"Times call for measures" goes the proverb. I rarely reprint a complete story here at the Dojo and when I have done so it's either in public domain or from some impossible-to-find fanzine. I'm putting forth one of comicdom's most famous stories today, one from EC Comics. Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein co-wrote and Bernard Krigstein drew it. The time was 1955 and the menace of Adolph Hitler was barely a decade in the past, nearly as long as America has been contending shamefully with its most recent "leader". I'd imagine most who visit this blog have read "Master Race", one of the most powerful and well-crafted stories ever published in the format. Krigstein asked for more time and more space to tell this story and that ended up delaying its publication for a year. If you have read it, I'd recommend it's not a bad time to revisit it, and if by chance you've never encountered the story, then by all means don't let my meanderings stop you for another second.
See you on the other side.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Under the dynamic Jack Davis cover is a story which elegantly and (no pun intended) masterfully guides the reader through a frightening tale of an evil man who meets a justice of a sort at long last. Krigtstein's storytelling, his control of time and space and his fidelity to keeping the reader's eyes exactly where he wants them, makes "Master Race" a compelling eight-page read. Apparently, it began as a typical six-page EC yarn, but Krigstein wanted a few more pages to tell this important tale properly and adding those two pages caused a deadline to be missed and a delay of a year before the public was able to encounter this response to the Nazi menace which defined the 20th century.
I own this story scuds of times. It gets included in nearly any EC anthology because of its quality. And as we've learned to our chagrin, it's terrible message never seems to go out of date. Below are just some of the tomes in which "Master Race" appears. These are just the ones I own.
I regularly follow a YouTube channel called Maximilien Robespierre which mostly deals with British politics but sometimes US politics too. Yesterday it had a report from Bell County, Kentucky in which two Trump-voting teachers are now worried that Trump will abolish the US Department for Education and end federal funding for their school. These so-called educators couldn't see through Trump's lies and bullshit so they are more immature than the children they teach.
ReplyDeleteLots of folks are going to lose access to programs they've come to think of as automatic. Thankfully for education, nearly all the funding comes from the states, so there will have to an increase there to pick up the slack. The Feds mostly deal with "Special Education" and a few other programs to help with equality of service.
DeleteI wouldn't underestimate the fear & loathing for education that drives so many MAGA voters, alas.
DeleteAll too frighteningly appropriate, Rip. I know that things will get bad in the next 4 years - or maybe 2, if we can win the midterms - if there even are midterms - but things may be much worse than we suspect or fear in this sickening moment.
ReplyDeleteI've lost all faith in the federal government and mainstream media. I live in a "Red State" but even so there are still limits I feel to what people will put up with and the state governments will have to be the place where we can effect some protections.
DeleteI'm hoping that will prove to be the case. But I know that a great many people are going to suffer - and ironically, may who voted enthusiastically for Trump will wind up suffering the most.
DeleteToo true. And when they do suffer they will blame the people trying to help them as they have been doing now for a decade at least.
DeleteWhat a powerful comic strip I haven't seen that one before . Krigstein was a wonderful artist. I can't even think about Trump at present it's too depressing already.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pleasure to be the one who shares it with you. One more day of Nazis tomorrow and then I'm off to other matters.
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