SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES #13 * CGC 5.5 * Solo FRAZETTA Story

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Author:
Title: SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES No. 13
Place Published:
Publisher:EC [Indicia: Tiny Tot Comics, Inc.]
Date Published: March-April, 1954
Description:

CGC certified: Fine- (5.5). Off-white pages. Plots and scripts: Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. Cover: Jack Kamen. Art: Jack Kamen, Wally Wood, Reed Crandall and Frank Frazetta. Overstreet: "Frazetta's only solo story for EC." GPAnalysis: 5.5 copy sold for $355 in July 2021.

Features "Squeeze Play," Frank Frazetta's only solo EC story. Frazetta modeled the bad guy's appearance after his own, and one panel features a man (who appears to be an amalgam of Bill Gaines and Roy Krenkel) wearing an EC t-shirt.

This ish also features "Blood Brothers," a classic Feldstein-Wood "preachie" in which a guy named Sid terrorizes his next-door neighbor for having "black blood." After the neighbor kills himself, the coroner informs Sid that when he was a kid, his life was saved by a blood transfusion from a black donor. The story ends not with violent comeuppance, as in the similar story "Hate!" from Shock #5, but with Sid overcome with shame and remorse. In Qiana Whitted's fascinating book EC Comics: Race, Shock and Social Protest, the author salutes EC for publishing this story, but reminds the reader that "it is worth considering what it means that Sid's punishment for murdering a black man is to be turned into one."

A limited edition of 150 softcover and 15 hardcover catalogues is available. 400 lots, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcover $30, deluxe hardcover with dust jacket and limitation plate $200. Ten of the 15 hardcovers are pre-ordered and the rest will go quickly, so reserve yours now. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's December 2021 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.