After a bit of a hiatus, I’d like to welcome everyone back to The History of the Modern Comic Book – a column that (increasingly roughly) parallels my class (of the same name) which I’m teaching in the Department of History at Michigan State University.

Last time around, we talked about the first “comic” (Rodolphe Töpffer’s Histoire de M. Vieux Bois), the foundations of the industry (comic strips and adventure pulps), and the beginnings of the actual comic book industry. We’re going to do things a little differently this time around. Instead of peeling off a few topics to explore, I want to focus in on one of the most important events (well, series of events) in the history of comics: Fredric Wertham, The Seduction of the Innocent, and the creation of the comics Code Authority. It isn’t some super crazy exaggeration to say that the events that led up to the creation of the Comics Code Authority (and the CCA itself) is one of the most meaningful things that ever happened to comics – both as a medium and as an industry.

Fredric Wertham

The best way to kick off this discussion is with Fredric Wertham. Why Wertham? Well, if you know anything at all about the history of comics, you’ll know that Dr. Fredric Wertham is often held up as the reason why there was a backlash against comics during the late 40s and early 50s which eventually led to the establishment of the Comics Code Authority.

Fredric Wertham was born on March 20th, 1895. He studied in Munich, Erlangen, and London, graduating in 1921 with a medical degree in psychiatry from the University of Würzburg. Wertham moved to the United States in 1922, where he taught at Johns Hopkins University and practiced psychiatry at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic. In 1932, he moved to New York, and took up the position of senior psychiatrist for the city’s Department of Hospitals where he spent most of his time giving convicted felons psychiatric exams and testifying in court. Wertham examined some of the most disturbed criminals of the time – including Albert Fish, a psychopath, masochist, child molester, murdered, and cannibal. Wertham was also very committed to eliminating racial inequities in the mental-health care system. In one particular instance, when he was unable to secure state funding for a psychiatric clinic in Harlem, he worked tirelessly to muster private support, and was eventually able to open up the Lafargue Psychiatric Clinic in Harlem, one of the few institutions dedicated to serving the needs of the African American community

Over the years, Wertham became concerned that many of the violent felons he came in contact with reported a steady diet of comic books. Despite the fact that comic books were among the most widespread popular entertainment at the time, and you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting someone who read comics (felon or not), Wertham felt there was a connection between comic books and anti-social (even criminal) behavior.

In 1948, this belief led Wertham to publish two important articles: “Horror in the Nursery” (in Collier’s Weekly) and “The Psychopathology of Comic Books” (in the American Journal of Psychotherapy). In the same year, Wertham also presided over a medical symposium entitled “The Psychopathy of Comic Books.” In these two articles (as well as the symposium), he argued that Comic books were “abnormally sexually aggressive” and led to crime. The thing that is really important to realize is that Wertham certainly wasn’t the only person pointing their finger at comics as a source of “moral decay” in society, quite the contrary. There were lots of other community groups, religious and social leaders, and teachers who felt comics books were leading kids down the path to a life of crime and moral corruption. The kicker is that Wertham was the most prominent. He was a respected psychiatrist with a long career of study and clinical practice. So, when he spoke about the ills of comics, people listened. And we’re not just talking about the public here. We’re also talking about other psychologists and psychiatrists – and eventually government types.

A month after Wertham’s “Psychopathy of Comic Books” symposium, the April issue of Time magazine featured a story about Detroit Police Commissioner Harry S. Toy who, after examining all the comic books available in his community, stated they were; “Loaded with communist teachings, sex, and racial discrimination.”

It didn’t take long for the book burnings to begin. Yup, thats right, book burnings. Later that year, Time Magazine reported that, after a house to house collection, comic book burnings were held in Spencer, West Virginia, and Binghamton, New York. The only existing photograph of the Binghamton burnings shows a group of kids loading boxes upon boxes of comic books into a pyre while a larger group of children look on with smiles on their faces.

