The Comic Code

Crime SuspenStories read like the recent t.v. shows that investigate crime, such as Criminal Minds, except it's always from the criminal or victim's point of view. Although I noticed that the Crime SuspenStories covers had the Comic Code Seal of Approval on it, I was left wondering if the original code was created to reject stories just like Crime Suspense Stories.  I've included a couple of rules that seem to be against the comic's motto, but overall I just wanted to discuss censorship in general. I think the idea of the Comic Code makes sense; it seems in poor taste to let kids read particularly gruesome or risqué comics. However, this censorship resides on the idea that 1) only children are reading comics, and 2) that children reading comics leads to violence and law breaking. In addition, that somehow children are seeing the violence in comics, but not seeing violence on t.v., media, and the internet.

I suppose one of my greatest problems is that some of the rules of the Comic Code seem to be blaming the comic singularly for creating violence, whereas in reality, violence comes from humans themselves; the comic just sometimes reflects it. 

11. Restraint in the use of the word "crime" in titles or sub-titles shall be exercised.

I'm not sure how effective reducing the use of the word "crime" is in reducing violence in children.

Ultimately, I think the Comic Code was something people created to placate its readers, and its readers' parents; but I'm not sure many people actually believed in the code. This is exemplified in the fact that the comic code industry eventually all but disappeared until it was only one woman in her house keeping it alive. 

The Hitchcock Influence

One thing that struck me in particular while reading these "Crime Suspense Stories" was the distinctly cinematic vibe that each issue radiated.  In particular, all of the comics made me think back to Alfred Hitchcock's films throughout the 1940s and1950s.  His films were filled with suspense and mainly focused on giving the viewer a psychological thrill and terror over the more common bloody horror in movies today.  Even when the issues such as "A Snapshot of Death" and "The Corpse in the Crematorium" didn't contain murder or suicide and had an almost "happy" ending, they were still filled with an amount of suspense that left the reader sitting on the edge of their seat turning the pages!  Hitchcock was known for his manipulation of the viewer's psychology within his films and enjoyed toying with his character's motives.  He sometimes made you root for the villain, or at the very least not know exactly which character actually is the bad guy.  This is also found within the "Crime Suspense Stories," as sometimes you end up rooting for the villain or don't actually know who is the real bad guy in the story.

Besides the Hitchcockian feel of the plot lines and 1950s dialogue, the images within the comics themselves were reminiscent of his films.  The dark shadows, deep contrast, stylized and attractive men and women, and angles depicted within the panels all lend to the air of drama as you read.  This is similar to Hitchcock's use of shadows within his black and white films to add drama and suspense (as the viewer occasionally can't see what's actually happening, only hear sounds), use of attractive and popular actors to play the lead roles, and brilliant cinematography to choose which angles and views (or lack thereof) would give the viewer the best nail-biting reaction.

Clearly there was an influence or connection between popular cinema at the time and these popular crime stories.  I'm interested in how much they actually influenced each other- was it in fact a two way street?  Did the popularity of these suspenseful comics among children and teens encourage movie producers to create more crime drama and suspense-filled films?

Shocker

This was the first time that a comic series had me eagerly reading through the text, flipping pages, and skimming illustrations in order to find out what happened next. Other comics we read were entertaining, but this was exciting. Not only are these the most electrifying comics we’ve read, they’re also the loosest in terms of plot, violence, and death. In A Moment of Madness, the doctor commits suicide. I didn’t see this coming until the very last panel of the comic. And, of course, after recently finishing The Mysterious Underground Men, this was the last thing I imagined would happen.  

In a lot of ways this series reminds me of The Twilight Zone. Each comic starts in medias res, and quickly reveals a strange, complex set of advancements. The twists keep coming, and I can cruise through a comic without knowing what is going to happen. Granted, in Superman, I didn’t know exactly what was going to transpire, but I knew the basic premise ­– the protagonist would save the day in one way or another. Everything else is just filler. Crime SuspenStories, however, constantly pulls a fast one on the reader, ending with a cliffhanger and immense amounts of closure. Just like in The Twilight Zone, the next story begins with no explanation. It’s a constant ride of dark guessing games, questions, and loose ends. They give the reader just barely enough information to keep them in the loop, and then they conclude with a climax. Everything else is up to us.

Predictable Moral Story

Crime SuspenStories consist of short but effective crime/mystery/suspense stories. The images in the panels are indicative that they are inspired by the film noir genre of movies during that time exemplified by the spotlighting of over-dramatic reactions by the characters. We can also see the influence of short fiction writers in the concise story lines. The film-like panels images aid with the process of short stories by illustrating the caption boxes that display the actual plot line. So the images end up simplified. The art style is more realistic which also helps with the suspense because it looks like these events could occur in real life. This is essential in the making of these stories because they need to give readers a bit of a scare in a short amount of time. 

