Did you know they once burned (comic) books across the United States? Our show and installation, “Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men and Women” [WKWELHMW] was recently held at the St. Louis Public Library, Central Express Branch, in the Old Post Office building in May 2024.
75 years ago, comic books and radio were the driving forces of American popular culture. Millions of copies of Superman, Capt. America, Batman and Capt. Marvel were sold monthly to people of all ages. (The average comic issue today sells only a few thousand copies.) The WKWELHMW display is a stinging indictment of the self-appointed culture wars critic of the 1950s, psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham. He was the author of the bestseller, Seduction of the Innocent, which erroneously claimed horror and crime comics caused young people to go on delinquent, crime-filled sprees and twisted sexual escapades.
In 1953, at Wertham's urging, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established to investigate the comics “problem.” The next year, publishers were forced to testify and defend the work of their creators. The result? Comic book burnings swept the nation encouraged by members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts. A rigid Comics Code was eventually instituted and remained in effect for more than 60 years. Members of the industry, primarily Jewish WWII veterans, lost their jobs and were, essentially, blacklisted. There are disturbing and perplexing parallels with current events.
Using 27 exhibit panels, my wife, Charlotte Johnson, and I explain the hysteria of Wertham’s bogus claims, the subsequent Senate investigation that gutted the multi-million dollar comic book industry, as well as its aftermath. Strangely enough, these American book burnings from 1948 - 1952, concurrent with the Red Scare, took place just ten years after the highly-criticized Nazi book burnings.
This is a timely show about hot-button topics still debated today. Visitors can view examples of the rare censored horror and crime comics, read the biographies of prominent comic book creators, see a host of comic reproductions along with book collections of the most popular titles, and examine my own artwork based on the same 75-year-old horror and crime comics.
Comics remain the most banned publications in America, today!
