Annotated 6-11
Sixty years ago, an “injury to the eye” panel like this would’ve probably been redacted.
Panel 1 tells you a lot about how Byron made it through the intervening years between losing his shire and gaining lasting friendships.
I’m glad we got to address Byron’s losing streak head-on and reverse it for a bit before he berserked.
Yes, he does have a few too many tactics that end up with one or both of his axes out of his hands (they’re not Mjolnir and Mjrolnir, Byron!). But he couldn’t have pulled off a maneuver like this just by throwing a pebble. His knowledge of the weapon and its weight and handling is crucial to success here.
Eye didn’t see that coming!
…
Don’t even start with me! I couldn’t NOT make the comment and ya’ll damn well know it!
Look, we’ll turn a blind eye for punning. But that’s just this one, see?
Any more eye puns and you’ll get the lash!
I did. It was scleras day.
(Or maybe it was just because this is a comic I’ve retina past.)
This just keeps getting cornea…. I’ll retina favor…
I don’t get it, why would it be redacted?
Really?
I’m with you here. I have no idea why. I’m guessing the comics code authority graphic on the side is meant to be some kind of clue to the comment, but I don’t see how, as in 1958 there was nothing about eyes (that I’m aware of) in the code. I don’t see any wordplay with “redacted” either, so I’m as stumped as you are.
I’m guessing it would be due to this item of the code -taken from -:
Let’s go at it one more time:
I’m guessing it would be due to this item of the code -taken from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority#1954_Code_criteria-:
“Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.”
The “injury to the eye” motif was singled out by Frederic Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent as “an outstanding example of the brutal attitude cultivated in comic books — the threat or actual infliction of injury to the eyes of a victim, male or female. This detail, occurring in uncounted instances, shows perhaps the true color of crime comics better than anything else. It has no counterpart in any other literature of the world, for children or for adults.” One particularly notorious example is quoted in Seduction of the Innocent, and I thought about reproducing it here but it might be too unpleasant for some.
To see that image, a lot more of Wertham’s descriptions of the motif, and some critique about same, go to Robert A. Emmons’ excellent study at Sequart.
Let’s hope none of the brains behind all those rules ever get to see Dead Space 2’s end-game minigame then XD
This is honestly one of my favorite pages since the start of the comic. It’s really well done and the tone is much different than some of the other more “jokey” or “fighty” pages that these chapters were full of
I’ll trust that Byron knows his stuff, but… it’s skepticism-niggling that an underhand throw is at all appropriate for a very high, nearly vertical throw, that still has enough lateral force and movement to go through a window near its apex.
I can tell you from experience strapping large equipment and hay bales to a flat-deck, an underhand toss is the best way to throw an object that needs to clear a significant height. You can easily clear at least twice the height with an underhand toss as you can with an overhand throw with less physical exertion.
Also, the natural parabola of a thrown object will allow it to arc through the opening. Ideally, the window shouldn’t be at the apex, but somewhat past that point so that the downward acceleration gives it enough force to break the glass.
Think free throw.