The Anti-Comic Movement
In the 1940s and early 1950s, comic books experienced a huge drop in popularity, greatly in part due to the anti-comic book movement at the time.
One of the kick-starters of the anti-comic book movement was a psychologist by the name of Frederic Wertham. While working with juvenile delinquents, Wertham noticed that every single one of the juvenile delinquents he interviewed read comic books, and developed the belief that there was a correlation between reading comic books and becoming a juvenile delinquent. What Wertham didn't realize - or possibly, just ignored - was that at the time, over 90% of American children, teens, and young adults were reading comic books. If Wertham had interviewed a group of honor roll students, he likely would have found that many of them read comic books as well. Nonetheless, Wertham's observations lead to his most famous book, Seduction of the Innocent. |
In Seduction of the Innocent, Wertham argues that comic books lead to juvenile delinquency, illiteracy, sexually deviant behavior, and asthma, among other things. At one point, Wertham includes a long list of crimes committed by juvenile delinquents, and then says "I could continue this list almost indefinitely. There is nothing in their "juvenile delinquencies" that is not described or told about in comic books. These are comic-book plots. In comic books, usually these crimes remain unpunished until the criminal has committed many more of them. Children are not so lucky. They face severe punishments whenever they are caught. Educated on comic books, they go on to a long postgraduate course in jails (with the same reading-matter). To every one of these acts correspond dozens of lesser ones, hundreds of minor ones and thousands of fantasies. Up to the beginning of the comic-book era there were hardly any serious crimes such as murder by children under twelve. Yet there was a world war and a long depression" (Wertham 155).
The Seduction of the Innocent became immensely popular, and its popularity eventually culminated in an investigation on comic books, lead by Estes Kefauver. Wertham himself testified at this hearing, and the committee eventually suggested that the comic book industry police itself, which resulted in something called "The Comic Book Code", which established a new set of standards for the comic book industry. Now, comic books would need a Comic Book Code seal of approval to be published, ensuring that comics wouldn't contain content that was considered inflammatory or inappropriate. Still, the effects of Wertham's novel and the Comic Book Code were huge: nationwide public burnings of old comic books were held and the popularity of comic books plummeted.
The Seduction of the Innocent became immensely popular, and its popularity eventually culminated in an investigation on comic books, lead by Estes Kefauver. Wertham himself testified at this hearing, and the committee eventually suggested that the comic book industry police itself, which resulted in something called "The Comic Book Code", which established a new set of standards for the comic book industry. Now, comic books would need a Comic Book Code seal of approval to be published, ensuring that comics wouldn't contain content that was considered inflammatory or inappropriate. Still, the effects of Wertham's novel and the Comic Book Code were huge: nationwide public burnings of old comic books were held and the popularity of comic books plummeted.
It was not until the late 1950s, with the creation of the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, and the beginning of the Marvel Revolution, that comic books and superheroes regained the same popularity they had boasted prior to World War II.