Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: l.b. cole, Star Publications

Biological Warfare & Wertham, Terrors of the Jungle #17 at Auction

Terrors of the Jungle #17 features an L.B. Cole cover and contains a "bacterial warfare" story referenced in Seduction of the Innocent.

Terrors of the Jungle #17 is a prime example of the typical Star Publications formula: use cheaply obtained (and previously published) material from other publishers and put a new cover by L.B. Cole on it, designed for maximum newsstand spectacle and impact. It's those Cole covers that have driven collector interest in the Star Publications line, but this particular issue has considerable additional collector appeal, in the form of a rather lengthy mention by Fredric Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent. An issue that has both a sought-after Pre-Code cover and some fascinating historical context, there's a Terrors of the Jungle #17 (Star Publications, 1952) CGC FN 6.0 copy up for auction in the July 9 – 11 Comic Books Signature Auction #7467 at Heritage Auctions.

While "The Silent Death", the story that captured Wertham's attention first appeared in Rulah #21 (Fox, December 1948), the psychiatrist's commentary makes it clear that he believed this story had been published during the Korean War era, making it highly likely that it came to his attention via Terrors of the Jungle #17.

Something of a rarity for a Fox-originated story, "The Silent Death" has a very clear inspiration in the revelations of secret "bacterial warfare" research that became public knowledge beginning in January 1946 when the U.S. War Department publicly released George W. Merck's report on the United States' wartime biological-warfare work. In the story, criminals steal bacterial warfare material from a secret government lab with the intent of testing it on Rulah's people before using it to blackmail the United States.

Wertham gives the story a heightened context from his 1954 perspective in his infamous book Seduction of the Innocent: "At a time when accusations of bacterial warfare cloud the international scene, children here in the United States and, through export, in many other countries, are instructed that the United States Government is carrying out secret research on bacteriological warfare and that it is practiced on colored natives."

This context appears to be a reference to the early 1952 allegations from North Korean Foreign Minister Bak Hun Yung and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai that the U.S. Military had engaged in biological warfare in North Korea and Northeast China. These allegations were much later confirmed to be propaganda, which makes Wertham's concluding commentary on the matter, "This is not propaganda abroad, but the comic-book industry at home," all the more interesting. Wertham's comments also make it very likely that he believed the story had been published during the Korean War era, making the source here very likely to be Terrors of the Jungle #17, rather than Rulah #21.

All of this makes Terrors of the Jungle #17 (Star Publications, 1952) highly desirable for Cole collectors, Pre-Code collectors, and comic book history fans alike, and there's a CGC FN 6.0 copy up for auction in the July 9 – 11 Comic Books Signature Auction #7467 at Heritage Auctions.

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