![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In pop culture, Sigmund Freud is, perhaps erroneously, quoted as saying “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” (1). However, in Jack Cole's “Murder, Morphine and Me,” from the May 1947 edition of True Crime #2 (Cole, 6), the sexual nature of the visual imagery is not just a matter of reading too much into the drawings. “Murder, Morphine and Me” is a horror story, and page 6 of the story is about sexual horror in particular.
Before getting into the specifics of the page, it is helpful to understand some of Jack Cole's background. While he was drawing for serial comic books, like True Crime Comics and Plastic Man, Cole also moonlighted by drawing sexy gag cartoons for men's magazines under the pen name Jake (2). He went on to become Playboy Magazine's premier cartoonist in 1964, and he specialized in drawing voluptuous young women with rich old men (3). These gag cartoons are rich in depth, with multiple layers of visual sexual metaphors and puns. It is therefore not a stretch of the imagination to see the sexual allusions of “Murder, Morphine and Me.”
On one level exists the story itself. The protagonist, Mary Kennedy, is the sloe-eyed damsel in distress being strung along by the manipulative gangster, Tony. He pimps her out to repellant men, and because she is a lovesick naif, she goes along with it. She finally snaps and confronts Tony, telling him she does not want to act as an escort for these “crums” (sic) any more. Tony tells her she has been a cover for the real business: drug dealing. Shocked, she begs to leave, but Tony grabs her and intimates that if she leaves, the kingpin of the drug empire will murder both of them.
The final frame of the page is open to interpretation. While men wait at the door, Mary weeps and screams “Oh, I hate you! Hate you!” (Cole), accompanied by the sound of pounding coming from below doorknob level. What is going on? I suggest three possibilities:
1. Mary has collapsed in despair and is banging her fists on the floor in impotent rage.
2. The “POUND POUND POUND” (Cole) is the sound of Mary being pummelled into obedience by Tony.
3. The pounding is the sound of a sexual assault.
On a separate level exists the the visual imagery, which contains numerous sexual overtones. Spattered all over with the harassing cat-calls of leering men, the first tier of the page contains the largest variety of erotic references. Acting as a set of parentheses to the panel are the disembodied, tumid red lips of Mary, penetrated by a phallic cigarette. Between these parenthetical lips is a large whirling circle, itself also penetrated, this time by Mary's head. Body fluids and a spilled cocktail spatter around Mary's face and toward her mouth. The central disembodied head demonstrates an animalistic flehmen response. In the flehmen response, a male animal draws its upper lip back and flares open its nostrils in a behavioural component of libido (4).
The animalistic element also does not appear accidental. Predator animals have eyes on the front of their faces, and prey animals on the sides. The men, who circle Mary like wolves, are all drawn as predators, with their eyes close-set, whereas Mary's eyes are set so far apart they almost appear to be on the sides of her head.
The imagery in the rest of the page is more toned down, in comparison, and uses role reversals for effect. The first frame of the second tier shows Mary in an aggressive posture, and although she is on the offensive, she keeps her distance from Tony while he looms over her. In the next frame, the role switches over. Now Tony is on the offensive, closing the gap by grabbing Mary and violently shaking her (as indicated by the action lines).
Word choice is yet another level for interpretation. Objectifying words used to describe Mary refer to her as a comestible: "juicy," "sweet," and "yum yum" (Cole). The most disturbing word choice is the only sound effect of the page: the "POUND POUND! POUND!" (Cole) of the final panel. "Pound," like "bang," is a vulgar term for rough sex. That this sound occurs while men are queuing outside the door makes the situation even more horrific, as the implication is that they are waiting for their turn with her.
In conclusion, by means of visual imagery, story telling, and word choice, this page from "Murder, Morphine and Me" is an example of sexual horror.
---------
Works Cited
Jack Cole, "Murder, Morphine, and Me," True Crime #2, May 1947, page 6.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/08/12/just-a-cigar/
http://colescomics.blogspot.ca/2010/02/jack-cole-at-playboy-part-1-first-year.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cole_(artist)#Playboy
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Flehmen+response
Before getting into the specifics of the page, it is helpful to understand some of Jack Cole's background. While he was drawing for serial comic books, like True Crime Comics and Plastic Man, Cole also moonlighted by drawing sexy gag cartoons for men's magazines under the pen name Jake (2). He went on to become Playboy Magazine's premier cartoonist in 1964, and he specialized in drawing voluptuous young women with rich old men (3). These gag cartoons are rich in depth, with multiple layers of visual sexual metaphors and puns. It is therefore not a stretch of the imagination to see the sexual allusions of “Murder, Morphine and Me.”
On one level exists the story itself. The protagonist, Mary Kennedy, is the sloe-eyed damsel in distress being strung along by the manipulative gangster, Tony. He pimps her out to repellant men, and because she is a lovesick naif, she goes along with it. She finally snaps and confronts Tony, telling him she does not want to act as an escort for these “crums” (sic) any more. Tony tells her she has been a cover for the real business: drug dealing. Shocked, she begs to leave, but Tony grabs her and intimates that if she leaves, the kingpin of the drug empire will murder both of them.
The final frame of the page is open to interpretation. While men wait at the door, Mary weeps and screams “Oh, I hate you! Hate you!” (Cole), accompanied by the sound of pounding coming from below doorknob level. What is going on? I suggest three possibilities:
1. Mary has collapsed in despair and is banging her fists on the floor in impotent rage.
2. The “POUND POUND POUND” (Cole) is the sound of Mary being pummelled into obedience by Tony.
3. The pounding is the sound of a sexual assault.
On a separate level exists the the visual imagery, which contains numerous sexual overtones. Spattered all over with the harassing cat-calls of leering men, the first tier of the page contains the largest variety of erotic references. Acting as a set of parentheses to the panel are the disembodied, tumid red lips of Mary, penetrated by a phallic cigarette. Between these parenthetical lips is a large whirling circle, itself also penetrated, this time by Mary's head. Body fluids and a spilled cocktail spatter around Mary's face and toward her mouth. The central disembodied head demonstrates an animalistic flehmen response. In the flehmen response, a male animal draws its upper lip back and flares open its nostrils in a behavioural component of libido (4).
The animalistic element also does not appear accidental. Predator animals have eyes on the front of their faces, and prey animals on the sides. The men, who circle Mary like wolves, are all drawn as predators, with their eyes close-set, whereas Mary's eyes are set so far apart they almost appear to be on the sides of her head.
The imagery in the rest of the page is more toned down, in comparison, and uses role reversals for effect. The first frame of the second tier shows Mary in an aggressive posture, and although she is on the offensive, she keeps her distance from Tony while he looms over her. In the next frame, the role switches over. Now Tony is on the offensive, closing the gap by grabbing Mary and violently shaking her (as indicated by the action lines).
Word choice is yet another level for interpretation. Objectifying words used to describe Mary refer to her as a comestible: "juicy," "sweet," and "yum yum" (Cole). The most disturbing word choice is the only sound effect of the page: the "POUND POUND! POUND!" (Cole) of the final panel. "Pound," like "bang," is a vulgar term for rough sex. That this sound occurs while men are queuing outside the door makes the situation even more horrific, as the implication is that they are waiting for their turn with her.
In conclusion, by means of visual imagery, story telling, and word choice, this page from "Murder, Morphine and Me" is an example of sexual horror.
---------
Works Cited
Jack Cole, "Murder, Morphine, and Me," True Crime #2, May 1947, page 6.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/08/12/just-a-cigar/
http://colescomics.blogspot.ca/2010/02/jack-cole-at-playboy-part-1-first-year.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cole_(artist)#Playboy
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Flehmen+response
