a name (but who Emrys quickly calls "Mullins" after the name of a newspaper comic strip character).  Mullins is quite the excitable little character who, without any magical powers like Emrys and his associates, manages to be a very lovable and quirky character.  Mullins agrees to help Emrys and his human, but by the end of the first issue, discovers that battling the supernatural means expecting the most unexpected!

From this point forward, the story takes its darker turn, with Emrys, Mullins, and a group of animals that are similar to the wise dogs looking for a way to put an end to the horrors that are attacking the island.  The curse at work is a vile one, and it was put in place by an ancient being that is determined to get revenge for what the humans did to her.  But what happens when she discovers that her curse is expanding, and it is not only affecting humans, but the animal world as well?  Will she put a stop to it?  Will Mullins' life be spared?  Will the deaths come to an end?

Dorkin and Dyer's plotting keeps the story moving at a pretty quick pace, but not so fast that you don't get to know and appreciate all of the characters, whether good or bad (or somewhere in-between).  Benjamin Dewey's art is absolutely beautiful, and something I never realized while reading the story and did not notice until I was looking back over the issues a second time is that there are no text boxes to provide the reader with exposition - rather, the panels of art and the dialogue are sufficient to keep the story moving and provide everything the reader needs to know to enjoy the story.  For me, that makes for a much more cinematic telling of the tale, as it keeps the reader engaged in the story itself, rather then stepping outside the story for a second here and there to read an explanation of what has happened, what is happening, or what is about to happen.  "Show, Don't Tell" works perfectly here.

Overall, another great addition to the Beasts of Burden series of comics, and here's looking forward to the next story Dorkin has to tell!

RATING:  10 headless bodies out of 10 for showing the world that comic books with animal protagonists can be just as good, if not better, than most of the comics on the market today!

Bob Powell's Complete CAVE GIRL - the hardcover collected edition

Honestly, I had never heard of Cave Girl until I happened across the hardcover collection edition for sale on Amazon while looking for other things.  Now, it used to be, I had no interest in the old "jungle" comics of the golden and early silver age.  Characters like Sheena, Nyoka, Lorna, Shanna, and the like never really caught my attention (which, you would think is odd, since I've always been attracted to the female characters in comic books ever since I started reading them way back in 1979...).  However, in recent years, I've found a sudden appreciation for the older comics geared towards females - the old romance comics, the nursing comics, and more recently - the girls of the jungle comics.  So, I added this to my Amazon watch-list, and as chance would have it, the book was given to me as a Christmas gift this past year (from someone who obviously keeps an eye on my wish list!).

Bob Powell's Complete Cave Girl is a beautifully bound hardcover collection of all of the character's appearances - from her first appearance in the Magazine Enterprise ("ME") title, Thun'da, to her solo bak-up stories in that same book, to her own four-issue series self-titled Cave Girl, to her final appearance in a one-shot title called Africa: Thrilling Land of Mystery.  Cave Girl has a total of twenty-one (21) stories in all, which is not a lot when you think about how long comics have been around and how many appearances characters like Nyoka, Sheena, Shanna, and the such have made over the decades.  Yet, it seems that Bob Powell's character made quite an impression at the time, and after reading this collection of stories, I can certainly see why.

The character of Cave Girl was introduced in Thun'da issue 2 (1952), in a story titled "The Ape God of Kor."  The story stars Thun'da and Pha, who stumble across a young woman who is fighting to escape to clutches of a cruel high priest.  Thun'da helps her, but in so doing, he gets captured and forced to fight in an arena against three large sabretooth tigers!  At the last moment, the young cave girl swoops in and speaks the language of the tigers to save Thun'da's life.  Together, they defeat the high priest and escape to their lives in the jungle.  I love the fact that in just seven pages, a complete story from beginning to end is told with plenty of excitement and danger, as well as the uncomplicated introduction of Cave Girl.  What is interesting to note is that Cave Girl never introduces herself to Thun'da and Pha anywhere in the story.  In fact, the only reason the reader knows her name is that the narrator refers to her as simply "Cave Girl" in the captions.  Other than the fact that she lives in the jungle is able to speak the language of the animals in the jungle, and she is referred to as "Cave Girl," there is absolutely nothing about who she is, where she comes from, or how she came to be Cave Girl.  And, quite honestly, that's okay.  Back then, it was not necessary to have a 6-issue, drawn out origin story that gives every minute detail of how a character came to be.  This seven page story is more than sufficient to introduce readers to Cave Girl and whet their appetites for more adventures of this jungle queen!

Cave Girl appeared as back-up stories in the next four issues of Thun'da before striking out in her own magazine.  In two 6-page tales and two 7-page tales, readers follow the exploits of Cave Girl as she defeats a vicious man who aims to steal from the people of the jungle (and meets anthropologist Alan Perkins; reveals the truth about a shadow god to the suspicious natives of the jungle; outwits three criminals determined to get past her and steal the gold hidden in the jungle; and aids the smaller than average pygmy, Bobo, in his quest to rescue his beloved's mate.

