'Slow Death' comics No. 11

This version of 'Slow Death' No. 11 was printed in 1992 and features a cover illustration by Greg Irons, who also contributed (posthumously) several strips. Also included are 'Panic in Year Zilch' by Graham Manley;'Overture to Armageddon' by Warren Greenwood; and 'Super Cosmic Comic Creator Comix' by Wally Wood. One of the better stories in this issue is 'Cold Snap' by Alan Moore and Bryan Talbot (of 'Luther Arkwright' fame). Talbot's black and white artwork is, as always, very good.

 

For a nice gallery of selected 'Slow Death' stories from issues 1 - 9, including many I don't post for reasons of Adult Content, try the 'Golden Age Comic Book Stories' blog.

Slow Death comics No. 3

'Slow Death' comics No. 3



‘Slow Death’ No. 3 (1971) features a cover illustration by Richard Corben, who also provides the (untitled) lead entry in the comic. Corben also contributes ‘Heirs of Earth’, a grimly funny little two-page story. Two of the longer pieces in the book come from Larry Weltz (‘The Sleeping Continent’), and Jaxon (‘Gene Shuffle’).

But the best entry in Slow Death No. 3 is another small masterpiece from Jim Osborne, which I have excerpted here, titled ‘Harbinger’. The entire four-page comic contains neither dialogue balloons nor text narration, but is nonetheless very successful in building up a feeling of religious awe and dread.

In utilizing a drawing style reminiscent of an engraving, Osborne’s piece is a homage to Lynd Ward (1905 – 1985), whose work I was vaguely familiar with from the children’s books I read in the 60s and 70s.

Ward does not get much attention nowadays, but in his time (1920s – 1970s) he was one of the premiere book illustrators and graphic artists in the US. He employed a distinctive style in his illustration, and devotees of graphic art will want to be acquainted with Ward’s body of work.

(Who says reading trash like underground comix won’t teach you something ?)

'Slow Death' Comix No. 2 (1970)

Issue 2 (1970) of Last Gasps’s ‘Slow Death’ eco-horror comic states its manifesto clearly on the inside cover page, with the aid of a pollution-spawned version of the ‘host’ from the EC horror comics of the 50s (which were much admired by the underground comix artists).

This issue featured some good stories by Dave Sheriden with ‘The Sex Evulsors of Technicus’; Richard Corben (‘Gore’) with ‘How Howie Made It in the Real World’; and Jim Osborne’s ‘Routine’, which I’ve posted here. Osborne’s distinctive draftsmanship and art style is well displayed here; it’s a shame he dropped out of the comix field in the mid-70s.

 

 

 

 

In one of those bizarre, only- in -the – hippy -era sort of pop culture collisions, Kristen Carpenter, the daughter of Mercury program astronaut Scott Carpenter, wrote in to complain about the unflattering depiction of her father in a strip (evidently titled ‘Ego-Trip on Babylon’, by a Mr Grimshaw) featured in issue 1 of Slow Death.

In his (somewhat stoned-sounding) response, Grimshaw is less than apologetic, as one might expect of an eco-conscious artist on a political mission in those halcyon days of Power to the People…… although in my opinion, since Kristen was a comix reader and thus quite ‘hip’ and ‘groovy’, rather than an ordinary ‘square’ , she should have been given a more welcoming reception.

'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.