Historic acquisition, my last of 2023 2 2

[SOTIcollector]

I'm thrilled to share (in a bit) my last acquisition of 2023.  It's one of historical importance to the comic book industry, and I'm confident there are people here who will appreciate it.

First, a bit of backstory and a tour through some other historic items. 

For decades, I've been fascinated with Seduction of the Innocent and the history of the anti-comic book activities in this country.  Back in the 1950's, the entire US comic book business was nearly put out of business by people who said the content was inappropriate for kids. 

In the late 70's or early 80's, I bought my first comic book mentioned in SOTI.  By the mid-90's, I decided to try in earnest to collect all of the comics pictured in SOTI.  That turned into an attempt to collect all of the comics mentioned in SOTI, and an offshoot of that was trying to identify the comics that Wertham mentioned but which remain unidentified.  From there, I turned to the anti-comics activities in general.  Parade of Pleasure, Love & Death, the Senate hearings, the NY State Legislature reports, magazine articles, newspaper articles, pamphlets, books, you name it.  I started searching for everything I could find (and afford) related to the anti-comics movement of the 40's and 50s.

Over the years, with a combination of luck, persistence, patience and support of my wife, and the kindness of strangers, I've been ridiculously fortunate to pick up some cool bits of comic history.  Before I get to the historic item that I added to my collection on 12/31/2023, here's a look back at some of the items I've had the good fortune to add to the collection over the years.

Edited April 11 by SOTIcollector
Oops! Misspelled "cool" as "cook"! D'oh!

[SOTIcollector]

Let's start at the end.  After the 1954 Senate anti-comic hearings, two reports were produced.  One is a transcript of the hearings, and one was a report that indicated the committee's findings.  I'm thrilled to have

both of those reports to my collection.

 

 

[SOTIcollector]

Also from 1955, here's the only copy I've ever seen of "Comic Book Regulation", which gives an idea of just what sort of successes the anti-comics efforts had at the time..

 

[SOTIcollector]

Also subsequent to the publication of SOTI is this fun item.  It's a letter from Wertham to the magazine "Antiquarian Bookman."  Wertham takes exception to some of the magazine's characterizations of SOTI. 

This one is part of an "odd coincidence" story.  Within the same month, I managed to acquire both this original letter from Wertham, and the magazine in which it was published.  I acquired them from different sources, and in the ensuing decade or more I've never seen another copy of this magazine.  It feels like the only one available happened to show up right about the same time I got the letter.

[Professor K]

That is really neat stuff. I wonder where they were stored all those years. I would think at some courthouse records room. 

[plady69]

So happy for you!  True collectors never give up.

[MusterMark]

Amazing!  Congrats!!!

[fifties]

SOTI Collector, IDK if you were around in the early '50's, but there was a sense of hysteria, ESP with the PTA's, over crime and horror comics. 

I remember in 1954, they put up a large board in front of a classroom at the elementary school I attended, and on it attached individual panels from horror comics, in an effort to display their disdain for them. 

The one example I remember was from one of the Harvey comics, showing a woman saying, "I take your heart and lips gently", holding the guys cut out heart and lips as he falls down in the background.

[SOTIcollector]

On 1/3/2024 at 4:05 PM, fifties said:

SOTI Collector, IDK if you were around in the early '50's, but there was a sense of hysteria, ESP with the PTA's, over crime and horror comics. 

I remember in 1954, they put up a large board in front of a classroom at the elementary school I attended, and on it attached individual panels from horror comics, in an effort to display their disdain for them. 

The one example I remember was from one of the Harvey comics, showing a woman saying, "I take your heart and lips gently", holding the guys cut out heart and lips as he falls down in the background.

Thanks for the story.  It was a bit before my time, but I've read a lot about it in the past couple decades.  Decades ago, having grown up on code-approved comics, I thought it was absurd that people could claim the material in comic books was inappropriate for children.  I've certainly come to better understand some of the objections that were raised.

[SOTIcollector]

Next on this roughly backwards-in-time trip down history lane, we'll take a look prior to the publication of SOTI (April, 1954) and the Senate hearings (which started in April, 1954).  

To hype his upcoming book, Dr. Wertham published an excerpt from SOTI in Ladies' Home Journal, November, 1953.  This article contained illustrations that never made it into the printed book.

The article was also printed as a standalone pamphlet that could be mailed to curious or furious parents.

 

 

[fifties]

Actually the hullabaloo about comic books can be traced back to 1948, when some of the publishers got together and developed the bar and star logo reading, " Authorized ACMP, conforms to the comics code".  Fox Comics especially was putting out some pretty racy stuff in their crime fare.

