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Where did the Comic Code go?

56 posts in this topic

exactly...

 

like saying that all red-headed people have hair, therefore all people with hair are red-headed. fallacious argument.

 

Yes, very fallacious.

 

Now, if you said that all red-headed people were children of the devil, THAT would be a legitimate argument....

 

:whistle:

 

redhead.jpg

Does the Carpet match the Drapes? :whistle:
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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...
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There may have been another reason the comic industry collapsed when it did, and I always hoped I'd have the time to do a serious investigation into it.

Here is a alternate theory- In the early 50s, The Senate, at the same time it investigated the comics industry and it's relation to Juvenile crime also launched its first serious investigation into the mob, the mafia, organized crime- whatever you want to call it. Comic historians agree that many of the smaller comic publishers were mobbed up- run with mob money. It's an established fact that the newstand distributors were in bed with the teamsters and the mob.

During the late 20s and the early 30s, the mob had a massive distribution business- peddling bootleg liquor. 1934 comes and their thousands of trucks are suddenly idle, and a major source of income is gone.Suddenly newstands are bombarded with new magazines and an entire new business is born- The comic book.

Over half the newstand distributors nationwide shuttered their doors in the mid 50s. The question is why?

Did they go out of business because their comic sales died or did comic sales die because the mob shut down its newstand distribution to avoid serious money laundering investigations. Just by coincidence, mob money shifted to Nevada-to Reno, and a new city springing up in the desert with a strange spanish name- Las Vegas.

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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

 

 

Just to clarify, however, this did not ever go to trial at the Supreme Court but rather was debated in Senate hearings. Wertham had no hand in instigating the hearings but was called upon as an "expert" in the field.

 

Right you are.....it wasn't the Supreme Court but Senate hearings

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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...

 

Seems to me that Wertham was a great friend of black americans. He recognized early on that African Americans, people of color and the poor were discriminated against in all kinds of ways by whites, especially in matters pertaining to law and society. They were often denied medical and psychiatric attention and after almost 10 years of attempting to secure funding for a clinic......he had to make it happen with his own money time and inititiative. His Lafargue clinic in Harlem became one of the most noteworthy institutions in America to serve poor americans and to promote the cause of "civil rights".

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There may have been another reason the comic industry collapsed when it did, and I always hoped I'd have the time to do a serious investigation into it.

Here is a alternate theory- In the early 50s, The Senate, at the same time it investigated the comics industry and it's relation to Juvenile crime also launched its first serious investigation into the mob, the mafia, organized crime- whatever you want to call it. Comic historians agree that many of the smaller comic publishers were mobbed up- run with mob money. It's an established fact that the newstand distributors were in bed with the teamsters and the mob.

During the late 20s and the early 30s, the mob had a massive distribution business- peddling bootleg liquor. 1934 comes and their thousands of trucks are suddenly idle, and a major source of income is gone.Suddenly newstands are bombarded with new magazines and an entire new business is born- The comic book.

Over half the newstand distributors nationwide shuttered their doors in the mid 50s. The question is why?

Did they go out of business because their comic sales died or did comic sales die because the mob shut down its newstand distribution to avoid serious money laundering investigations. Just by coincidence, mob money shifted to Nevada-to Reno, and a new city springing up in the desert with a strange spanish name- Las Vegas.

 

Very good point shadroch. You can be sure that the mob was not the least bit happy about Wertham. Add them to the white supremists and any other groups who made a living off the young and the poor, and you have a very large group of detractors. Katherine Yronwode is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person

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Wertham did a lot of good in many ways(opening the Lefarque Clinic, helping children from broken homes, etc). But his case against the comics was superficial, sensationalistic and pandered to the masses. He said what people wanted to hear: "It's not my fault that my kid turned into a spoon, it's because of those evil comic books".

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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...

 

Seems to me that Wertham was a great friend of black americans. He recognized early on that African Americans, people of color and the poor were discriminated against in all kinds of ways by whites, especially in matters pertaining to law and society. They were often denied medical and psychiatric attention and after almost 10 years of attempting to secure funding for a clinic......he had to make it happen with his own money time and inititiative. His Lafargue clinic in Harlem became one of the most noteworthy institutions in America to serve poor americans and to promote the cause of "civil rights".

None of that discounts the fact that a comic featuring a black hero was a violation of the Comics Code for quite a while.
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There may have been another reason the comic industry collapsed when it did, and I always hoped I'd have the time to do a serious investigation into it.

Here is a alternate theory- In the early 50s, The Senate, at the same time it investigated the comics industry and it's relation to Juvenile crime also launched its first serious investigation into the mob, the mafia, organized crime- whatever you want to call it. Comic historians agree that many of the smaller comic publishers were mobbed up- run with mob money. It's an established fact that the newstand distributors were in bed with the teamsters and the mob.