There is a predictable formula to the SuspenStories like there have been formulas to the comic strips and superhero comics that we have read so far. Ironically, we can also assume that each story ends in an unexpected way due to the crime/mystery/suspense aspect of the comics. Many of the stories have a similar tension in that the main character's action led to a bad ending. That action was usually trying to better their current situation such as kill a wife or kill a look-a-like so that they can live rich. But then it backfires on them! The character or the reader looks back in hindsight and realizes if they just did not make that crucial error/action, they would not be where they are currently, which usually is dead. These stories are like the Aesop's fables for adults. However, the violence, portrayals of women, lack of competent law enforcement figures are what led to the Comics Code Authority. 

Crime Pays in Storytelling

What surprised me the most about the Crime SuspenStories wasn't the gruesome or horrific acts that were depicted, but the fact that these acts were committed by the main character and often the narrator of the story. This is a major difference from anything else we have read and this trait allows for these stories to accomplish something that none of the previously read stories could: making the comic about the actual story.

With less than reputable protagonists, the reader is unable to identify with the main character as much as a Superman or a Wonder Woman, forcing the story itself to compensate. Because of this, the comic is more about the actual story than the character. This is made possible through the text heavy style which often gives insight to the criminal's actions. Through these textual descriptions, the character is developed throughout the story, resulting in changing attitudes and a realization that criminals have real motives for their actions. In this sense, I thought many of these stories were very modern in that they recognize that the world isn't made up of only good and evil but that there is a large grey area of moral ambiguity. Obviously the actions taken by some of these characters are horrendous but the style of narrative allows for an insight into the human element of crime, allowing for a rich and developed story.

Exclamations points are terrifying!

Maybe texting has desensitized me to the horror of exclamation, but I can't help associating exclamation points with over-enthusiasm and that's far from horrifying! This isn't the only comic where 95% (maybe 100!) of the dialogue is exchanged with exclamation points, but the subtlety of periods would have been far more effective in chilling my blood! The moments where exclamation points would be effective are also dulled by the moments where mundane conversations are littered with exclamation points! On page 89, Mr. Loman's sudden Nag! Nag! Nag! outburst is fantastically scary because exclamation goes well with enlarged and specialized text, but in an uneventful panel on page 91, the room clerk says "You want your room key as usual!" and a yawning Mr. Loman replies "Hello Tom! (Yawn!) Hope my room's ready! I'm going to hit the sack right away! (yawn!)". I did a quick scan, and aside from ellipsis, the other comic punctuation, the dialogue was pure exclamation! If yawns are exclamatory too...I mean come on! I was distracted by this goofiness in comics that were supposed to give me nightmares and some scenes were unintentionally hilarious! It's hard to crescendo and climax when every line is pretending to be an exciting revelation! Comics has its own special punctuation, and I can respect that, but I can't tear away my exclamation prejudice when every panel has that glaring dot and line feigning unnecessary excitement! I think my distaste for this punctuation was especially piqued in this genre of comic because the finality of a naked period is much scarier than a glittery !

The Rise of Pop Psychology

As Laura has already pointed out, internal monologue drives a lot of the exposition in Crime and SuspenStories. In some cases, it takes the place previously occupied by the omniscient narrator or caption box and becomes instead a first-person running commentary. In other cases, the representations of internal thought become pictoral or symbolic and take over the panel. The story Poison! contains a number of examples, particularly on p.85 as the protagonist begins to succumb to poison and paranoia. The dominance of the internal monologue is overwhelming; only three stories are narrated by a third person. (Interestingly, the third-person narrators are usually chosen from a 'stable' of characters, like the Old Witch from the Haunt of Fear.) It seems to me that the preponderance of character monologues might stem from the post- WWII rise of applied psychology and its incorporation into the mainstream.

Since the reader of Crime and SuspenStories almost always has a privileged view into the mind of the narrator/character, traces of psychological theory are unavoidable. The stories reflect a broad understanding of psychological forces without necessarily attributing any specific theory to the motivations of the characters. What we receive as readers is a vague echo of an increased scrutiny of internal states of mind. I find it interesting that most of these stories can be reduced to formulas that are repeated across authors and plots. That seems to suggest that, despite highly unique and individual variations, the authors were recognizing or capitalizing on the recognition of patterns of thought and behavior to which early psychological theory was applied. Across Crime and SuspenStories as an anthology, it becomes possible to link characters by their mental states, as evidenced by their monologues and also by their actions. We can 'type' characters by the presentation of their psychology as well as by their archetypal role within the story. For example, the devious women plotting to kill their husbands in Death's Double-Cross, A Toast...To Death! and Out of My Mind! Psychology, or the derivation of psychology that circulated in the mainstream, becomes not only an accessible character motivation viz the monologues, but it also serves as an extension of literary archetypes since it gives the reader a new way of understanding the role of a character in a story and across stories of the same type.