Secret History of EL Comics 4
Jetting ahead slightly in the chronology, this is to make an important aesthetic point — that is, a business point that affected aesthetic ones. This particular issue of EL Classics was devoted to re-presenting an actual classic of the comics line, rather than something by Jules Verne (which, we shall see, was the original intention of the title).
This marks the first time the EL creators attempted to frame their own work in such terms that are usually seized by critics and, in this way, can be seen as one of their attempts in controlling their own legacy. This is also one of their scant efforts to refine earlier work.
Notice in this version the slang word of the original — “nowt— that opens the story has been refined to the, at the time, current spelling, “nwot.” This is mostly one of delicacy, as “nowt” had fallen out of favor and was considered at best vulgar, at worst downright insulting to the people it was aimed at.
Notice also that Alfred is taller here than he was in the original, which shows that the EL creators were sensitive to the earlier charges that they were eeking laughter from what we now delicately refer to as “the gravity challenged.” Not wishing the depth of the story to be hindered by even the hint of a sideshow quality, Alfred was elongated in stature and, thus, demeanor.
You’ll note the scene in which Herby is instructed to go after Alfred in Frankenstein’s Castle has been cut and, admittedly, that was an unnecessary one. Of course Herby will go after Alfred in Frankenstein’s Castle, just as he would go after Alfred in a house of mirrors or a donut factory, that is, in fact, what Alfred does and is the secondary action mandatory to any Herby and Alfred adventure — without it, there would be no Herby and Alfred adventures.
Sadly, the EL higher-ups deemed that this experiment was one that needed no conclusion. You can speculate that the plan was to reintroduce Herby and Alfred to a whole new generation and launch them in a stream of new adventures, but EL Comics obviously had other fish to fry. It’s a sad thing to see a company abandon not only its original innovation, but shy away from the whiff of the future.
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Tags: Frankenstein, Herby and Alfred
