Banned book week is coming up (Septemer 24th-September 30th) and I'm sure you've all got displays in mind, but while you're thinking about displays I've got a few things to remind you about.
First of all, I will probably do a recommendation list for Banned Comics next week. For this week, I want to talk about something more important. The time the US government nearly banned the entire medium based on lies.
Back in 1948, a man named Frederic Wertham began a full out attack on comic books. He began to study and look at juveniles who were reading comics and their links with violence, drugs, and sex. He posited that comic books were teaching kids to follow this criminal behavior and began an open war against comics. His early attacks lead to the creation of the original Batwoman (Kathy Kane) and Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) to show that Batman and Robin were not homosexual and there was nothing untoward about their relationship.
His actions and eventually book, The Seduction of the Innocent, lead to wide spread burning and destruction of comics. His studies, done all in a quasi-scientific manner, lead Congress to even begin to have hearings on comics and their effects. One by one the heads of comic companies were brought forth for testimony and attacked for their "provocative" material. The fervor over the book reached a point where parents, schools, and even libraries were organizing comic book burnings! This move sent shock waves through the entire industry and forced massive changes to be made.
In order to prevent the federal government from banning or regulating comics, most of the publishers banned together and created a self-censoring body called the Comics Code of Authority. The Comics Code had extremely stringent and bizarre rules regarding what could and couldn't be in a comic. Sex, violence, and drugs were removed immediately, but even werewolves, vampires, and zombies couldn't be depicted. Everything had to be wholesome and good and the good guys had to win. These rules eventually were changed and abolished especially after realizing that even drug awareness comics requested by the government couldn't be printed with the code.
To make matters worse? Now that Wertham's papers have been made available for outside review, it's been discovered that Wertham wasn't entirely honest with his cases and drew conclusions when he probably shouldn't have.
So while we're talking about banned books and censorship, maybe now is a good time to point out that comics were nearly banned especially given the heightened awareness of comics due to the explosion of shows and movies.
First of all, I will probably do a recommendation list for Banned Comics next week. For this week, I want to talk about something more important. The time the US government nearly banned the entire medium based on lies.
Back in 1948, a man named Frederic Wertham began a full out attack on comic books. He began to study and look at juveniles who were reading comics and their links with violence, drugs, and sex. He posited that comic books were teaching kids to follow this criminal behavior and began an open war against comics. His early attacks lead to the creation of the original Batwoman (Kathy Kane) and Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) to show that Batman and Robin were not homosexual and there was nothing untoward about their relationship.His actions and eventually book, The Seduction of the Innocent, lead to wide spread burning and destruction of comics. His studies, done all in a quasi-scientific manner, lead Congress to even begin to have hearings on comics and their effects. One by one the heads of comic companies were brought forth for testimony and attacked for their "provocative" material. The fervor over the book reached a point where parents, schools, and even libraries were organizing comic book burnings! This move sent shock waves through the entire industry and forced massive changes to be made.
In order to prevent the federal government from banning or regulating comics, most of the publishers banned together and created a self-censoring body called the Comics Code of Authority. The Comics Code had extremely stringent and bizarre rules regarding what could and couldn't be in a comic. Sex, violence, and drugs were removed immediately, but even werewolves, vampires, and zombies couldn't be depicted. Everything had to be wholesome and good and the good guys had to win. These rules eventually were changed and abolished especially after realizing that even drug awareness comics requested by the government couldn't be printed with the code.
To make matters worse? Now that Wertham's papers have been made available for outside review, it's been discovered that Wertham wasn't entirely honest with his cases and drew conclusions when he probably shouldn't have.
So while we're talking about banned books and censorship, maybe now is a good time to point out that comics were nearly banned especially given the heightened awareness of comics due to the explosion of shows and movies.
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