I stumbled upon this video, aired on October 9, 1955 in LA, about the impact of comic books on youth. This was all part of the Frederic Wertham “Seduction of the Innocent” scare and subsequent hearings.
At about 5:30 into the video the reporter talks about finding and destroying all the warehoused comic books since they are a lurking threat. It gets even better at the 8:00 minute mark. After all, when he was a kid they only made nasty commments about their teachers on the sidewalk with chalk, they didn’t read comics! Of course, EC comics and stories hold a prime place in this video. The music is great!
Filed under: Comic Book History
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Wow, very enlightning Sean. One thought came to my mind. I collected a lot of comics in the early sixties. But my interests were Superheroes, science fiction, science, etc. Never did have much interest in romance, horror, crime and the like. Makes me wonder how popular these comics really were among boys (and girls), which would have been my age at the time.
And I sure never participated in or saw groups of kids gather in the woods to read comics. Sure sounds like McCarthyism doesn’t it?? Good find!
I love how staged it is. It’s like a “B” horror flick with the music, poor voice over, and acting. It made me laugh.
Dave, by the time you collected in the 1960s most of these horror and crime comics had disappeared due to the Congressional hearings and the comic industry voluntarily instituting the Comics Code (remember those seals on the comic books?). Sales dropped like a rock and it took the superhero revival of the early 1960’s, hence the name the Silver Age, to really get things going again. I’m going to be posting more about the horror and crime comics, there was some really interesting material out there!
Sean, yeah by the early 1960s most of these comics may have disappeared, but they wouldn’t have been my cup of tea anyway. So it still makes me wonder about the inscribed popularity stated in the video. And I am well aware of the code. And didn’t comic publishers in the 1970s, like Marvel, just started saying no and decided not to worry about the code anymore?
It will be interesting to see what you come up with in these genres.
You may not be into this, but go search on reefer madness and see if the video is not similar in defining evil!! But then, you may agree with the evil!!!
Most of the publishers still used the code in the 1970’s and 80’s, but now it is defunct (Archie Comics was the last to use it and they stopped in December 2010). Marvel did publish a run of Amazing Spider-man, issues #96-#98, without CCA approval. I think I’ll do a post about the CCA and it’s 1954 guidelines, should be fun to read.
I’ve seen Reefer Madness, yes, it reminds of this a lot!
Happy birthday, Mandy. I'm loving my pink smash book, but haven't yet plucked up the courage to show anyone any of the pages (although, actually, there are a lot of pages "under coir!suctnon"t!). Love your gorgeous page. Susie x
Palin/Thompson for me.Fred’s job will be to glare those senators into submission.Ted Nugent for Director of Homeland Security.And Chuck Norris for White House Press Secretary.Word verification of the day is “strag”. I’m not sure what it is but it sounds fairly dangerous
Finding this post. It’s just a big piece of luck for me.
SÃ¥ kører det bare derudaf…bÃ¥de med tag og med den gamle maskine, den er nu ogsÃ¥ god i hvertifald hvis du spørger mig;)SÃ¥ knap sÃ¥ meget med strygejernet. Det er jo næsten pinligt for dem nÃ¥r nu det er en trøste….
Pour la partie 1080p en 2D ce n est pas encore fait il faudra sûrement attendre une maj celui qu on à pu testé ne pouvait filmé qu en 720p pour les 2modes 2D/3D.le staff n à pas d info précises à ce sujet mais on est tous d accord sur le faite qu il à la puissance pour
You’ve got it in one. Couldn’t have put it better.
I’m impressed by your writing. Are you a professional or just very knowledgeable?
Get rid of the ratings and just do a thumbs up and down button like on the comments. Better thumbnail choices, like you can upload your own or choose from anywhere in the video. Be able to use music in videos if you give credit to the artists!
berube dit :J’ai de la misère à croire qu’il y a encore quelqu’un pour croire la bullshit d’Amenidjad sur l’énergie atomique, il veut l’énergie atomique pour la paix, aprèsw avoir détruit Israël. C’est un fou qui ne devrait pas diriger un pays.
I found just what I was needed, and it was entertaining!
Speculating on trades is just as silly as speculating on how much the Lakers want to spend on luxury taxes. We just don’t know their finances or how much they are willing to spend. I would though error on the side of “a freaking bank load” as they earn “a freaking bank load.”
So does this mean that we can tell the Googlebot from which Geolocation we would like the Bot to come from too !!!or maybe, Google would like to send their Bot to my site from every country that my clients market tailored content to ??
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a completely different topic but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Sean, yeah I did a little research yesterday and what I was remembering about Marvel, was that Stan Lee published a 3 part Spiderman series on the evils of drugs. He published them without the authority stamp and they still sold well. But I am suprised that the CCA lasted until just a few years ago.
Interesting topic. Wish some of your subscribers would jump in!!
dibuPtsp;:nl&s j’y pense et plus je suis bluffée par cette aventure, je suis vraiment contente pour elles alors que je ne les connais même pas en vrai. Nan vraiment ravie de voir à quel point elles ont l’air satisfaites et heureuses (et tu parles nous aussi du coup ). Et comme tu le sais moi c’est les Violette vertes (sinon c’est pas des Violette) que je veux et les Derbies de Miss Glitzy. Et celles de Mimnor aussi aussi. Seul hic de toute histoire : attendre mars. Pfff trop nul.
Look inside yourself and realize how Facebook has changed your life. Fond of hacking and junk foods, Zuckerberg started his social networking site from the &#lKa0;2irk82nd House” which later turned in a multi-billion corporate giant. The boyish activity of the Harvard’s nerd was accompanied by his roommate cum best friend Dustin Moskovitz. Due to the unexpected success of Facebook, Mark dropped his study and later emerged as the youngest billionaire of the world.