5 - Seduction of the Innocent: The Comic Book Menace

Summary

Chapter 5 chronicles the national panic against comic books that raged between 1948 and 1955.Led by prominent intellectuals, like Dr. Fredric Wertham and his book Seduction of the Innocent, the movement was marked by comic book burnings across the country, and resulted in congressional hearings designed to put pressure on the comic book industry. The movement did not lead to a change in the law, however, as First Amendment doctrine had progressed to the point that local ordinances were struck down when cases came before courts. Nevertheless, the political pressure led the industry to adopt a “voluntary” code enforced by the Comics Magazine Association of America that, for a time, devastated the comic book industry. Wertham’s scholarship eventually was discredited, and the comic book made a comeback as both an art form and a cultural influence.