If You Understand This Cartoon...

 

 

 

 

Then you are my people.

 

 

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/376/

 

Fredric Wertham (March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-born American psychiatrist and crusading author who protested the purportedly harmful effects of violent imagery in mass media and comic books on the development of children. His best-known book was Seduction of the Innocent (1954), which purported that comic books are dangerous to children. Wertham's criticisms of comic books helped spark a U.S. Congressional inquiry into the comic book industry and the creation of the Comics Code. He called television "a school for violence", and said "If I should meet an unruly youngster in a dark alley, I prefer it to be one who has not seen Bonnie and Clyde."

 

 

Yeh, he had a 'thing' about Batman and Robin's relationship and also didn't seem to like powerful women either. What the hell is harmful about early Wonder Woman comics except all that bondage?

 

Wertham was right that many images, especially the ones that clearly showed violence and especially the torture of young women. Those often crossed the line for a comic book. Unfortunately every comic genre was caught up in the 'all comics are bad' hysteria and comics were on the verge of death unless they adapted.

 

 

 

Luckily comics survived the carnage and in some ways became better under the comics codes. Artists wrote better stories that had to play to their young fans. Limits are important and when the limits needed to be pushed we got memorable comics from both DC and Marvel. Coincidentally both came from the 70s and each were drug related.

 

 

 

If you notice, neither of these issues has the Comic Code on them. They were refused approval because each issue depicted the use of drugs. It didn't matter that the drugs were not portrayed in a positive but a negative light. The stories were, cautionary, educational and not exploitive but the Comic Code Authority didn't see it that way. Both companies decided to publish the books anyways and that caused a long process where eventually the strangle hold this board had to control artistic freedom in comics was broken. But for decades, because of Wertham and the Senate hearings, comic book were neutered for decades.