Polite Dissent

It still amazes me that EC could publish a comic book series on psychoanalysis; it just doesn’t seem like a topic that would lend itself well to the comic format. Part of EC’s “new direction” following the Senate hearing, Psychoanalysis lasted for four issues. The first issue was surprisingly good, if a little unrealistic in the way everyone had their problem solved so neatly in a single session. This second issue is not nearly as good, mainly because the writer did such a good job tying up the plot threads with the first issue, there’s not as much to go on in this issue. The plot revelations seem random and unfocused.

Freddy Carter was seeing the psychiatrist because he had been caught stealing his friend’s watch. In the first issue, we learned that he stole from his friend because he envied his friend’s loving family life and wanted some part of it for himself.

In this issue, psychoanalysis reveals that Freddy wanted to be caught. He knew that the only attention his parents ever paid to him was when he did something bad. His father would yell at him and hit him which led to his mother pampering and coddling him. We also learn that Freddy gets asthma attacks during times of stress. The doctor informs him that this is not real asthma, but instead a psychosomatic affliction to gain him sympathy from his parents. The psychiatrist tells Freddy that he needs to grow up and start acting like a fifteen year old and not a young child.

Ellen Lyman was an anxious young woman who had a recurring dream of a empty garden. The psychiatrist explained that the dream meant that she was jealous of her older sister and wished her harm. In this issue, Ellen comes to the office complaining that her life is hopeless. She knocked over the water cooler at work and her boss yelled at her. This reminded her of her father. Digging deeper, the psychiatrist discovers that her father often yelled at Ellen, and her mother routinely ignored her in favor of her older sister. During childhood, Ellen had a couple of accidents that landed her in the hospital. Much like Freddy’s psychosomatic asthma, the doctor informs Ellen that she caused these accidents herself trying to gain the attention of her parents. Furthermore, her other symptoms are due to the fact that she feels guilty because she blames herself for the fact that her parents always fought. The psychiatrist informs her that this is all nonsense, her parents simply did not love each other and it was never her fault. “Oh doctor!” says Ellen. “I feel as if a great weight has suddenly been lifted from my shoulders!”

The third patient is Mark Stone, a television writer who is having conflicts between writing for money and writing as an art. Last issue, the psychiatrist also realized that Mark’s late father’s frugal ways were also responsible for Mark’s anxiety. This issue, the psychiatrist addresses Mark’s weight”

“Ten pounds overweight is carelessness. Sixty pounds? That’s deliberate self-punishment! Why are you trying to hurt yourself?”

Next come a confusing series of revelations. Mark overeats because he loved his mother. No, he overeats because he was ashamed of her immigrant manners and ate to punish himself. Then Mark suddenly confesses that he thinks he shot a man during hunting season a few years back. The psychiatrist calmly informs him that the “man” he shot was just his memory of his dead father and he too needs to grow up and stop competing with a dead man.

Again, three more conveniently neat endings with all the (new) plot threads tied up. We’ll have to see if the third and fourth issues can refocus the meandering plots or if they scatter them even farther.