"Comic book burnings in Binghamton, New York"

The Association of Comic Magazine Publishers

It didn’t take long for comic book publishers to see the writing on the wall. Either they did something about the beating they were taking in the public eye, or the government would. This is how the Association of Comic Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was born. Formed on July 1, 1948, the ACMP was a group of publishers determined to self regulate the content they were putting in the comic books they published. Founding members included publishers Leverett Gleason (Lev Gleason Publications), Bill Gaines (EC Comics), Harold Moore (Famous Funnies) and Rae Herman (Orbit Publications). The ACMP is most famous for their Publishers Code (which was a precursor to the Comics Code Authority code – more on that later):

1. Sexy, wanton comics should not be published. No drawing should show a female indecently or unduly exposed, and in no event more nude than in a bathing suit commonly worn in the United States of America.
2. Crime should not be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy against the law and justice or to inspire others with the desire for imitation. No comics shall show the details and methods of a crime committed by a youth. Policemen, judges, Government officials, and respected institutions should not be portrayed as stupid, ineffective, or represented in such a way to weaken respect for established authority.
3. No scenes of sadistic torture should be shown.
4. Vulgar and obscene language should never be used. Slang should be kept to a minimum and used only when essential to the story.
5. Divorce should not be treated humorously or represented as glamorous or alluring.
6. Ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible.

The idea was that those publishers who complied with the ACMP Publisher’s Code got to display a shiny “Seal of Approval” on their book. The problem was that the ACMP fell apart pretty fast. There were several large publishers (the most notable being Dell Comics) that just flat out refused to join the organization. The implosion of the ACMP was hastened by the fact that very early on several participating publishers, including founding member EC Comics, bailed. Those who continued as members made use of the ACMP seal of approval without any formal process of review – which made the ACMP even more of a joke. Its unfortunate that the ACMP didn’t succeed. If it had, its likely that the regulatory apocalypse that would come several years later (in the form of Senate hearings and the foundation of the Comics Code Authority) could have been avoided.

Seduction of the Innocent

"With covers like these, it was no great surprise that people were getting a little twitchy about comic books"

Despite the backlash against comics and the ACMP’s attempt at industry self-regulation, publishers continued pumping out content that many in the public thought had a negative impact on children. In fact, many publishers got into a cycle of one upsmanship with their competitors, publishing increasingly gruesome books with increasingly gruesome covers. And why not? Publishers were making money hand over fist, selling hundreds of thousands of comics every month. Why would they stop doing what was making them buckets of money? But let’s be honest here, how long could this state of affairs go on without the specter of public fear and paranoia rearing its ugly head again.

Its at this stage of the game that our old friend Dr. Fred Wertham enters the picture again. In 1954, he published Seduction of the Innocent: The Influence of Comic Books on Today’s Youth. In the book, Wertham cited overt or covert depictions of violence, sex, drug use, and other inappropriate content in “crime comics.” The book concluded, based largely on undocumented anecdotes, that reading this material encouraged similar behavior in children. And it wasn’t just crime and horror comics that Wertham was taking pot shots at – he also trained his sights on superhero comics. He accused Superman of misleading kids about the laws of physics (because he could fly). Wertham also said that comic books were supporting a homosexual lifestyle because Robin was drawn with bare legs (that were often wide open) and that Robin seemed devoted and attached to only Batman.

The unfortunate thing about The Seduction of the Innocent is that for all of its crazy ideas (and there were a lot of them), it also had some very interesting points that are almost always overlooked. Of particular note was that Wertham objected not only to the violence in the stories but also the fact that air rifles and knives were advertised alongside them. Wertham also claimed that vendors were being told by publishers that if they did not sell the objectionable comic books, they would not be allowed to sell any of the other publications being distributed.

Public opinion was stirred up by way of excerpts from the book published in Ladies’ Home Journal, and it wasn’t long until the government stepped in. In 1954, the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency was convened – and comic books were at the top of their list. As one would expect, Wertham was asked to testify. Industry professionals were called to testify as well, but most ultimately admitted that there were excesses and declared comics needed to be made more suitable for children. One particular industry standout who didn’t cave under the pressure was William Gaines – publisher of EC Comics. The thing you’ve got to realize is that of all the publishers, EC Comics definitely had the market cornered on gruesome stories and covers. One of their most famous covers (Crime Suspense Stories #22) actually made an appearance a the senate hearings. Gaines was asked how he could possibly think that the image of a man holding the severed head of a women (which he had presumably just severed given the fact that he was holding the bloody axe in his other hand) was appropriate. Gaines, completely unapologetic, maintained that the cover would only be in bad taste if the man was holding the head a little higher so that the blood could be seen dripping from it.

Despite the fact that Gaines standing up to the subcommittee, the writing was definitely on the wall. The subcommittee concluded that American kids were being fed a concentrated diet of crime, horror, and violence in comic books – a diet which had to be eliminated.

