Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s

 

Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s by Greg Sadowski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Last summer, while on a trip to see family out west, we stopped in Denver and my wife humored me by letting me spend some time at Mile High Comics. That was a lifelong dream, truth be told. I had known about Mile High since seeing their advertisements in old Marvel comics when I was a kid. I have to say: it did not disappoint. I was able to flesh out a good deal of my Grimjack collection, I picked up one issue of Savage Sword of Conan, the issue that probably corrupted me into who I am today, and pick up a couple of other goodies along the way. Most of all, I think I realized how many thousands of dollars worth of comics that my mom gave to the thrift store when we moved from Italy to Minnesota. It had to happen, and at 9 years old, I couldn't really fight it, but . . . ugh.

One of my favorite comics as a kid was Weird War . It was the closest thing to a horror comic that my mom would let me buy. Of course, those issues of Savage Sword of Conan (which my mom did let me buy, for some unknowable reason) sat on the magazine rack right alongside Eerie and Creepy in the old Stars and Stripes Bookstore. But mom would have none of those in the house.

Well, I've got my own house now. And mom is probably turning over in her grave as I'm typing this. Sorry, Mom.

Sorry/not sorry.

To make up for lost childhood time, I bought Four Color Fear. While visiting Mile High, I realized how bloody expensive, how . . . terrifyingly expensive old horror comics can be. Honestly, I was stunned. Apparently these are extremely rare. I'm guessing the 1954 Comics Code has something to do with this. Look it up - I'll spare you the details - but suffice it to say that Mom wasn't the only person opposed to horrific comics. Now, however, we live in a more tolerant age, thankfully. So something like Four Color Fear can be obtained without fear of censorship by the Comics Code Authority . . . or Mom.

The book presents several stories from a wide variety of comic's publishers not named "EC". You'll find some surprising names in here: Harry Harrison, for instance. Or Frank Frazetta. Yes, that Frank Frazetta (as if there could be any other). Quality varies wildly. Most of the stories are schlock horror with highly-predictable "plots," the proverbial stupid people doing stupid things and being killed, eaten, etc., and horrible (and yet not horrifying) dialogue.

But there are several exceptions, some real gems.

"Nightmare" might be one of the best. A weird fiction writer is out of ideas for his horror stories, which are not gruesome enough, according to his editor. So fate provides ideas, with a couple of unexpected twists. This was great!

What's the comic book equivalent to good cinematography? Is it called good "storyboarding". Whatever it is, it's excellent in "Dust to Dust". A (very) mildly surprise ending helps this one along. Still missing that certain something that would make it a truly great story, but it's good.

"Green Horror" is one of the stupidest, wackiest . . . and BEST stories in this collection! This story of a jealous cactus (yes, you read that correctly) doesn't flinch - it takes its campiness with deadly seriousness. This is one of those tales told in a treehouse by 10 year olds (Sandlot-style) with flashlights under the chin. It's so utterly ridiculous and over the top that it works!

"Colorama" is just the sort of weird horror I came looking for in this volume. I wish most of the stories were this strange. The comic medium is used to great effect here, leveraging the inherent power of images on a page to drive home the horror in a way that only a comic book can. It's polychromatic meta-horror . . . until it's not! And when it's not, well, that's when you need to start to worry.

"The Man Who Outdistanced Death" is an original story of mythic proportions that I really liked. Rod Serling would have been proud to have written this tale about distance running and longevity. If all the stories were of this quality, this would be a five star book, no question. Unfortunately . . . the other stories can't quite keep up.

(see what I did there?)

I wouldn't call "Art for Death's Sake" super-original, but it stands out from most of the other stories here for its subject matter and twisted ending. Some of the panels are beautiful and almost expressionistic, which fits, thematically, with the story.

"Here Today" is a unique, capital "W" Weird story. The plot is simple, but so bizarre that this tale seems ahead of its time. Another Twilight Zone-esque offering. One wonders how much Rod Serling read these comics as a kid! Or as an adult, for that matter.

"The Wall of Flesh" was predictable, to say the least, but the unique premise and use of a flesh wall absorbing its victim, superimposed over the image of a clock was absolute brilliance. Time is running out, indeed. If only 1950s plots weren't so dumb and predictable, this would have been something rather masterful. Still, it sets a high aesthetic standard for horror comics.

"Reefer Madness" meets a hybrid between a flying squirrel and The Creature from the Black Lagoon in "Nightmare World". The only thing terrifying about this story is its predictability. But the art is distinct, I have to give it that.

If Thomas Ligotti, Robert Crumb, and, I dunno, Philip K. Dick, maybe? If these three got together and wrote a horror comic, it might be "What Happens at 8:30 PM". This one is very different than the rest and shows the breadth of horror comics in the 1950's. Not all of them were cookie cutter. I'd like more oddballs like this in Four Color Fear.

In the center of the book is a series of glossy comic covers from an incredible variety of comics that I'll never be able to afford. And after all the gore is done, the editor, Greg Sadowski, includes an admirable, well-researched essay with commentary on every one of the comic stories included in the book. The commentary centers mostly on the creative process and the comings and goings of various artists and writers - there appeared to be a LOT of fluidity from company to company - giving a sort of historiography of the horror comic creative scene before the code became law. The glossy covers and commentary make the book a "whole" artifact, very similar to a museum catalog. You might say that Sadowski's editorials really . . . flesh things out?

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