Wednesday, August 5, 2009

'Slow Death' Comix No. 6 (1974)


‘Slow Death’ No. 6 (1974) features on its cover President Nixon, aboard an alien spaceship and negotiating with its crew – drawn with care to call to mind the classic EC SF comics of the 50s - for access to their oil. In the background, some aliens are dining on something suspicious.

Most of the stories in this issue (‘The Long Sleep’ by George Metzger, ‘Raw Meat’ by Rand Holmes, and ‘White Man’s Burden’ by Jaxon) cannot be posted to a ‘G’ or ‘PG’ rated blog site, but Charles Dallas’s ‘Call of the Wild’ should qualify. I’ve posted the story in its entirety; it’s a creepy tale of caged animals getting a chance to even the score.

The depiction of ‘Miss Miller’, the elderly woman who manages the ‘nature museum’, brilliantly resembles the nasty old WASP shrews and spinsters I encountered growing up in a small town in upstate New York. Outwardly, paragons of virtue; upstanding citizens of the community; members of the DAR and the Shriner's Lady Auxilliary; inwardly, vicious and bitter towards small things like animals and children.



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