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Saturday, February 13, 2010

GOING TO THE WOOD-PILE - An EC Classic From Feldstein and Wood


Howdy, comic book lovers!

I'm posting this story here not only because it is fantastic, but also because I have the ORIGINAL ART by Wallace "Wally" Wood posted over at 
BLACK 'N' WHITE AND RED ALL OVER 
right now!
It's beautiful in color, but you need to see the original black and white art to appreciate Wood's amazing gift! Don't forget to check it out, friend!

Originally published in WEIRD SCIENCE  # 13, 1952, these scans are from my Gemstone reprint copy.

A classic story by Al Feldstein, and incredible art by Wally Wood!

HE WALKED AMONG US!







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4 comments:

  1. A classic EC/Wood sci-fi story with a biblical message.Did Marvel comics get the idea for Wolverine's hair style from the ruler on the last page?Coincidence maybe?

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  2. Anonymous,
    Yes, a biblical message, but ironically New testament, whereas writer Feldstein was Jewish (which is strictly Old testament)! Biblically based, at least...
    On the hair, good point! That's not a hairstyle one sees very often, especially in the 1950's!

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  3. Well, imagine that Feldstein had written a story that implied that Y'shua was in fact not a peculairly divine being, but a visitor from another world. All else being equal, a Jew would be more comfortable with that idea than would be a Christian! But, in 1952, there'd be a fair amount of outrage at such a thing being directly proposed in a comic book story, and at least some eruption of anti-semitism when it were recognized that the author were a Jew. Rather than propose this directly, Feldstein has suggested it indirectly.

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  4. Exactly, oeconomist!
    It is possible that both Gaines and Feldstein (both Jewish, although I know very little about their actual convictions or religious practices) had very little qualms about publishing a story putting Christianity in the realm of science fiction. Probably in the same way that EC's "preachies" were able to make subtle points regarding racism and other 'taboo' subjects by wrapping the 'moral' in the guise of an entertaining comic story, they were able to publish this story 'under the radar', as it were. While strict Bible-belter's of that era certainly might've found offence, perhaps other reader's of Christian faith were able to read "He Walked Among Us" and accept it as slightly clever fiction, yet impeccably improbable. Feldstein's limited understanding of Jesus/Y'shua is evident. The actual proposal of the Savior being an alien, while strangely popular even now with fringe groups of various types, upon close examination is unable to stand as a plausible theory in light of all the evidence to the contrary.

    Similarly, how many sci-fi stories from this same era deal with the persons of Adam and Eve being space aliens as well? A story from Rod Serling's Twilight Zone springs to mind, although the episode in question was produced in the early 60's, it was most certainly based upon a previous story (or more likely, stories). Coincidentally, Serling was able to cloak serious moral themes in the setting of science fiction much in the same way that EC did several years earlier, and in the same way that Star Trek did a few years later.

    Thanks for the great comment!

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