A Crisis of Innocence

Browse Items (30 total)

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A clip from the 1988 film "Comic Book Confidential." The video features an interview with Dr. Fredric Wertham in which he condemns comics for corrupting children

Cedar Rapids Gazette November 8 1953 crop.jpg
Wertham outlines the link between comic books and juvenile delinquency.

Abilene Reporter News April 18 1954 crop.jpg
A review of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent. Provides a brief synopsis of what Wertham was trying to accomplish in his writing.

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A review of Wertham's article "The Comics...Very Funny!" Some of Wertham's main points are restated, and the reviewer mentions a recent comic book burning in Chicago.

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.

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A report by Paul Coates for "Confidential File" in 1955, regarding the relationship between juvenile delinquency
and comics, and formation of the Comics Code.

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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.

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An photograph of David Pace Wigransky who, at the age of fourteen, published a response to the work of Dr. Wertham in the July 24th issue of the Saturday Review of Literature (1948). Wigransky defended comic books, pointing to the many flaws in…

Health Law Urged to Combat Comics.pdf
Wertham attempts to persuade the Joint Legislative Committe to Study Comics to recommend legislature focusing on banning comics for the sake of public health.
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