Death Follows Orders

 

cover art tentatively credited to George Roussos

Adventures into Darkness #5 (August 1952) was the first of ten issues in that series. Often that means that it took over the numbering of another comic book after that first comic's cancellation. But in this case, the first issue was simply designated #5. It was a practice at Standard Comics to start at least some of their titles with #5, under the belief that a comic would sell better if it looked like it had been around for awhile. (A few other publishers used the same tactic.)

Numbering shenanigans aside, Adventures into Darkness is a fine example of atmospheric horror stories that would soon be sent into Comic Book Limbo by the Comics Code. One of the stories, for instance, is "Death Follows Orders," written by an uncredited writer and drawn by Jerry Grandenetti.

It's a five-pager that sets up its premise and tells its story quickly and skillfully. A French farmer and his daughter are digging a new well when they stumble across an old cellar full of dead Nazi soldiers. The men had apparently been trapped their during the war.

The officer is holding written orders and, now that the dead men are "free," they decide to follow those orders. They then march off to the nearby village to take it over. Violence follows--the Nazis might be dead, but their weapons still work.

The farmer tries to stop them, but is overwhelmed and told he'll be shot. But the daughter has noticed the Nazis are fearful of fire and guesses why. She snatches the written orders out of the Nazi officer's pocket. Her dad manages to set fire to those orders. Once the orders vanish, the Nazis collapse. They are now permanently dead.

It's an effective little story, keying off the fanatisim of hard-core Nazis, but still highlighting the heroism of those who oppose them. Grandenetti's art is effective and atmospheric. 

You can read it yourself HERE. 

Next week, we'll visit with Gold Key's version of the Mighty Hercules.