The Great Comic Book War of 1954 (Webster Workshop)

The Great Comic Book War of 1954 was originally developed at Webster University as part of N.T. Vandecar's senior capstone play. The following year it was selected as a Finalist for ScreenCraft's National Playwriting Competition, ranking in the top 15 out of 1,000 plays.

Synopsis: Our story follows the trials and tribulations of Bill Gaines and his ragtag group of illustrators and writers who fight for artistic freedom in an age of McCarthyism where conservative values were held to its height.

MARIE: "I would like to propose a toast. To Bill. You gave me a job when no one else would. I was broke and one-stop short from working as a bank teller. Although, in retrospect that atmosphere might’ve been a bit nicer than workin’ with you bunch of loons. But you listened and understood and gave all of us a shot to not only be your employees but to be champions of the new and the strange. To change the map of the classic American comic and turn it into somethin’ nobody’s ever seen before."

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AL: "I'm thinking of calling it, Return From the Grave."

STUART: "You'll call it nothing because it'll never hit the racks."

AL: "They wouldn’t just be random stories. They would have similar narrators. Look, this one has an old witch that first pops up to give a little foreshadowing of the gruesome tale ahead and I was thinking in the next issue…the narrator could be a half-man-half-werewolf. A real creatures of the night spooktacular!"

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HARVEY: "Hurt me? You’re not hurting me Bill. You’re hurting yourself. Just because you’ve created something that’s successful doesn’t mean its special. We’re not catching lightning and putting it in a bottle. We’re not gods. We’re not creative geniuses. We’re panderers. Creating the same bullshit material. Jumping on the same bandwagons. We’re just changing a few details and adding in a few Freudian serial killers and zombies, who, realistically, can’t actually hurt anybody because they travel at the speed of one fucking mile an hour! So if this is the “new world” you’ve created for yourselves, then you can have it!"

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MARIE: "Who do you actually think is gonna be buying these comics?"

AL: "Um - the kids we're marketing too?"

MARIE: "With what money? No, it’s their parents that are buying them and no self-respecting parent is going to buy a copy of the Vault of Horrors with blood and guts smeared all over the front. If we’re actually planning on making any sort of profit, our covers have to remain elusive."

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STUART: "You want to sit there and waste your time complaining about the type of life you’re leading. Go ahead. When I go home I am going to sleep like a baby and do you know why? Because I couldn’t be more confident, more sure that we are on the right side of history. We make and print our comics. Send them all over the country, but have you ever walked into a grocery store or candy shop and seen a child purchase one of them? Have you ever witnessed the look on their face when they open the first page?"

BILL: "No."

STUART: "Well, you should. It’s a pretty extraordinary sight. If you’re looking for something to write about, start there."

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SENATOR KEFAUVER: "For the betterment of our society we must learn to truly understand the hearts and minds of our children as well as the forces that threaten to alter them. Rest assured that there is going to be a crackdown over the rise of criminal youth in American culture. And for any possible influencing parties, I just have one thing to say: We’re coming for you."

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BILL: "But political parody could sell more. Sexual parody would sell more. Entertainment parody- more. I want you to head up a whole new division with a whole new product, ready for release within a year."

HARVEY: "Bill-"

BILL: "I understand that it’s a lot but out of everyone here, I know that you are the right person for this gig. So watta ya say? Wanna give people somethin’ to talk about?"

HARVEY: "What’s the name?"

(BILL hands HARVEY another sheet of paper. He reads from it.)

“MAD. Humor in a Jugular Vein.”

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WILLAIMSON:"So anyways, I was actually hoping I’d run into you-"

SHIRLEY: "The answer is no."

WILLIAMSON: "You don’t even know what I’m gonna ask."

SHIRLEY: "Williamson, I am at a party. Do you know what that means? It means I get to converse with whoever I like. You know who I like to converse with?"

WILLIAMSON: "Who?"

SHIRLEY: "Nobody."

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MARIE: "Alright, everyone. We ready?"

AL: "To be slaughtered? Sure am."

STUART: "There is no way they’re gonna decide on anything today. This thing could drag on for months."

AL: "Years."

(The senate sub-committee comes back out. We do not see them but our heroes do.)

WILLIAMSON: "They’re coming back out."

SHIRLEY: "It’s starting."

MARIE: "Alright. Here we go."

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