During the late 20s and the early 30s, the mob had a massive distribution business- peddling bootleg liquor. 1934 comes and their thousands of trucks are suddenly idle, and a major source of income is gone.Suddenly newstands are bombarded with new magazines and an entire new business is born- The comic book.

Over half the newstand distributors nationwide shuttered their doors in the mid 50s. The question is why?

Did they go out of business because their comic sales died or did comic sales die because the mob shut down its newstand distribution to avoid serious money laundering investigations. Just by coincidence, mob money shifted to Nevada-to Reno, and a new city springing up in the desert with a strange spanish name- Las Vegas.

Never Looked at it from that angle. hm
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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...

 

Seems to me that Wertham was a great friend of black americans. He recognized early on that African Americans, people of color and the poor were discriminated against in all kinds of ways by whites, especially in matters pertaining to law and society. They were often denied medical and psychiatric attention and after almost 10 years of attempting to secure funding for a clinic......he had to make it happen with his own money time and inititiative. His Lafargue clinic in Harlem became one of the most noteworthy institutions in America to serve poor americans and to promote the cause of "civil rights".

None of that discounts the fact that a comic featuring a black hero was a violation of the Comics Code for quite a while.

 

There was no language in the code prohibiting black heroes. There apparently was an incident in the first year of the code where William Gaines claims they initially objected to a reprinting of "Judgement Day", a story concerning racial prejudice with a central character who was black, but backed off when he threatened to go public with their reasoning.

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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...

 

Seems to me that Wertham was a great friend of black americans. He recognized early on that African Americans, people of color and the poor were discriminated against in all kinds of ways by whites, especially in matters pertaining to law and society. They were often denied medical and psychiatric attention and after almost 10 years of attempting to secure funding for a clinic......he had to make it happen with his own money time and inititiative. His Lafargue clinic in Harlem became one of the most noteworthy institutions in America to serve poor americans and to promote the cause of "civil rights".

None of that discounts the fact that a comic featuring a black hero was a violation of the Comics Code for quite a while.

 

There was no language in the code prohibiting black heroes. There apparently was an incident in the first year of the code where William Gaines claims they initially objected to a reprinting of "Judgement Day", a story concerning racial prejudice with a central character who was black, but backed off when he threatened to go public with their reasoning.

 

AND......that would have nothing to do with Wertham. He was obviously not prejudiced against, offended by, nor afraid of african americans. Protecting younger children from depictions of violence especially against women was his main concern.

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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...

 

Seems to me that Wertham was a great friend of black americans. He recognized early on that African Americans, people of color and the poor were discriminated against in all kinds of ways by whites, especially in matters pertaining to law and society. They were often denied medical and psychiatric attention and after almost 10 years of attempting to secure funding for a clinic......he had to make it happen with his own money time and inititiative. His Lafargue clinic in Harlem became one of the most noteworthy institutions in America to serve poor americans and to promote the cause of "civil rights".

None of that discounts the fact that a comic featuring a black hero was a violation of the Comics Code for quite a while.

 

There was no language in the code prohibiting black heroes. There apparently was an incident in the first year of the code where William Gaines claims they initially objected to a reprinting of "Judgement Day", a story concerning racial prejudice with a central character who was black, but backed off when he threatened to go public with their reasoning.

Then I guess I was mistaken :foryou:
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His "science" was very flawed. He interviewed a bunch of juvenile delinquents and noticed they all read comics, so he assumed comics were the cause of their being JDs.

Comics were almost universally read at the time, so if he had interviewed 100 cops, he could have deducted the reason they became cops was that they read comics.

I can't believe anyone is trying to defend him, especially on a comics board.

 

I can't believe that you think that the Supreme Court of this country would allow a case to come before them if his process was as you state above. You don't just go straight to the top you know :baiting:

 

Also, what better place to discuss comics history than on a comics board ? The way I see it is the only people who really have any reason to gripe about him are the Crime and Horror publishers.

Or people who wanted to publish a book featuring a black hero...

 

Seems to me that Wertham was a great friend of black americans. He recognized early on that African Americans, people of color and the poor were discriminated against in all kinds of ways by whites, especially in matters pertaining to law and society. They were often denied medical and psychiatric attention and after almost 10 years of attempting to secure funding for a clinic......he had to make it happen with his own money time and inititiative. His Lafargue clinic in Harlem became one of the most noteworthy institutions in America to serve poor americans and to promote the cause of "civil rights".

None of that discounts the fact that a comic featuring a black hero was a violation of the Comics Code for quite a while.

 

There was no language in the code prohibiting black heroes. There apparently was an incident in the first year of the code where William Gaines claims they initially objected to a reprinting of "Judgement Day", a story concerning racial prejudice with a central character who was black, but backed off when he threatened to go public with their reasoning.

Then I guess I was mistaken :foryou:

 

 

 

Are you allowed to say that on these forums?

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