The Comics Rack

A Savage Tale

   In the early 1970s, Marvel was going through a tremendous spurt of growth. The distribution problems that had limited the number of books Marvel could produce had changed and they were now free to expand the number of titles they published. The problem, however, was that sales were falling. Always eager for new sales outlets, Marvel turned its publishing eye to the B&W comic magazine market.
   Black and white comic magazines were not new by any means. Mad had been going strong since the 50s. Warren had been built a sucessful publishing company out of his two horror magazines Creepy and Eerie. Although tame by today's standards, the Warren books had a certain feel about them that attracted older readers who had tired of color comics. Since they were magazines, as opposed to comics, they were considered a bit classier in publishing circles, they had a better rack placement on newsstands and also a higher cover price. Most importantly however, at least from a creative point of view, the Warren magazines, even though they were comics, did not have to be submitted to the Comics Code Authority. Others followed Warren's success and Skywald launched Psycho as their first B&W comic horror magazine in 1970.
   In early 1971, Marvel decided they wanted a part of this magazine market and felt that the time was ripe to produce a new B&W comic magazine. They had tried this market once before in 1968 when they released a B&W Spider-Man magazine called Spectacular Spider-Man. The magazine offered nothing that couldn't be found in the regular Marvel titles, except for the B&W art and higher price. Distribution problems were rampant throughout the project, sales were low and, in what may be viewed a full retreat, Marvel released a second issue that was in full color before consigning the magazine to an early cancellation. Undaunted by this earlier failure, Marvel decided to try something totally different. A magazine that would offer material not found in the color comics and that would attract a more mature reader. The magazine would also be different from the horror material that Warren and Skywald were producing. Thus was born Savage Tales.
   Looking back at the magazine some 30 years later, it is easy to see what Marvel was trying to do. The cover (which can be viewed in The Closet of Lost Souls) portrays Conan, blood dripping from his sword, holding high the head of an enemy he has just procured. Just below the title is an M, rating "publication for the Mature Reader" (this was an earlier rating for motion pictures). And of course, the one cover feature that calls The Sisterhood "violent voluptuaries" makes it obvious that this is not the comic your mother picked up for you when you were sick. It is also obvious that, at the time, there was nothing else like Savage Tales on the newsstands.
   Unfortunately, as often happens when one tries too hard to be different, this first issue was a failure for Marvel on many fronts. First, the cover itself made many distributors refuse to carry the magazine. After all, old Mrs. Grumby wouldn't like to see a severed head at the corner drugstore when she is looking for Good Housekeeping. Secondly, and sadly, Marvel made the mistake of equating Mature with Sex, a mistake that is made all too often. Flipping through the magazine, we find the the Conan story, "The Frost Giant's Daughter" has visible nipples on the title daughter's breasts. The Sisterhood has women in body hugging armor with implied sex occuring off panel. The origin of Man-Thing has some, I guess, sexy outfits, but since they are done by Gray Morrow, it's really hard to tell. Black Brother has some exposed bosums and Ka-Zar has one nipple shot and some nudity. Of course, these interior contents also made the distrubutors balk at carrying the title.
   By equating severed heads and nipples with maturity, Marvel made a major error in judgement and this error has been constantly repeated over the last 30 years by all the major companies. What most publishers don't understand is that it is the themes that are presented within stories that make them mature, not the violence or provacativeness of the art. Back in the 40s and 50s, Simon & Kirby, Lev Gleason, and Will Eisner, among others, all produced comics with mature themes and those books sold. Even some of Warren's better efforts recognized the thematic difference between "comic book" and mature. The stories in Savage Tales didn't deal with themes that weren't already being covered in the regular color comics and the fact that the Conan, Man-Thing and Ka-Zar stories later appeared in Marvel's regular comics with just a smidge of art editing only strengthens this point.
   A mature theme in a comic story is one in which the power fantasy aspect of the super-hero stories is downplayed (or not present at all) and that, in its place, the story can be about the hopes, dreams and lives of the characters. The people should interact in a realistic fashion. Absolute power is not always a good thing. The good guy doesn't always ride off with the girl. And, just like in the real world, sometimes the villain wins.
   Needless to say, the sales on Savage Tales were dismal, mainly due to the poor distribution and it was cancelled almost immediately. Marvel licked their wounds, and continued to expand their color comics line. They kept their eye on the B&W market and, in just 2 years, Savage Tales returned, opening the floodgates to an entire line of Marvel magazines.
   But, that is a tale for another time.