The Four Color Media Monitor

A writer at the Houston Press looked at the history of the moral panic over comics at the time of Fredric Wertham, now subject of a new book titled "Comic Book Apocalypse!: The Death of Pre-Code Comics and Why It Happened, 1940-1955" by David Hogan, and for now, if there's something here that's surely worth considering, it's that the guy who went on to publish MAD magazine may have some blame to shoulder for botching his defense:

Most in the crosshairs was EC Comics. Under publisher William Gaines, their output in titles like Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Crime SuspensStories, Weird Fantasy, and Frontline Combat had some of the most “egregious” examples of story and art. And…yeah, there was some truth to that. But their stable of ultra-talented artists, writers, and editors made their books more far more than a cut above the competition. Not to mention in later decades one of the most beloved and venerated lines ever among fans.

Gaines himself testified before the 1954 Senate subcommittee led by Senator Estes Kefauver but did himself or the plight of comics books no favors with a rumpled appearance, halting answers, and justifications.

In one famous exchange, he noted that the infamous cover of Crime SuspensStories #22 of showing a man with an axe in one hand and severed head of his wife with eyes rolled back was actually in good taste. Bad taste, he suggested, would have included bones, flesh, and dripping blood underneath the head.

In a short time, even Gaines’ entire revamped EC line would crater (because what kid wouldn’t want to read a comic book called Psychoanalysis?). Save for the one humor title he turned into a larger, black and white magazine and did pretty well with: MAD magazine.

From what I noticed about the cover of the 22nd Crime SuspenStories, it looked like there was blood, or some kind of liquid, dripping from the mouth, so Gaines more or less screwed up. Based on mistakes like that, I don't think Gaines' defense was any good, and seriously, that he would go out of his way to develop horror stories as though said genre was such a big deal, when there were plenty of other wellsprings fit for adults that he could've taken the challenge of dipping into, only gave ammunition for detractors at the time. And also made it possible for sex-negative advocates, not the least being Wertham himself, a hole to exploit for putting sex in the same boat as gory violence. Such "comparisons" aren't healthy, even if there obviously are valid arguments for why there's a limit to how much or what kind of sex a child should be exposed to in early life. Gaines did do a good job developing MAD into a leading parody magazine, but it doesn't excuse that he took such a demeaning path with the violent crime stories he'd initially worked on in the late 40s-early 50s.

I'm sure Mr. Hogan's history book is worth reading, but again, let's consider that if these authors aren't willing to confront modern censorship and moral panics in sharp contrast to the past, their history research becomes moot and looks like a joke. Inconsistent commentaries don't guarantee long ranging repairs for what damage has occurred from past to present.

Labels: censorship issues, history, misogyny and racism, msm propaganda, politics, violence