A Crisis of Innocence

Browse Items (122 total)

Comic Books Banned crop.jpg
Short piece announcing the banning of 34 American comic books containing horror stories of war themes. Further imports of such magazines will be prohibited.

Medicine Hat Daily News July 21 1948 crop.jpg
A review of an article published by Wertham. Looks to crime comics as the primary cause of juvenile delinquency in the United States.

Comic Criminals to Burn.pdf
Reports a New Jersey comic book burning, for which local Cub Scouts collected horror comics to be burned. A portable incinerator will be brought in to do the burning.

Southtown Economist April 4 1945 crop.pdf
A number of statistics are given about how many children read comic books.

Southtown Economist March 21 1945 crop.jpg
Explores the effect that crime comic books have on young children. Article states that although good often triumphs over evil, the depictions of evil tend to more prevalent in the illustrations.

comicscodeauthoritysetup.GIF
The caption reads: "Code Administrator Charles F. Murphy indicates how the comics magazine code operates. 'Delete distortion in face' resulted in a change. Mr. Murphy reported on progress under the industry's self-imposed rules."

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GI8IJA8kdkI/default.jpg
A report by Paul Coates for "Confidential File" in 1955, regarding the relationship between juvenile delinquency
and comics, and formation of the Comics Code.

Publisher Defends Comic Book Horror crop.jpg
Presents court proceedings in which comic book publisher, William M. Gaines, defends the content of his comic books in front of senators who question his depiction of a severed head on the front of one of his books.

Cedar Rapids Gazette October 17 1954.pdf
States that the public's reading tastes are changing as a result of newspaper coverage of the ongoing crisis. Some comic book publishers and distributors are choosing to self-censor, but this effort is not enough to protect children.

Better:Standard Adventures Into Darkness #14.jpg
Comic cover depicting a shipwrecked man about to be saved by a boat full of skeletons.
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