We begin with NYC Detective Mark Fabian receiving an anonymous tip (appropriate for a comic called The Informer):
Let's see Dragnet do an episode about leprosy!!
From The Informer #5 (1954)
Monday, April 30, 2018
Manic Monday Triple Overtime--Maybe If He Had A White Gold Ring...?
Now, I've read a lot of crime comics in my day. But I've never read one where the crime was...well, we'd best wait for the reveal.
We begin with NYC Detective Mark Fabian receiving an anonymous tip (appropriate for a comic called The Informer):
Well, they go there, and bust down the door...but Mike Reeves doesn't seem like much of a threat!
A search of his crib produces nothing!
Reeves' brother shows up!
Well, despite lack of any evidence of actual crime, they haul Mike Reeves down to the station, and thanks to the miracles of modern communications...
And then Fabian notices the vital clue:
And so, with an intuitive flash:
Leper! Outcast! Unclean!
Yup, in 1954, leprosy was a police matter!!
Well, the local health department alleviates most of their worries...
But wait...who was the anonymous informant?!?
So you turned him in to the police!! What a good brother!!
Let's see Dragnet do an episode about leprosy!!
From The Informer #5 (1954)
We begin with NYC Detective Mark Fabian receiving an anonymous tip (appropriate for a comic called The Informer):
Let's see Dragnet do an episode about leprosy!!
From The Informer #5 (1954)
It's a weird kind of public service announcement...yes, it clears up a lot of misconceptions about the disease, but how much need was there for a PSA about leprosy?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, it's a sharp contrast to the horror comics of this era...I can recall a few EC stories where simply being in the same room as a person with leprosy was a death sentence.