In 1953, a year after she first appeared, Cave Girl graduated into her own comic magazine - which lasted a whole four issue (two being published in '53 and the last two being published in '54).  Oddly enough, the issues were numbered 11, 12, 13, and 14 rather than 1, 2, 3 and 4.  And it is in that first issue of Cave Girl (or issue 11, if you must) that readers finally learn the origin of Cave Girl and how she came to live in the jungle.  An expeditioner and his wife are exploring the depths of the jungle, with their little blond-haired daughter, Carol, in tow.  When natives attack, the parents are killed, but poor Carol is swooped off by a giant eagle to its nest, where a wolf attacks and kills the eagle.  Thinking the wolf is nothing more than a dog that saved her, young Carol befriends the wolf, who takes her to his pack - and thus, the beginning of Cave Girl's life in the jungle, learning the language of the animals around her and picking up the skills of the natives who live here and there around her.  Flash-forward to the present, where a millionaire, with his young guide Luke Hardin, are seeking the fabled fountain of youth.  They find it, and the millionaire shoots Luke, hoping to keep the location a secret.  But the only secret he discovers is that the fountain of youth does more than pull back the years - it takes its drinker back to beyond when he was born, so that he no longer exists!

The four issues of Cave Girl provide readers with 14 exciting adventures of the jungle adventuress, beautifully drawn by the super-talented Bob Powell.  Cave Girl's trademark tiger-striped animal-skin mini-dress barely keeps her covered, and Powell's scenes of Cave Girl bathing in the ponds and rivers certainly must have been titillating to the readers of yester-year when these first came out.  Powell doesn't shy away from depicting the violence and death that jungle has to offer, and many times, the villains in the stories do not make it out alive!  By today's standards of sex and violence, these stories properly seem rather tame; but when you consider the stories were published in the early 1950s, just before the whole Seduction of the Innocent fiasco, it sheds a whole new light on just how risque these stories really are!

The final book in this collection is Africa, Thrilling Land of Mystery issue 1, published in 1955.  This featured the last three stories of Cave Girl, and according to Powell expert Ed Lane (writing in Alter Ego #66, March 2007), "should have been Cave Girl #15 but was released with a new logo."  The cover of Africa features the huge "Approved by the Comics Code Authority" stamped next to the logo, and so the stories inside feature a Cave Girl who is much more modest, less bloody violence, and no sex appeal whatsoever.  However, the stories are just as thrilling and adventurous as her previous appearances, and as Cave Girl says in the final panel of that last story in that issue, "Good! Then my jungle world will be at peace for a long time!"  Little did she know that the "peace" would last for more sixty years until Dark Horse/Kitchen Sink would re-publish these stories of old.

While there is a part of me that would love to see new stories of Cave Girl, there's a part of me that wants to keep her in the past.  If she were revived in today's comic market, she would either be overly sexualized or would be caught up in the drawn-out storytelling of today's writers and artists.  The only way I could see her coming back successfully, while remaining true to her character, is if an independent published picked up the rights and told stories in the same vein as these in this collection - three or four short stories in each issue, with self-contained stories (barring one or two subplots that might carry from one story to the next once in a while).  But, since I don't really see that happening, I will be content to enjoy these stories of the past, where Cave Girl could be the jungle queen she was meant to be!

RATING:  10 plastic-rubber skull masks out of 10 for preserving the stories and art of the good girl comics of the past for readers of today to enjoy!

Modern Love - The Complete EC Series (Dark Horse)

When I first started reading and collecting comics back in ... well, no, that would be telling - let's just say my first comic book ever was a Super Friends comic - back when it was first published and on the spinner rack at the convenience store ... anyway, I was never a fan of the romance comics. Even though I liked soap operas (All My Children, General Hospital, Santa Barbara, Passions, Dynasty, Dante's Cove, etc.), I could just never get into the romance comics. They were way too cheesy for me. Flash forward quite a few years, and now, as an adult (uh...hmmm), I have discovered romance comics in a whole new light! Private Secretary by Dell, Soap Opera Romance and Soap Opera Love from Charlton, Night Nurse by Marvel, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love and Secrets of Sinister House by DC, among others - and so it is that I came to purchase this Dark Horse hardcover collection of the EC Comics' romance series, Modern Love.

With only eight issues, Modern Love was not a long-running series, but each issue featured three stories of 7 or 8, or even more, pages, as well as a prose story or two, including features such as "Dear Diary" and "Advice from Adrienne..."  While the lead/cover story for each issue was allegedly a "true love story" as told by readers, there was always a blurb on the first page indicating that "the names in this true love story have been fictionized for obvious reasons!"  I had never heard of this series before seeing the solicit for this collection in Previews magazine, but then again, I was never really one to pick up EC comics.  The writers and artists for the eight issues worth of tales are mostly unknown to me, with the exception of Gardner Fox and Wally Wood, who contributed as writer and artist, respectively, for several of the stories.

