[crashryan]

That first story is pretty disgusting. Looking at the fiddling with the dialogue I've concluded that an unimaginative editor felt his audience was too dumb to understand the story.

"Look at the last page here. So is this guy Timkin dead or what?"

"JB, the monster just bit Timkin in the neck and he's lying lifeless on the floor. Of course he's dead!"

"I dunno...we'd better put in a caption saying he's dead. Now, this guy in panel 5. That's Bart, right? Did he, like, come back from the dead or something?"

"It's Pam's imagination. It's symbolic, you know. See, in the dialogue she says she thinks she hears Bart laughing."

"I dunno...we better put in a caption telling us she's seeing his ghost. And give him some dialogue, too, to tell her she deserves all this."

"(Sigh) All right, JB..."

"One more thing. The splash panel. Someone should be saying the monster is coming from this guy's eye."

"But JB, if we tell them the monster is coming from his eye, we're giving away the shock gimmick in the first panel!"

"I dunno...the kids might think the monster's flying through the air or something. Have the girl say, 'Look, it's coming from his eye.'"

"(Deeper sigh) All right, JB. All right."

The one thing I can't figure out is the bit about changing the caption to place the story during WWII when the Soviet Union was America's ally. It adds unnecessary complexity to the story. By 1952 comics readers all agreed the Commies were villains. It'd have been simpler to have Pam talk Bart into betraying his country and leave it at that.

Link to the book: Mysterious Adventures 08