Author: Wertham, Fredric
Title: SEDUCTION of the INNOCENT
Place Published: New York
Publisher:Rinehart & Co.
Date Published: 1954
Description: 397 pp. + 16 pages of black & white illustrations. Octavo. Cloth-backed boards. First Edition, with "circle R" colophon on copyright page. Near fine. Spine lettering bright and legible, mild shelfwear, edges of boards toned, small soil spot to top edge of pageblock. Lacks bibliography, which was excised from most copies by the publisher before distribution, upon threat of legal action by the comics publishers named therein. Overstreet: "Many illustrations showing excessive violence, sex, sadism, and torture are shown.""Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's disastrous but maddeningly well-intentioned attack on horror and crime comics which, he asserted, were ruining American youth. This notorious tome became the fulcrum of a widespread assault on the comics industry, leading to the creation of the Comics Code Authority and almost destroying an art form." – "Jivin" Ivan Briggs, EC, MAD and Pre-Code HORROR Comics of the 1950s. Green Apple Books: 1997, p. 37.

Worthless Wertham? When Dr. Wertham's papers were unsealed by the Library of Congress in 2010, Carol Tilley, an information science professor, investigated the good doctor's research and deemed his findings rubbish: "Wertham manipulated, overstated, compromised and fabricated evidence – especially that evidence he attributed to personal clinical research with young people – for rhetorical gain" (see "Seducing the Innocent: Fredric Wertham and the Falsifications That Helped Condemn Comics," Information & Culture Vol. 47, No. 4, University of Texas Press, 2012).

Despite Wertham's tarnished legacy, the fact remains that he was one of the first public intellectuals to take comics seriously as a social influence. In later life he attempted to make peace with funnybook fans, writing The World of Fanzines (1974), in which he gamely celebrates the rise of fandom while somehow managing to sound more out of touch than ever. He even praises underground man Robert Crumb and his Zap Comix crew: "Zap Comics [sic] ...represent a reaction – or rather an overreaction – to the above-ground comic books and to our mass media in general. Such overreaction is all too understandable in a society like the one in which we live at present."

Are Dr. Wertham's concerns about the effects of media saturation on impressionable minds still relevant in the 21st century? His methodology has been largely discredited, his motives have been questioned, and his alarm over colorful children's pamphlets seems quaint in the Internet era. One of the central questions of Seduction of the Innocent, however, remains a provocative mystery, especially as green-screen superheroes continue to dominate our collective dream life: "What is the social meaning of these supermen, superwomen, superlovers, superboys, supergirls, super-ducks, super-mice, super-magicians, super-safecrackers? How did Nietzsche get into the nursery?"

______________________________________________________________

A limited edition of ten hardcover catalogues is available, in addition to a few dozen softcovers. Fun reference, great keepsake, fully illustrated, chockablock with obscure facts, gags, bon mots. Softcovers are $40, deluxe hardcovers with dust jackets and limitation plates are $200. These books always go fast so don't delay. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Summer 2024 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Find out why PBA is the new fan-fave of funnybook fiends. "This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books... Priceless." – R. Crumb. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Coming Soon: The DC Universe Collection Part 3: The Golden Age (August 2024) and Weird Tales and Amazing Stories: The PBA Pulp Sale (September 2024). Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com to get on the notifications list.