howardhallis

One more "I'll SCRATCH YOUR EYES OUT!" example from Crime Smashers #7:

That's it for now!

Blue Beetle #57:

From Crime Does Not Pay #22 (the first issue!):

It does make me pause and reflect as I find myself looking for semi-subliminal high-heel panels in comic book stories. Am I any better than the kids who Wertham found were doing this back in the 50s? In my case it could be considered "research"... but still. Interesting to note that the story about the "man who shanghaied more than 1,000 men from the San Francisco docks" Wertham used as an example here has never been found.

From SOTI page 181-182:

So here's some examples for your... ahem... research purposes... of semi-subliminal high heel panels.

From Murder Inc #1

From SOTI page 74:

From Real Clue Crime Comics Vol 3 #9

A few more. Anyone ever order these from a comic book? From SOTI page 162:

Here's the original gallery page from Seduction Of The Innocent, colorized with the panels from the actual comics. The first three issues are from Justice Traps The Guilty #58, Strange Adventures #39 and Hunted! #13 (#1). The fourth bottom right panel is the mystery one. Just to be clear this isn't something I myself have figured out. I want to know where it's from!

And "Stranger Than Fiction" was the text story in Hunted #13.

1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

Have you advised SOTIcollector of your discoveries?

I tried to "tag" him in this thread but couldn't figure out how to do it. I assume he'll see it soon anyway.

Finally, this arsenal description from page 216:

I could only find one ad with almost all the above weapons and here it is:

From pages 215-216:

From page 212:

From page 211:

From page 205:

Advertisements I found from chapter 8

From SOTI page 200:

Fourth discovery: This quote is from page 161:

Although the more common association with Wertham's "Robbing From A Blind Person" is thought to be the cover to Crime and Punishment #2, the protagonist in Tales Of Horror #6 seems to get away with the deed in this story. (Although he's punished later by a malicious genie).

The third discovery was pretty easy to find. Here's the text from page 30:

All I had to do was find a western comic that said "Your Favorite Western Star" on the cover with a gun ad on the inside front and back covers that also had an approval from a psychologist on the first page and a story with a guy bleeding from his mouth. The only issue that checks all those boxes is Tex Morgan #9.

The second discovery I made was from this quote on page 185:

I read through the entire series of Tom Mix Comics and not only are there no extended scenes of rope bondage in those books... there are very few women in those books at all! So I started looking at other comics that had Tom Mix on the cover that might fit the bill. After a lengthy search I found Crackajack Funnies #1 with the Myra North story shown below. I'm pretty sure this is the book Wertham was talking about. If so this would make it one of the oldest comic books referenced in SOTI, coming out in 1938.

Of course Batman #42 has a "scratch your eyes out" reference too:

Now on to the discoveries. Let's start with a big one. The "eye gouging" case that might have inspired the whole "injury to eye" fetish Wertham had. A creepy incident is reported on page 87 from one of Wertham's "troubled" pantients:

The book in question that most likely inspired this kid to do what he did was Authentic Police Cases #3. Not only is the "scratch your eyes out" verbiage in there, but the scene is eerily similar to what the kid tried to do to the little girl:

Hello folks. Re-reading Seduction Of The Innocent and hunting down the original comic books as I read about them in the text was one of the best ways to deal with the existential horror of 2020. This project continues into the new year!

All of this could not be done without the great lostsoti.org website and SOTIcollector's research and info. Even with this valuable resource there are still some things that aren't mentioned on that site that I've found through my own digging and obsessive comic book detective work.

Before I get to these discoveries I propose a challenge to the board to find the only image in Dr. Wertham's infamous image gallery that has not been identified. It's shown below. First board member to find the comic gets a FREE COPY of Famous Crimes #19! It's not in the best shape (about a 2.0) but the book is rare, not available to read online, is mentioned in SOTI on page 96, and will be sent to the first person who posts the answer to this mystery for free (with postage paid)! Good luck! I hope someone figures it out after 66 years!

WHAT COMIC BOOK IS THIS FROM?

Re-reading "Seduction Of The Innocent" this year is interesting because now I can track down and see most of the references! With the help of SOTIcollector's amazing website LOSTSOTI.org it's great to be able to find and view the comics as they're mentioned in the text. There was one particular story that intrigued me and I realized I had to find it when I learned it was STILL not found. How could this still be lost? How many pre-code horror stories about the ghost of a woman that inhabits a shark could there be? Here's the description from page 106:

"In a typical specimen a man-eating shark changes into a girl. You are shown the gruesome picture of an arm bitten off by the shark with blood flowing from the severed stump. And the moral ending? "No one would ever believe . . . that the ghost of a lovely girl could inhabit a shark's body..."

Ghosts? Sharks? Arms bitten off? This sounds awesome.

So with the help of comics.org and other websites I found a few contenders for what this story could be from BUT none of them have that quote or the exact plot of a woman's ghost inhabiting a shark. The closest any story came was Harvey Comics Hits #59 Tales Of The Invisible #1. It had the shark. It had the girl. It had the severed arm. Although the girl didn't turn into the shark she DID turn invisible (The Invisible Scarlet O'Neil appeared... or disappeared I should say... almost a decade before Sue Storm Richards!) Despite all this, this isn't the exact book since that quote wasn't in there and the plot was different than how Wertham described. Here's some selected images:

Another contender was "MAN-EATER!" from Mystic Comics #22. It had the shark and a bitten off leg, but no woman and no ghost:

Sub Mariner fought some aliens who turned people into shark-people hybrids in Young Men #25 and altough that was disturbing, was still not the story in question

The Golden Age Vision fought a Shark-Man in Marvel Mystery #23 but once again not the golden age shark ghost of a woman:

Finally, Simon and Kirby's classic "Lone Shark" from Black Magic Vol 5 #33. A shark tale told from the perspective of a shark. Interesting but out too late to be included in SOTI

So does anyone else have any clues? I have to read this story and hope my hunt has inspired you to help me find it!

I didn't realize that losoti.org's webmaster and SOTIcollector were the same person. Makes sense of course. I've actually written him a few emails...The last 2 requests I had weren't on his website and didn't want to bug him too much so thought I'd ask the forum.

Thank you!! SOTIcollector I know your collection of books is legendary! You rule!

One more for you tonight:

Any idea where this is from?

SOTI page 31: Another comic book expresses the whole philosophy "Since when do we worry about killin' people?"

Hi everyone. Back on the boards after a very extended absence. Anyone know what comic Wertham was referencing in Seduction Of The Innocent on page 40? Not the Diary Loves #31 that explains how to steal from a department store, but this particular scene described below. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

"SATURN OF SATURNS"