All the Swine Wants for his Birthday Is for You to EAT YOURSELF TO DEATH!

My first ever issue of Captain America (and the Falcon) was #206 by Jack Kirby, and it's always stuck with me something fierce. It figures in my waking nightmares!

The villain of the piece is a banana republic dictator called Hector Santiago, AKA the Swine, who celebrates his birthday by having starving prisoners/slaves to share his feast. Sounds like a nice guy, right?
Wrong! He's gonna kill that old dude with kindness!
LITERALLY!
In all probability, you couldn't die from overeating, even in such extreme conditions. You'd start throwing up before that could happen. But such is the power of comics that I believed this could happen for years. I still kind of believe it. (Edit: A friend with a History degree just told me it can happen, and in fact did, see comments section for what Kirby was likely alluding to.)

One sadistic villain that definitely deserved his death - being ripped in half by a Kirby mutation - two issues later. And then Arnim Zola showed up. VERY memorable comics.

Comments

Martin Léger said…
Actually Mike, you can die from over eating while in starvation. In the Second World War when the Allies found the concentration camp, the natural reaction from a lot of soldiers was to feed them a lot. Sadly, a lot of Jews died from over-eating. Huge amounts food aren't even needed, small amount can hardly be digested in that condition and it often leads to death.
Siskoid said…
Nightmare restored! Thanks Marty, I knew my History friends would set the record straight.

And it's likely what Kirby is alluding to.