Inspiration for EC’s old witch?? 0

[427Impaler]

I thought I would do something a little different and I actually opened a comic book.  Low and behold what do I find in Yellowjacket 7 from 1946? A horror story first of all which I love, and the story was introduced by a familiar face 

Edited June 29, 2019 by 427Impaler
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[waaaghboss]

One Witch's catch phrase is "Hee Hee" and the other's is "Heh Heh".  Worlds apart!

[shiverbones]

Yeah those Yellowjacket stories were trailblazers

[Robot Man]

Which would you rather date? Betty or Veronica? 

[batman_fan]

2 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Which would you rather date? Betty or Veronica? 

both 

[Cat-Man_America]

Nope! Have to differ with the research here.  While the ‘47 Yellowjacket Comics was pre-horror in it’s depiction of The Old Witch character, the character goes back much earlier, Hit Comics #1 in fact, from 1940. The old witch in this series conversed with readers as well, including the “heh, heh” snarkiness .  Here’s a link...

.http://fifties-horror.de/wissen/horror-historie-the-old-witch-in-hit-comics-19401941

Here’s the first issue of HIT...

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by Cat-Man_America

[shiverbones]

All inspired by the radio host character of the old witch from witch’s tale from 1931

[Cat-Man_America]

11 minutes ago, shiverbones said:

All inspired by the radio host character of the old witch from witch’s tale from 1931

True enough, radio characters inspired a lot of pulps and comics. I suspect HIT Comics is the first comic book visualization though, and if we’re looking for characters that might’ve inspired Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein in developing New Trend horror, I’d be more persuaded that their creative inspiration was drawn from earlier comics.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Cat-Man_America

[N e r V]

17 minutes ago, shiverbones said:

All inspired by the radio host character of the old witch from witch’s tale from 1931

 

6 minutes ago, Cat-Man_America said:

True enough, radio characters inspired a lot of pulps and comics. I suspect HIT Comics is the first comic book visualization though, and if we’re looking for characters that might’ve inspired Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein in developing New Trend horror, I’d be more persuaded that their creative inspiration was drawn from earlier comics.

Or movies like 1937’s Snow White...

[shiverbones]

25 minutes ago, Cat-Man_America said:

True enough, radio characters inspired a lot of pulps and comics. I suspect HIT Comics is the first comic book visualization though, and if we’re looking for characters that might’ve inspired Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein in developing New Trend horror, I’d be more persuaded that their creative inspiration was drawn from earlier comics.

I think I remember Feldstein saying it came from radio, but can’t remember where, I don’t have the ec history books anymore. I am sure the visuals were inspired by the earlier comics, whether intentional or subconscious

[Phantalien]

Bob Kane said he invented it with no ones help whatsoever.

[Cat-Man_America]

7 minutes ago, Phantalien said:

Bob Kane said he invented it with no ones help whatsoever.

I think Bob Kane invented comics before his 18th birthday ...or at least his lawyer made a case for it in respect to BatMan when DC tried to pull the old Siegel and Shuster check-cashing shuffle on him.  

[Pat Calhoun]

don't own - wikip says Elmer Stoner cov - were 2 issues - radio started 1931

 

[N e r V]

1 hour ago, Phantalien said:

Bob Kane said he invented it with no ones help whatsoever.

 

1 hour ago, Cat-Man_America said:

I think Bob Kane invented comics before his 18th birthday ...or at least his lawyer made a case for it in respect to BatMan when DC tried to pull the old Siegel and Shuster check-cashing shuffle on him.  

I’m pretty sure Jack Kirby created Bob Kane...

[shiverbones]

37 minutes ago, Pat Calhoun said:

don't own - wikip says Elmer Stoner cov - were 2 issues - radio started 1931

 

Thanks, I forgot about that pulp!

[bronze johnny]

56 minutes ago, Cat-Man_America said:

True enough, radio characters inspired a lot of pulps and comics. I suspect HIT Comics is the first comic book visualization though, and if we’re looking for characters that might’ve inspired Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein in developing New Trend horror, I’d be more persuaded that their creative inspiration was drawn from earlier comics.

Don't disagree with you that Hit Comics is the first visualization but the time period between the last Tales of Terror story in Yellowjacket Comics 10 (June/1946) is much closer to the publication date of Adventures of the Unknown 1 during the fall of 1948. The Old Witch in Hit Comics last appeared in issue 14 during August 1941. There's an entire war period dominated by superhero comics. The fears and horrors that occurred during the early 1940s did so in the context of the war and ended with the conflict in 1945. The post war comics saw the crime genre along with superheroes primarily fighting the criminals rather than all things associated with the Axis. Yellowjacket Comics was one of those comics involving a crime fighting superhero and with issue 7, the first appearance of the Ancient Witch narrating original horror stories- going a step further than the preceding Poe stories. The history of that era demonstrates how the romance and horror/supernatural derived from the pages inside the crime comic books of the post war era. While we may never know what inspired the Old Witch of EC Comics, the question as to what served as the best example for a witch narrating horror stories would be more attributable to a creation of more recent memory during a time when postwar fears differed from those that existed during the war- and it was those fears that would influence comic book writers and publishers. Moreover, the memories of a distant creation at the beginning of the war would be superceded by those of its aftermath. The youth of America would be haunted by that fear and the witch that appeared then. It would be difficult for Gaines and Company to look past the postwar fears to another time and place that no longer existed during the postwar years of the 1940s. The period following World War 2 saw American comics adventure into the new unknown...

[N e r V]

...or the old witch could have been based on one of the EC staffs mother in law at the time....

[bronze johnny]

The "mother-in-law" theory is always a plausible option

[Bronty]

I mean, its an old witch stirring a cauldron.    Its a stock character going back to Macbeth and probably hundreds of years before that.   

None of these interpretations are anything particularly new nor were they in all likelihood even intended to be.

Edited June 30, 2019 by Bronty

[Cat-Man_America]

4 hours ago, Bronty said:

I mean, its an old witch stirring a cauldron.    Its a stock character going back to Macbeth and probably hundreds of years before that.   

None of these interpretations are anything particularly new nor were they in all likelihood even intended to be.

I’m sure the copyright lawyers handling claims of original authorship would find these arguments lucrative for their hourly rates.