EC Comics Double Feature: A Snapshot of Death / The American Friend

In A Snapshot of Death (Crime SuspenStories #1), Jean Darrow visits a seedy bar to summon a hit.  The twist?  The contract's target isn’t some crazy ex-lover – Instead, she placed the target on herself.   Although this is an unusual request, we discover Jean is ill and only has a few months to live.  Instead of living in pain and agony, she’d rather end her life quickly and unknowingly.  Within a single panel, artist Graham Ingels summarizes Jean’s fears and eventual decision of suicide. 

When Jean returns home, her husband greets her with “wonderful news.”  Apparently with a simple operation, she’ll be cured of her ailment.  However, Jean already sealed her fate the minute she left the bar.  Jean tries canceling the hit, but cannot contact the hitman.  Luckily for Jean, the readers were already thrown their obligatory story twist.  EC Comics ends this tale on a “happy” note:  Jean’s contract was canceled since her hitman was runover by a truck after leaving their meeting.

An obvious double feature would be SIN CITY.  At the beginning of the film, Josh Hartnett is a hitman that kills dames who pay for their own assassination.   However, a more interesting pairing is with Wim Wender’s THE AMERICAN FRIEND .  In this story, Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz) has been diagnosed with only a few months to live.  Unlike the EC tale, Zimmerman doesn’t contract himself as the target.  Instead, he signs up to become the hitman.  

But why would Zimmerman partake in this mortal sin?  He’s a respected gentleman, an honorable husband, and a loving father.  Well this time, the diagnosis wasn’t a mistake.  Instead, he was manipulated by the Talented Mr. Ripley (Dennis Hopper).   

This whole charade was set into motion because Zimmermann offended Ripley.  As an audience, we sympathize for Zimmermann because he’s been deceived.  So why not partake in this crime?  He’s got nothing to lose and he’ll provide his family financial security before leaving this mortal plane.  The cinematography reinforces our emotions during the first assassination sequence.  The camera maneuvers through a labyrinth of escalators and a confined subway station.  It also captures Zimmerman’s mental state by illuminating the set with sickly green lighting. 

As we’ve seen in PURPLE NOON, Ripley is often depicted as a suave conman.  However, Dennis Hopper plays him differently.  By participating in the art world, he tries to achieve the status of an aristocrat.  However, at the end of the day, he’s nothing but a lowlife criminal participating in the black market of counterfeit paintings.  He’s insecure, scruffy, and wears a cowboy hat.  If anything, his weird quirks are a step towards his frightening Frank character in BLUE VELVET.  Yet uncharacteristically, Ripley is charmed by Zimmermann and feels sorry for being the impetus of his doomed path.  Although he never tries to reverse Zimmerann’s destiny, Ripley befriends him and becomes a hitman himself.