by Matthew Russell - Posted 5 years ago
Hey again, Vigilantes! If you haven’t read it yet, check out the first part of our censorship series here.
Alright, first thing first! WARNING: This blog article contains themes that some lucky readers might find offensive. If you are affected in any way by the content please feel free to contact anyone but me. This article will contain actual facts that some might disagree with, and a lot of opinions. Trigger warning, here we go!
Let me start by saying that I hate censorship in general. Yes, there are some instances that it is truly needed. I personally believe that it is the job of a parent to decide what is good for their children and not the government or popular opinion. That being said, I believe in the freedom of speech. There has to be a happy medium, but this is the true story of when the government took over in a bad way.
Way back in the beginning of time, there was cave paintings. These could have been considered the earliest comics. More on that another time. I digress, sorry.
Anyway, comics were going strong. Batman was a “ballsy” anti-hero who had no remorse killing or maiming villains. Superman was a social hero who regularly went up against corrupt police and government officials. The sadistic supernatural horror comics were a "hot ticket item" and reached its peak by this time. Ah, the good old days.
Comics were sent to soldiers during WWII. Kids were snatching up comics for a dime. On a side note: How cool would that have been?
Then everything came to an end.
A National Disgrace was published in Chicago Daily News. It was detrimental for sales and for moral, and storytelling in general.
”Badly drawn, badly written and badly printed—a strain on young eyes and young nervous systems… Their crude blacks and reds spoil the child’s natural sense of color; their hypodermic injection of sex and murder make the child impatient with better, though quieter, stories.”
Almost overnight comic books became considered lowbrow storytelling. Although we had creators like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Bill Finger, and Dick Sprang, comics could not overcome the stigma that was brutally assigned to it by this malicious article. It was because of this that publishers banded together to combat this blemish on their reputation. They formed ACMP (Association of Comic Magazine Publishers). Unfortunately, to no avail.
Killing BlowA prominent child psychologist by the name of Dr. Fredric Wertham was well respected for his time. He had done some groundbreaking work in his field and loved by thousands. He decided one day to throw his hat in the ring and wrote a book by the name of “Seduction of the Innocent”.
Published April 19th, 1954 this book claimed that female nudity, homosexuality, and bondage ran rampant in the comic book industry. Images of brutality and mutilation were being forced upon children due to their love for the medium He showed evidence that comic led to jail and misbehavior.
These claims were far-reaching and unfounded especially when you look at his "evidence" and how it was collected. In order to do the research for his book, he had gone to prison and asked inmates what literature they read as a child in order to find common ground. Of course, most of them had read comics growing up. In his mind, this was irrefutable proof that comics caused problems.
The flaw in his logic; most children read comics when they were given the opportunity to read. He began to contrive arguments that are usually innately invalid but skewed in such a way to make them seem logical so as to suit his needs. His delusional reasoning led him the circumstantial evidence and not causation. I am sure that he would have had the same results if he had asked if they ate breakfast every morning as a child. If so, breakfast leads to jail time.
Not only that, his subjects were wildly misrepresented. Quotes were altered, excerpted, and combined to fit his needs. He went into his research looking for a specific outcome and fit the evidence to match his narrative. Well, it worked.
Along comes Senator Estes Kefauver from Tennessee. He claimed that the comics had mod ties in their distribution. He thought that by joining Wertham’s odyssey he could bring down the organized crime that was flagrantly running wild during those troubled times.
Ok, there has always been a STRONG connection between organized crime and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Truckers Union). This was the group that drove comics around. Think of it this way: if you wanted anything shipped back in those days, you had to deal with the teamsters. Well, comics had to be distributed to make money. Therefore, comics had to deal with the mafia. This could have been said for farmers, newspapers, any store ever. But, let's pick on comics, they're easy targets.
Together they both appeared before a Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and made rather heinous claims that comics were "worse for children than even Hitler." To make matters worse, the hearings were broadcast on television. Keep in mind, cable TV and Netflix didn’t exist back then (I know kids, generations before you had a choice of 3 channels and only 1 tv set in the house).
We all know how a misinformed parent will jump on whatever bandwagon comes along. We see it time and time again in today's world. As a high school teacher, I can give you countless examples of parents who have zero facts, come in demanding special treatment because they heard something on the news (NO, Youtube is not news!!!!!) and they get their way because they can’t distinguish between their own opinion and facts.
Parents back then were no different. They are being told by a respected Senator that comics are bad, evil, vile things. Of course, during the Senate Hearings, it never came out that this particular witch hunt was designed to bring down the mob and not the comic industry.
So now, popular comic companies are on the ropes. Wertham is getting his way and we are left to wonder “Who will save us now?” Join me at the “Same Bat Time on the Same Bat Channel” as we further delve into the unfortunate history of comics.
