<< Back 11/27/02 The changing face of comics in America SMN Comic Book Nation by Bradford W. Wright. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. $26.95 — 336 pp. I bought mine at Velt’s Café or Hooper’s Drug Store. Flush with my weekly paycheck from curb-hopping at the Coffee Shop or bagging groceries at Winn-Dixie, I would pedal my old Belknap downtown and go straight to the comic rack. “The Vault of Horror,” “The Haunt of Fear” and “Tales From the Crypt” along with “Shock SuspenStories,” “Weird Science,” “Weird Fantasy” and the unforgettable “Two-Fisted Tales.” All of them bore the EC symbol on the cover, indicating that they were created by William M. Gaines, publisher of Entertainment Comics. Like most of my friends in the early 50’s, I could identify the work of an EC artist from across the room. No other artist could draw the female form like Wally Wood and when the young Ray Bradbury sold the rights to his best short stories to EC Comics, it was also Wally that etched lunar landscapes, the fearsome bleakness of Mars and the torrential storms of Venus. Ghastly Graham Ingles did the best manic faces and Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis chronicled the Korean War, as well as all of the great wars of history (uniforms, armor and weaponry was always accurately rendered). Of course, the trappings of horror permeated the EC comics and became their trademark. Zombies, werewolves and decaying corpses crept through the nocturnal woods, tottered out of foggy swamps or clamored up out of graves seeking vengeance and blood. I became an ardent fan of such EC icons as the Old Crypt-keeper and his bad puns and an assortment of gravediggers and witches who leered at the readers from the introduction to each tale, welcoming us back like old friends. But one fateful afternoon, when I rushed into Velt’s on delivery day, I found an empty rack. “Not here yet, huh?” I ask Velt Wilson. “No, and not likely to be again,” he said. Then, he told me that EC comics had been declared illegal. He said that according to some outraged congressmen and a crusading psychiatrist, a host of comics — especially those published by William Gaines — were “bad for juvenile readers.” Oh, day of infamy! Several years later, when I was a freshman at Western Carolina College, I got my hands on the dastardly book that killed my favorite comics: Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Fredric Wertham. It was a mind-boggling compilation of rant, hysteria and syllogistic reasoning, and lavishly illustrated with reprints from my favorite comics: Wally Wood ladies in sexy attire, decapitated heads, fiendish killers, carnage, mutilation, suggestive dialogue and people of uncertain sexual proclivities. All of this was offered up as proof of the dangerous and devious teachings. Innocent children were being exposed to this insidious garbage, said Wertham, and their malleable psyches were being severely warped. EC was not the only villain — although Wertham’s ire was largely focused on William Gaines — No, even Wonder Woman (a role model for fermenting lesbianism, said Wertham), Batman and Robin (a homosexual duo) and Sheena (a bigot with Aryan race tendencies). Even Super Duck came in for criticism since his enemies were frequently black ducks. Further, the book contained grim lists of actual “case studies” in which children had died in freakish accidents or had killed each other because they were enacting scenes from their comic books. When I read Wertham’s book today, perhaps the most distressing aspects are the reactions of congressmen.They are shocked and outraged when Wertham distributes EC comics in a congressional hearing created to investigate the link between juvenile delinquency and comics. Had no one ever looked at a comic book before? The congressional hearing at which William Gaines was subjected to questioning by the erstwhile Senator Estes Kefauver resembles nothing so much as the infamous McCarthy hearings — witch-hunting in the comic book industry! The final outcome was predictable: regulation — a comic book code called the Comic Magazine Association of America. William Gaines refused to join. Bradford W. Wright’s book is a comprehensive history of comics in America. His basic premise is to show how comics reflect the world we live in. It is an enthralling history; especially in those sections that demonstrate how major comic publishers frequently served as an accurate reflection of morality, patriotism, and attitudes toward social ills such as unemployment, crime and poverty. Indeed, there are numerous instances in which noted comic heroes, such as Green Lantern, Black Hawk, Captain America and Captain Marvel took the initiative in denouncing social evils. However, I found that my primary interest in Wright’s book is limited to those sections that recount the infamous controversies of 1947-1955 when American politics became infected with a misguided sense of patriotism. Communism was an ever-present threat and Congress was awash with subcommittees that constantly advised “eternal vigilance” against a host of corrupting doctrines. Attitudes have changed since the time that William Gaines became a scapegoat for Kefauver and the “watchdogs of democracy.” It is hard to imagine a Dr. Werthan in the world of Spiderman, Silver Surfer and Wolverine. Several years ago, I purchased a number of underground comics called “Dr. Wertham’s Comics.” They were filled with marvelous stories that mimicked the old EC format, but were wildly satirical. In each story crazed drug addicts, serial murderers and sexual deviants confessed that they had become hopelessly maladjusted by reading EC comics. It is gratifying to see that outrageous parody has had the final word. (Gary Carden is a writer, storyteller and lecturer whose book, Mason Jars in the Flood, was recently named Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. He can be reached at gcarden498@aol.com.)