Socially Conscious Comics - Part 2

A follow-up to this post . . .

Here's an example of a real EC Comics cover - Shock SuspenStories No. 6 - from the company's early '50s heyday, and you can immediately see why some groups wanted to have these comics banned. At a time when any criticism of America was considered *suspect*, EC had the temerity to publish a story that was critical of the (thinly disguised) Ku Klux Klan. What might have riled would-be censors (such as Dr. Fredric Wertham) even more was the inclusion of such lurid elements as an erotically drawn female victim and the suggestion of an incipient whipping. Beyond the adult subject matter of this cover, note the extraordinary draughtsmanship and compositional skills of its artist, Wallace Wood, the hyperrealism of the fabric folds and the metallic gleam of the vintage automobile in the background, the high contrast film noir-like lighting effects using only the moon and the torches of the Klan as light sources.

And here's an example of social consciousness, late '60s-style, from our friends at DC Comics (now a division of Time-Warner) - Lois Lane No. 106 - in which our heroine learns what it's like to live 24 hours as a (more attractively drawn) black woman.