The series was originally published from 1949 through 1950, published bi-monthly by Tiny Tot Comics, Inc. under the "EC" label ("An Entertaining Comic").  As the inside front flap for the dust jacket of this collection proudly proclaims, Modern Love was ahead of its time in a number of ways - the artists for the series were allowed to draw in their own style and not be forced to draw in a similar style to every other artist in the company.  The stories also featured some, what would have been at that time, highly controversial subjects, such as racial bigotry and strong-willed women who put their career above their men!  Of course, most of the stories featured your standard soap opera, romance tropes - cheating boyfriends/husbands, conniving sisters/best friends, thought-dead husbands returned to life, long-buried secrets come to light, and just about any other ideas that you can imagine that would throw a monkey-wrench into what appears at first to be the perfect romance.

The first issue starts off with a bang, featuring a story of a mean-spirited woman who tries to steal her younger sister's beau away!  It is the third story, however, that really caught my eye, as it not only features a young girl searching for love, but also involves a mystery surrounding muggings that happen just outside of a dance hall where the girl works! It's Nancy Drew ... er, Nina Foster! ... to the rescue! The second issue's strongest tale is about a meddling aunt who believes her niece should only marry for money - and when Janet Mason falls for a kitchen worker, her Aunt Mary will do whatever it takes to keep them apart!  For the third issue, it's mining family vs. farming family in a Romeo & Juliet type tale of star-crossed lovers from two very different families.  The fourth issue, surprisingly enough, features a lead story about an older sister who tries to steal her younger sister's boyfriend - very similar to the one in the first issue.  Of course, it's the title of that story, "Three-Cornered Romance" that caught my eye, since it reminded me of the Dana Girls' mystery, A Three-Cornered Mystery. As far as romance stories, though, it's the last story in that issue, "I Gave My Love Away" that is by far the best one - a female author is looking for new inspiration for her latest romance novel, so she takes a bum off the street, cleans him up, and has him pretend to be the hero of her latest adventure - the only problem is, she never expects to fall for him!  And, of course, as with any good soap, he is not everything that he seems, providing for a rather unexpected outcome to this tale.

The fifth issue features a rather controversial tale called "Shame." While it never comes out and directly says it, the heroine of the story ends up pregnant by a man who takes off and leaves her, so she turns to the neighbor she's known all her life, where she knows she can be safe and secure - but what happens when the baby's father returns? An interesting story for the time, since an unwed mother (and a man marrying a woman pregnant with another man's child) was not your typical comic story fare!  That same issue also features a story about a woman on a game show who wins $45,000!  Yes, you read that right.  Can you imagine the value of that back in 1950?  And yet, in the story, she manages to blow through all that money, but still find love by the end of the story ... and then there's the story of the woman released from jail, who takes a job in a city where no one knows her.  She falls in love, only to have her past come back to haunt her, threatening to expose her and destroy her happiness!  Issue six has another career girl story, but it also features one of the first tales without a happy ending - a woman who falls in love again after her husband dies - only to come face to face with him again, and must give up the one she truly loves now in order to stay faithful to the husband she thought was dead.  Issue seven gives readers a repeat of the dead husband come back to life story with another sad ending, but it also features a tale of bigotry and racial bias, when a father refuses to allow his son to become involved with a Mexican girl who works for the family.

The eighth and final issue of the series has a few surprises.  One is a third tale of a widowed woman who finds love, only to have her "dead" husband come back to claim her - only this time, a second tragedy gives Katha Trenton the happy ending she longs for.  Another is a mystery at a ranch, where someone keeps causing dangerous accidents - and it's up to the new girl to figure out who before she becomes the next victim! And the issue (and series!) ends with a satirical tale that pokes fun at the whole romance comic genre, allegedly written by (and starring) the office boy of the T. Tot Comic Magazine Publishing Company - a story about a comic book publisher that decides to take on romance comics after falling in love himself; but when that love turns out to be a lie, he puts an end to the line of romance titles (just as it signals the final issue of Modern Love comic magazine...)

The stories are fun, serious, sad, happy, over-the-top, and subtle - just about covering anything and everything you'd expect to find in a regular soap opera-type story.  The art varies from issue to issue and story to story, by artists such as Al Feldstein, Graham Ingels, Johnny Craig, Ed Waldman, Lou Morales, John Sink, Harry Harrison, Rudy Palais, Wally Wood, Jack Kamen, and S.M. Iger, but it despite the different styles, there remains a consistency of bold colors, simple backgrounds, and outstanding expressions on the characters (so easy to see what they are feeling just by looking at their faces - you don't even need to read the word balloons!).  All together, the writing and art make this book a fantastic read, and leaves the reader wishing there were more stories to come...

RATING:  9 mine cave-ins out of 10 for telling truly "modern" love stories, highlighting topics and issues that weren't necessarily so open for discussion back in the day.