What exactly do I mean when I say Comics were saved by a “Wolfman”? Well, it all comes down to this book right here: House of Secrets #83 by DC Comics.

This little, (mostly unheard of) book is actually a major key to any and all “Horror” Comic Book fans. More importantly, this book really did pave the way for the modern horror we have in comics today.

And the reason for this?

This book was one of the few able to stand up to the Comics Code Authority.

Horror comics rose to fame during the 1940s to 1950s, with the most famous, of course, being E.C Comics with well-established titles such as Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear.

As time went on and the popularity of these comics grew, parents began to grow fearful of the content their impressionable children were consuming. They believed that the imagery of gore and violence was corrupting young minds.

(We’ve seen a similar thing to this in modern times in reference to Video Games)

So, in came the Comics Code Authority…

The Comics Code Authority was a self-regulated service created by the Comic Book Industry in order to ensure that these depictions of Horror would no longer be seen by impressionable minds (e.g. Young Children).

However, (unfortunately) this code was extremely limiting to writers. As a result, they had to develop methods to get around these hurdles in rather intriguing and extremely fascinating ways.

The Rules of the Authority were exceptionally limiting to creators as well. They were no longer allowed to draw depictions of these ghoulish fiends or horrendous acts of violence that had once filled the pages of many beloved comics.

They were also no longer allowed to use “Classic” words or titles. For example, the Code stated that there could be no scenes dealing with the Walking Dead, Torture, Vampires and Vampirism, Ghouls, Cannibalism or Werewolfism.

In short meaning: No Classic Monsters.

As you can imagine, this all really did hinder the creation of new material in the Horror Comic Book Scene. These Classic Stories, which had been selling really well at the time, were instantly stopped and disappeared from stores.

However, fast forward some years later - one man found a loophole!

Gerry Conway discovered that he could get around the Comics Code Authority if someone's name happened to be the same as one of those Creatures that had been banned. Gerry turned to fellow Creator Marv Wolfman and put forward that he should be allowed to sign his work.

And this brings us back to House of Secrets #83.

In this story, we see our Host breaking the fourth wall and talking to us, the readers. He explains how he is about to share a Tale with us. The Host goes on to explain that he had once been told this tale by a "Wondering Wolfman."

So you see, they were able to bend and somewhat break the strict rules of the Code, simply by having a Creator take credit for his work in the book!

If you have a copy of this book, you will notice upon turning the page that the Story being told has a little Box telling the reader: “Script by Marv Wolfman”. These little words broke the Code and allowed the word Wolfman back into the comic lexicon.

This is also an incredibly important issue because this led to many Creators within the industry actually being able to sign their work. Something they hadn’t previously been allowed to do for many years.

As the years continued, we would get more pushes to the boundaries of the Comic Code, with the likes of Marvel just a few years later giving us “Morbius the Living (Not Dead!) Vampire”.

Unfortunately, many Horror Comics did not survive this period of time. The most notable casualty, of course, being E.C comics itself, which only lasted five years.

But we can all thank DC and more importantly House of Secrets #83, for pushing the boundaries and fighting back!

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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.