Tight Grip

This story from Tales of the Crypt #38 published in 1953 by EC comics and illustrated by Jack Davies was done before the comics code authority (CCA) started restricting the content of comic books in America. The publisher of EC comics, William Gaines fought with congress and the CCA and was blacklisted after a CCA judge objected to a story in "Weird Tales" called Judgement Day.

In this story a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, is visiting the planet Cybrinia, inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, with one having fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut determines that due to the robots' bigotry, the Galactic Republic should not admit the planet until these problems are resolved. In the final panel, the astronaut removes his helmet revealing he's a black man.

The judge demanded, without any authority in the Code, that the Black astronaut had to be removed and when Gaines told him to fuck off, the CCA restricted sales of the comic, ultimately destroying the comic book line.

The writing in these anthology stories is pretty simple, but I liked this story. It's unusually gory and told from a strange point of view.

posted by na on April 23, 2025 07:15