The Comics Code Authority

In reaction to the Senate subcommittee hearings, the major publishers got together (once again) and decided that now would be a good time to try self-regulation again. So, on October 26th, 1954, the Comic Magazine Association of America (CMAA) and the Comics Code Authority (CCA) were created. The idea behind the Comics Code Authority was pretty much the same as the previously unsuccessful ACMP Publisher’s Code. If publishers adhered to the code, they would get the CCA’s seal of approval. The difference this time around was that the public backlash had reached such a point that if a book didn’t have the CCA seal on it, distributors refused to carry it and retailers refused to sell it. Technically, it wasn’t illegal to sell comics without the CCA seal on it (and there were publishers who did) – it was just damn near impossible to actually make any money.

It is also worth saying that Dr. Fred Wertham did not approve of the CCA. He felt the industry was completely incapable of policing themselves. Even after several large comic companies imploded (because they were unable to adapt to the new landscape) and the industry was pretty much brought to it’s knees, Wertham still complained that comic books exhibited much of he unsavory content that he had been complaining about for years.

The code itself was similar in tone to the ACMP Publisher’s Code – no sex, drugs, nudity, disrespecting of authority – that kind of thing. Unlike the ACMP Publisher’s Code, however, the CCA stuck. Saying that the Comics Code Authority was one of the most important events in the history of comic books isn’t an exaggeration. Much of the history of comics books from 1954 until the early 80s is inextricably intertwined with the Comics Code Authority. You simply can’t talk about comic books without talking about the Comics Code Authority.

The thing is, the backlash against comics and the creation of the CCA isn’t all bad. Without those events, the comic industry would have been a hell of a lot different than it is today? Why? Well, in the wake of the CCA, most publishers stopped publishing crime & horror stories (which was the largest genre in comics those days as well as being the genre that was the most criticized for its content). The result was that there was a void left in the comic industry that publishers didn’t quite know how to fill. Many publishers experimented with other genres – science fiction, war stories, fire fighter stories (seriously), but nothing quite stuck. Many publishers, no longer able to put out the same sort of books they’d used it, simply folded.

The solution was the superhero. The thing you need to realize is that superhero books generally fell out of favor after the end of the Second World War. They didn’t dominate the industry like they do now. It would take Julius Schwartz (an editor at DC Comics) to change this. He decided to dip back into the pantheon of DC characters that had been popular 10 to 15 years previously, and revamp them for a modern audience – and thus was born the Silver Age. The first out of the box was The Flash. Schwartz had Gardner Fox (on writing duties) and Carmine Infantino (on art duties) take the Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick), and replace him with Barry Allen as the new Flash. The new Flash was unveiled in in DC Showcase #4 (October, 1956) – and was a smash hit. It wasn’t long before DC was publishing book after book with Golden Age characters who had been revamped with “modern” equivalents. In most cases, only the characters’ names remained the same. Their costumes, locales, and identities were changed. Magic was nixed in favor of scientific, industrial, or technological explanations for these “new” characters. So, the new Green Lantern, (Hal Jordan) instead of having a magical ring powered by a magical lantern (like his predecessor – Alan Scott), was a test pilot who had a ring powered by an alien battery that was created by an intergalactic police force.

So, What Ever Happened to Wertham?

Fred Wertham certainly didn’t hand up his psychiatric gloves (metaphorically speaking) after the Comics Code Authority was founded. He continued working as a senior psychiatrist for the New York City Department of Hospitals. He also continued writing prolifically. His writings about the effects of racial segregation were used as evidence in the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. His 1966 book A Sign for Cain explored the involvement of medical professionals in the Holocaust. He even (tangentially) returned to the world of comics with his 1974 book The World of Fanzines – in which he concluded that fanzines were “a constructive and healthy exercise of creative drives.” He died in 1981, leaving an indelible imprint on the history of comics.

At this stage of the game, I’m going to sign off (I’ve gone on way too long anyway). For those who’ve got a hankering to see what other topics I covered in this lecture (there was more than just what I talked about in this column), I’ve made all of my lecture slides available for download on the course website. I’ve also recorded the entire lecture and stuck the audio up on the course website as well (something which I’ll be doing for all of the lectures). All of this can be found in the Resources section of the course website. If you are really interested in delving deeper into the hysteria surrounding comic books in the 40s and 50s, I would highly recommend that you read Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu. It is a great book that really plumbs the depths of the topic

On tap for the next column we’re going to talk more about the Silver Age – which is always an awesome topic.

In the meantime, check out our course website - – and read what the students are writing about their weekly books. You can also follow me on Twitter where I’ll be tweeting updates on the class (as well as my other classes and my exciting life as an academic…which I guarantee you is not as exciting as it sounds </sarcasm>).
Assistant Professor Ethan Watrall
Michigan State University