Number 912


All eyes on George Evans


Suspense Detective was a short-lived crime comic from Fawcett, published in 1952 and 1953. It expired after five issues when Fawcett management decided to shut down their comic book line. George Evans, who bunked at Fawcett for a couple of years before they shut down, then found a home at EC.

The best way to spot George Evans' artwork is through the eyes. His characters have some of the most expressive eyes in comic books. Evans used them to increase the tension in an otherwise average panel.

The story, "A Short Step to Oblivion", from Suspense Detective #1, 1952, has a B-movie plot: innocent man about to go to the chair while wife and detective race against time to find evidence of his innocence. I think I saw that more than once in old movies. Whatever shortcomings the story has are overtaken by Evans' fine artwork.

One of my favorite Evans non-EC stories is "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," from a Classics Illustrated special, The Story Of Ghosts. You can find it in Pappy's #78.