Research Catalog

Title

EC Comics : race, shock, and social protest / Qiana Whitted.

Author

Whitted, Qiana J., 1974-

Publication

New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, [2019]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 181 pages : illustrations (some color); 23 cm.

Summary

Entertaining Comics Group (EC Comics) is perhaps best-known today for lurid horror comics like Tales from the Crypt and for a publication that long outlived the company's other titles, Mad magazine. But during its heyday in the early 1950s, EC was also an early innovator in another genre of comics: the so-called "preachies," socially conscious stories that boldly challenged the conservatism and conformity of Eisenhower-era America. EC Comics examines a selection of these works--sensationally-titled comics such as "Hate!," "The Guilty!," and "Judgment Day!"--and explores how they grappled with the civil rights struggle, antisemitism, and other forms of prejudice in America. Putting these socially aware stories into conversation with EC's better-known horror stories, Qiana Whitted discovers surprising similarities between their narrative, aesthetic, and marketing strategies. She also recounts the controversy that these stories inspired and the central role they played in congressional hearings about offensive content in comics. The first serious critical study of EC's social issues comics, this book will give readers a greater appreciation of their legacy.

Series Statement

Comics culture

Uniform Title

Comics culture.

Subjects

• United States
• Literature and society
• Comic books, strips, etc > Moral and ethical aspects
• History
• Black author
• EC Comics History
• Comic books, strips, etc > Moral and ethical aspects > History and criticism
• Social problems in literature
• EC Comics
• 1900-1999
• United States > Race relations > Comic books, strips, etc > History and criticism
• Literature and society > United States > History > 20th century

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction : The Preachies -- "Spelled out carefully in the captions": how to read an EC magazine -- "We pictured him so different, Joey!": Optical illusions of Blackness and embodiment in EC -- "Oh God...sob!...What have I done...?": Shame, mob rule, and the affective realities of EC justice -- "Battling, in the sea of comics": EC's Invisible Man and the Jim Crow future of "Judgment Day!" -- Conclusion : "Hence we see justice triumph!" -- Appendix : Annotations of key EC titles.

Call Number

Sc E 19-1755

ISBN

• 9780813566320
• 0813566320
• 9780813566313
• 0813566312

LCCN

2018022093

OCLC

1037884256

Author

Whitted, Qiana J., 1974- author.

Title

EC Comics : race, shock, and social protest / Qiana Whitted.

Publisher

New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, [2019]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Comics culture

Comics culture.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Local Subject

Black author.

Research Call Number

Sc E 19-1755