InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "bbang wuz here"

cyberghostface (cyberghostface) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-09-26 20:42:00

Entry tags:

creator: jack kamen, publisher: ec comics, title: shock suspenstories

The Orphan

This one comes from Shock SuspenStories #14.

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	currer 2009-09-27 12:59 am UTC (link)
	Somehow I knew it. (Reply to this)

	mrmojorisin1135 2009-09-27 01:01 am UTC (link)
	Oh man, that wink in the end... (Reply to this)

	autolychus2 2009-09-27 01:02 am UTC (link)
	What a sweet child. She'll go far in this world, I tells ya. (Reply to this)

	sandoz_iscariot 2009-09-27 01:06 am UTC (link)
	The Bad Seed 2: Electric Boogaloo. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	cyberghostface 2009-09-27 01:10 am UTC (link)
	This issue actually came out on the same month as the original novel for the Bad Seed. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-09-27 01:57 am UTC (link)
	And the movie is still a bit unsettling to watch. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lonewolf23k 2009-09-27 01:13 am UTC (link)
	Pretty disturbing ending... ...And yet I simply can't feel sorry for the victims. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	arilou_skiff 2009-09-27 01:32 am UTC (link)
	Reminds me of that Bradbury story about the murderous infant. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	felinephoenix 2009-09-27 02:34 am UTC (link)
	Ditto. Like, part of me is almost proud the kid escaped those assholes, no matter how she did it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lookingforsigns 2009-09-27 03:07 am UTC (link)
	EC does that to you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aaron_bourque 2009-09-27 01:31 am UTC (link)
	Aw. Isn't triple murder cute! (Reply to this)

richardak
2009-09-27 01:46 am UTC (link)

And no one noticed that the trajectory of the bullet was at a downward angle? And no one noticed that Millie had no powder residue on her hands? Or that Lucy did? The police must have seriously bungled the investigation, almost as badly as Millie and Steve's attorney's bungled the defense.

Seriously, what exactly was the prosecution's theory of the crime? Millie shot Sam, then fainted, then Steve ran off? And Steve is getting the death penalty why? For that matter, what is Steve even being charged with, if Millie supposedly shot Sam with her own gun? And what state exactly gave this woman the death penalty for shooting her drunken, abusive, enraged husband as she was trying to leave him? It's pretty hard for a woman to get the death penalty in this country; only 44 women were executed in the United States during the entire twentieth century.

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	escherichiacola 2009-09-27 01:56 am UTC (link)
	This would've never happened at NCIS. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dr_hermes
2009-09-27 02:02 am UTC (link)

Maybe Steve was charged with conspiracy to commit murder (since the jury may not have believed that Millie killed her husband by herself)? He did flee the scene of a homicide. Still, he didn't actually fire the gun, so he shouldn't have gotten the chair.

It is indeed very unusual for a women to be executed, no matter what the crime. And judging by the art, the way Millie looks, she likely would have walked free one or the other.

Still, the story's impact comes from not thinking too deeply about it. It's all about that wink in the final panel.

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	drsevarius 2009-09-27 03:10 am UTC (link)
	Ethel Rosenberg got the chair. (Reply to this) (Parent)

neuhallidae
2009-09-27 02:11 am UTC (link)

To go all serious business with you: Assuming this was published in the 50s, 27 women had been given death penalty by electrocution between 1909 and 1957, five of them in New York alone, so the idea that she if she'd been convicted of murder, she could fry isn't totally off the rocks. Also, spousal abuse as a defense still isn't recognized in most states except as part of a plea of self-defense. At the time that this story would have taken place, the mother couldn't have pled self-defense anyway unless there was a witness who could claim that the husband was attacking her physically at the time she shot him. In fact, Steve's presence would have even killed that defense in the water, since the assumption during the time period would have been that he should have protected her instead of her using the gun.

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	dr_hermes 2009-09-27 02:19 am UTC (link)
	Were you using this site? Very interesting information. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/women-and-death-penalty (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-09-27 02:22 am UTC (link)
	Actually, no, I was using a book on execution methods (I was actually gonna put it in the pile for the used book store, but now I think I'll keep it. :D). But that is a very interesting site, thank you! (Reply to this) (Parent)

richardak
2009-09-27 02:38 am UTC (link)

I'm not saying she could have used spousal abuse as a defense at trial; rather, she could have, and any competent defense attorney would have, claimed that it was a crime of passion at the sentencing hearing. That would almost certainly enable her to avoid the death penalty. Indeed, it would have been very unlikely for her to get convicted of premeditated murder in the first place, because the prosecution would have had to prove that she planned for Sam to come home just as she was leaving with Steve. Without proof of premeditation, she would probably only have been convicted of murder two or even manslaughter (exact statutes vary by state and year), which would preclude the death penalty.

