Seduction of the Innocent

Nowadays, comics seem pretty harmless to most people. Usually people think of comic books as picture books with superheroes saving the world. We allow our kids to read them if they want to because --- well --- we just want our kids to read!

There was a time not long ago, however, that the public began criticizing comics, calling them dangerous, violent, and unsuitable for children. I am not here to tell you whether comics are appropriate for children or not. That is for you to decide. I will just state the facts.

In 1954, Frederic Wertham (pictured above) wrote a book entitled Seduction of the Innocent. This commentary against comic books really got the ball rolling for the anti-comics movement. In the book, Wertham claimed that comics promote violence in adolescents. He attempted to persuade his audience that comic books were unsuitable and downright immoral.

Not much later, the Comics Code was adopted by publishers of comics across the country. The new code required comic books to "clean up" the violence and graphic images. It even called for comics to remove or replace words such as "horror" and "terror" on the front cover!

The Comics Code led to a new movement in comics called underground comix.

Eventually, publishers disregarded the code. By 2000, most publishers did not advertise under the code any longer. The public was no longer worried about such content in comic books.