[fifties]

On 1/3/2024 at 3:47 PM, szav said:

May I ask, at the time were you persuaded these comics were bad, or were you inspired to go find a copy instead?

TBH, when I would go to the local news stand, some of the covers would scare the sh*t out of me, LOL.  Mainly the ones showing supernatural creatures (skeletons) overpowering PPL.  As I got older and wanted to read them, I was forbidden to.  The ones I managed to sneak past the wardeness really ignited my passion for them.

[SOTIcollector]

On 1/3/2024 at 6:47 PM, szav said:

May I ask, at the time were you persuaded these comics were bad, or were you inspired to go find a copy instead?

Um... instead?  I've sought out plenty of comics because they were "bad", using just about any definition of the word you choose to use. 

[SOTIcollector]

Oh, and let's not forget the New York Legislature.  Before the US Senate was investigating comics, the New York Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics was at it.  In fact, the legislature passed a measure what would have effectively banned a number of books.  Governor Dewey vetoed that bill on April 14, 1952.  Had he signed it into law, I think the pre-code landscape would have been permanently altered given that most of the comic book publishers were in NYC.

The NY committee issued reports in 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1954.  As I recall from when I read them years ago, the 1950 and 52 reports didn't amount to much more than "let's study the topic some more".  However, the 1951 and 1954 reports were replete with examples of dangerous comic books, comic strips, and other sleaze.  I'm fortunate to have found a copy of the 1954 report, and the 1951 report is at the very top of my wantlist.  Know anybody who has one?  I know one person who has a copy, but he (understandably) isn't parting with it.

 

[pemart1966]

"Back in the 1950's, the entire US comic book business was nearly put out of business by people who said the content was inappropriate for kids." 

There's absolutely no doubt that some of the content was inappropriate for younger children...

That being said, kids being kids would no doubt seek that out 

[SOTIcollector]

Now let's set our Wayback machine, or Dr. Doom's time machine if you prefer, to 1948.  That was the year that Wertham began his assault on comic books.  

Before we get to his initial assault on our favorite four-color media, let's look at this specimen from October.  In an article titled "What Your Children Think of You", widely distributed in weekend newspapers, Wertham tells parents of the "Hooky Club".  This was a group of "delinquents" (as they would have been known in the day) whom Wertham studied, and who would later make a significant appearance in SOTI.  While the article isn't about comic books per se, Wertham is of course eager to share his feelings on the matter. 

"Listening to all kinds of high-powered and highly paid experts, adults learn to cast a lot of glib slurs on children.  They say children who are influenced by comic books are neurotic, unbalanced.  I say comic books affect good, healthy children."

"The experts say that comic books merely represent innate instincts of aggression and sadism.  But they never explained to me how these innate instincts grew so much during a generation."

... and so on.

 

[SOTIcollector]

Also in 1948, we had a good comic book.  Exactly one.  Well, to Wertham's point of view, anyway.  

Nightingale was conceived as an "antidote" to the comic books of the day, and Wertham cites it in SOTI as the only "good" comic ever published.   

SFCityDuck, who has made some amazing historical finds in addition to this one, was kind enough to offer me this copy.  

Without that, I'd be saying to this day "I own all known SOTI comics except for one."

[SOTIcollector]

I had mentioned that 1948 marked the start of Wertham's assault on the comic book industry.  His first nationally-published anti-comics article appeared in the Saturday Review of Literature.  "The Comics... Very Funny" laid out the reasons he thought comic books were destroying the brains of kids.  The impact of the article is apparent when you look at the response.

- The article brought out significant responses from the readers:  In numerous following weeks, SRL printed responses in their letters pages. 

- Not long after this article was published, Marvel responded with a series of rebuttal editorials in its magazines. First was a generic rebuttal, then came a rebuttal that mentioned Saturday Review and Wertham by name, as well as others.

- Also in 1948, the ACMP code was created, in what would be a failed attempt at publisher self-censorship.

 

 

[SOTIcollector]

Prior to the publication of the SRL article, Wertham was part of the symposium "The Psychopathology of Comics."  His findings from the symposium were printed in the American Journal of Psychotherapy, as well as in this offprint.  This was Wertham's personal copy.

[SOTIcollector]

Still earlier in 1948 (March), Wertham gained some anti-comics publicity when he spun his tales to Judith Crist for her article in Collier's, "Horror in the Nursery."  Crist quotes extensively from Wertham in an article that's accompanied by staged pictures of youngsters doing the horrible things that they ostensibly learned from comic books.  

Let's see if I have this straight... it's bad to have kids read about these horrible acts, but it's fine to have kids act these things out for a photo shoot that will accompany a sensational article about how kids shouldn't be exposed to these horrible acts.  Do I have that right?