Less Shocking, Still Suspensful
A bit of a letdown after the first four issues, SHOCK #5 is still stronger than most comics of its day. The art is solid throughout, but Feldstein's writing seems to be falling back on some old saws. Nearly every story in the collection has a somewhat predictable ending except, surprisingly, the text story 'Justice'.
'Well-Traveled' and 'Cold Cuts' are standard horror fare. Though the endings might be better, they managed to string tension out for several pages each. 'What Fur?!' however is predictable from almost the get-go, and 'Hate!' is another EC 'preachie', but not as strong as past efforts like 'The Patriots' or 'The Guilty!'.
This issue does, however, finally feature a letters column in place of one of the text stories.