Crime SuspenStories #18
"Fall Guy for Murder" is a gripping tale from Crime SuspenStories #18 (1953), a standout issue from EC's acclaimed lineup. Written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein and illustrated with sharp, expressive art by Bill Elder—whose inks and Marie Severin’s colors bring the story’s tense atmosphere to life—this story follows Pop Martin, a lonely hospital electrician who finds solace in talking to the machines he keeps running. When his son Richie is caught in a deadly web of crime, Pop makes a desperate move to protect him, only to find the power failing at the most crucial moment. The cover, by Johnny Craig, captures the story’s mood with a stark, haunting image that perfectly sets the tone.
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Seeing his only son Richie involved with shady criminal elements, old Pop Martin tries to persuade him to get away from that life. Pop spends his lonely days running the electricity for the hospital he works at. Usually he talks to the generators getting a sense that they understand him. When Richie is shot by a crook that he supposedly swindled (Richie having shot him first), Pop decides to record a confession implicating himself as the murderer of the crook to spare Richie. However the electricity mysteriously cuts out when he's recording his confession thus getting him off the hook.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).