Comments on: A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments – Day 188

By: Do EC Comics Make “You” Black? «

Do EC Comics Make “You” Black? « — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:53:03 +0000

[...] extends not only to comics in which the perspective is verbally explicit, but also to works like “Judgment Day” and “Master Race” where a second-person mode dominates the visual orientation of the sequential [...]

By: Alabaster

Alabaster — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:54:34 +0000

Still very poignant today.

By: An Armchair Misanthrope. » Blog Archive » Interstellar Spacecraft, Positronic Brains, Personal Forcefields… Microfilms?! - the unsolicited thoughts of Justin Boden

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:20:05 +0000

[...] do with savvy and finesse, to take The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and gender issues or “Judgment Day” (Weird Fantasy 18, March-April 1952) and racial segregation. In this capacity they weave [...]

By: Comics Radar » Blog Archive » Comics Radar 057 – Not Approved by the Comics Code Authority

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:59:19 +0000

[...] go read “Judgment Day,” one of the most talked about stories that was killed by the [...]

By: wwk5d

wwk5d — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:11:39 +0000

It’s amazing that something like this was allowed to publish when it was. Very hokey by today’s standards, but the overall message is good. And it’s refreshing to see humans as a strong, dominant force in space, normally, we’re the ones who need the aliens (yeah, I know, we are the creators in this strip, but you get the idea…).

By: bats

bats — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:06:47 +0000

wow…great story…at first i saw it was an old comic and was eeehhh…but then i started to read and was glad i did…

By: Hero Sandwich » Links for a Better Life!

Hero Sandwich » Links for a Better Life! — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:03:15 +0000

[...] all of EC Comics’ “Judgment Day” story! Better Life Factor: This is an outstanding story, and it’s nice that EC was able to [...]

By: AERose

AERose — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:57:10 +0000

Does it make me a terrible person that I wanted the twist ending to involve a reveal that Earth had sidestepped the problem of diversity by eliminating all but one race, then claiming to be civilized? That probably makes me a terrible person, doesn’t it?

By: R3D RJ

R3D RJ — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:46:23 +0000

Glad to see this included too =)

By: EC Comics « The New Rambler

EC Comics « The New Rambler — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:06:15 +0000

[...] Here’s a great one from Weird Fantasy. [...]

By: Callen493

Callen493 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:35:32 +0000

Yay it made it on here!

By: Julian

Julian — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:06:18 +0000

Chad, it was the publishers at EC that stood up to keep the astronaut black. It was Judge Charles Murphy who tried to use the CCA to change the astronaut’s race. Gaines threatened to sue him and when Murphy said the astronaut could be black if they got rid of the perspiration Gaines told him “Fuck you” and hung up on him. That’s right about the time that MAD switched over to magazine format and EC stopped publishing comics. It’s a terrible shame; American comics would be a much more vibrant and varied medium today if EC hadn’t been forced under by the CCA.

By: chad

chad — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:39:08 +0000

that story should be considered a classic mostly due to its being about not judging someone over skin color that plus the fact that the publishers wanted the afriacan american astronaut changed to white. a worthy moment for the list and true clssic

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:25:44 +0000

I watched that whole DS9 episode without realizing what it was.

I was flipping around TV late at night and I stopped and watched a little bit and thought “Huh, this looks like some neat forgotten movie about the troubles of a black sci-fi writer in the ’50s. I’ll watch it.” I was shocked at the end when it turned out it was a Deep Space 9 episode. I never got into the show but that was a fine hour of TV.

By: Furious George

Furious George — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:40:00 +0000

D’oh! I meant thirty years, not twenty!

By: Furious George

Furious George — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:35:43 +0000

I saw “Comic Book Confidential” for the first time last month and Gaines picks this one comic as how backasswards the Comics Code was in the 1950s. The story would not have worked if the astronaut was white; it would have come across as simply lecturing the reader on racism. But having the astronaut turn out to be black not only provides a nice little twist ending it also shows how far a society can go when race is no longer an issue. Twenty years after this story is published, NASA sends Guion “Guy” Bluford into space as the first African-American in space. Gaines was simply ahead of the times.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:31:16 +0000

For some reason, this reminds me of that great “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” episode where Sisko dreams he’s a science-fiction writer in the 50s, using his stories to speak out against racism.

By: Lt. Clutch

Lt. Clutch — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:13:14 +0000

A true classic in every sense of the world! EC Comics broke new ground in various genres and were always ahead of their time. Censuring ideals only results in inciting greater resistance. Witness the creation of the CCA and how it led to the underground movement of the 60′s. Kudos to Gaines and his crew for standing up to all the bigoted crap that kept being shoved in their faces.