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	aaron_bourque 2009-09-27 06:24 am UTC (link)
	And no one noticed that the trajectory of the bullet was at a downward angle? And no one noticed that Millie had no powder residue on her hands? Or that Lucy did? Well, if they did, the story totally wouldn't work! But seriously, perhaps the last bit at the end is just crazy girl's delusions. She wouldn't know any of that shit, so neither does her delusion. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-09-27 10:14 am UTC (link)
	And no one noticed that the trajectory of the bullet was at a downward angle? The guy was a stumbling drunk, if he pitched forward as a bullet fired straight at him entered his body, it would appear to have a downward trajectory. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	gamerguy 2009-09-29 03:04 am UTC (link)
	Eh, you have 1950's tech with an open-and-shut literally smoking-gun case like this? They didn't make such a big damn deal out of forensics back then. Watch Zodiac and see how astoundingly different police work was just in the mid Sixties, then roll that back 10 years or more. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	blake_reitz 2009-09-27 01:48 am UTC (link)
	Ha! I just read The 10-Cent Plague, a book on the demise of genre EC comics and the link, and this story got a special mention. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-09-27 01:57 am UTC (link)
	Didn't Bill Gaines have to defend this story at the hearings? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blake_reitz 2009-09-27 02:01 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, this was one of them, I think. Although the final blow to the coffin nail was the one with the decapitated head. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-09-27 04:23 am UTC (link)
	Of all things, KAMEN gets him in trouble. So much for those that underrate him. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	felinephoenix 2009-09-27 02:38 am UTC (link)
	Have you ever read Comic Book Nation? The focus isn't on EC comics, but it has some great chapters on the downfall. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blake_reitz 2009-09-27 03:11 am UTC (link)
	Yes, but like a million years ago. I should put it in the re-read pile. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	misterfedex 2009-09-27 04:11 am UTC (link)
	And then, she became Panthea? (Reply to this)

jlroberson
2009-09-27 04:22 am UTC (link)

SSS was always my favorite of the EC comics and this story was a reason why--and a reason I never dismissed Jack Kamen. His sweet, attractive, clean-cut style is PERFECT for a story like this. I think of his stories like this as being a precursor to David Lynch a la BLUE VELVET--the safe suburban environment with something rotten underneath. You would never get the same effect with, say, Ingels, who was unable to underplay(except that one IMPACT story about the girl with the lemonade, which I like).

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	zordboy 2009-09-27 04:40 am UTC (link)
	And now I just see Batman kicking down the door to Aunt Kate's house and kicking Millie's face in. I spend too much time here. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	kenn_el 2009-09-27 07:26 am UTC (link)
	Nah. Aunt Kate and Lucy became the next Batwoman and Batgirl! (Reply to this) (Parent)

psychop_rex
2009-09-27 10:07 am UTC (link)

I kinda figured from the beginning that there'd be an ending like that. Still, it works pretty well - the parents really are such loathsome characters that you don't really feel that Lucy's a monster for doing what she did. Her Dad's life was a wreck, anyway - and her Mom was prepared to leave her only child with him, an action that doubtless would have resulted on her receiving severe beatings on a regular basis. They may not have deserved precisely what they got, but they certainly deserved something bad.

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	endis_ni 2009-09-27 03:07 pm UTC (link)
	What's going to happen to Aunt Kate in a few years? Specifically, the first time she tells Lucy she's not going out wearing THAT? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-09-27 03:32 pm UTC (link)
	Who do you think taught the kid to shoot? It's all part of Aunt Kate's plan I'm sure! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	freddie_mac 2009-09-27 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	And this is why I like the EC stories so much --- that twist at the end. Seriously, the ECs pack so much into 8pgs and we've got current comics that barely do anything in 28 or 32 pgs. My favorite EC is rather gory (in Crypt or Haunt, IIRC) about Business partner A who killed Business Partner B, turned B into soap (which was stored at A's house), and then A ran out of soap ... (Reply to this)

	halloweenjack 2009-09-27 09:05 pm UTC (link)
	...and Lucy grew up to form the cross-universe Justice League of Orphans with Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and Mr. Sensitive. ...but none knew the true purpose...MUA HA HA HA! (Reply to this)