Back in the 1950s, American horror comics made millions for their publishers and nearly destroyed the American comic-book industry in the process.
Horror comics depicted sex, bloodshed and gore in a frantic effort to boost sales. Kids - and more than a few adults, too - loved them, but parents, teachers and religious groups hated them even more. They launched a massive campaign which saw horror comics thrown onto bonfires and forced publishers to impose a stringent self-censorship code which remained in place for decades. |
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Few American horror comics were published in Australia, although they were often cited in local campaigns against comic books. Home-grown horror comics didn't appear until the mid-1970s, when more permissive attitudes allowed titles like Vampire! to creep into newsagencies. |
The resurgence of American horror movies in the 1980s was fuelled by the popularity of home video cassette players, which provided a new outlet for low-budget movies that couldn't get cinema distribution. These films inspired an emerging generation of Australian horror-comic writers and artists.
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New Australian comics like Pulse of Darkness put a contemporary twist on traditional horror themes, such as vampires and the occult. Others were a throwback to the grisly American horror comics of the 1950s. Phantastique revelled in blood and gore, spurred on by the violent excess of modern-day 'splatter' horror films. |
Horror remains a marginal genre in the history of Australian comics, as it is in other popular media. Like horror novels and films, horror comics will always be controversial - especially because they appear in the 'children's medium' of the comic book.
Illustrations
Top Gerald CARR, born 1944, Vampire! No 3, Bayswater North VIC, GR Carr, 1977
Bottom and Right Doug HOLGATE (cover artist, born 1975), Dunwich: A Tale of the Cthulu Mythos No 3, Cammeray NSW, Phosphorescent Comics, 2001 (detail)
