| Slot: |
1951 NY Report Page 59 |
| Item Description: |
Exposed 7 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.0 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Exposed #7 is referenced in the “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) as illustration #29. The SOTI illustration comes from a panel in the two page story “The Fatal Reflex” contained in Exposed #7. In this story, Herman Denzer is wronged by a business partner (Joe Gates) who abandons him in the wilderness after he is injured in a plane wreck. Denzer survives his ordeal but is bent on seeking revenge on Gates. Years later, Denzer murders Gates and arranges the room to make it appear as if Gates shot himself while cleaning his gun. A part of his deception includes escaping through a window that he rigs, using a string, to lock from the inside. His undoing is that he turns out the light and the cops figure out that he must have committed the crime because Gates wouldn’t be cleaning his gun in the dark. Fredric Wertham, the author of the SOTI, takes the panel that diagrams how Denier rigged the window to lock from the inside and places the caption “Diagram for housebreakers” under the illustration. Apparently Wertham believed that this diagram was describing how to break into a house. This is one of many examples where Wertham’s details and examples were in error or misrepresented. For further context, I have included a scan of the page that contains the panel that was referenced as Illustration #29 in the SOTI.
|
| Slot: |
1951 NY Report Page 60 |
| Item Description: |
Gang Busters 3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.5 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Gang Busters #3 is referenced in Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) as illustration #27 with the caption “Comic-book map for crime”. From Wertham’s perspective, crime comic books contributed to juvenile delinquency by depicting techniques that criminals use to perpetrate crimes. In the illustrations section of the SOTI, Wertham lists several examples of the ways that crime comic books advance “knowledge of technique”. His examples include techniques that can be used to create crime planning maps, construct an alibi or diagram a housebreaking. A story in Gang Busters #3 contains the crime planning map that Wertham references as illustration #27 in the SOTI.
|
| Slot: |
1951 NY Report Pages 70-71 |
| Item Description: |
Jungle Comics 98 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.5 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Jungle Comics #98 is referenced in the “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) a book published by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham in 1954. A panel from the comic is referenced in SOTI illustrations #18 and #19. According to Wertham, the panel depicts a sexual reference in the form of a women’s nude body that is hidden in the drawing of a man’s shoulder in the panel. Wertham’s caption under the illustrations reads as follows: “In ordinary comic books, there are pictures within pictures for children who know how to look.” In addition to the illustrations, Jungle Comics #98 is referenced in the SOTI text on page 185 as follows: “Some of the ordinary comic books have illustrations revealing crude sexual details if you look at them in a certain way. The shoulder of a man with a red scarf around his neck shows a girl’s nude body. This is so clear that it can induce the immature reader to look for such things and stir him up sexually.” I have included a scan of the page from Jungle Comics #98 that contains the panel with the alleged sexual reference.
|
| Slot: |
1951 NY Report Pages 68-69 |
| Item Description: |
Killers 1 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.5 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Killers #1 is referenced in Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) in the text on pages 179-181.
On page 179, Wertham describes a comic story as follows “Graphic description of sexual flagellation on the buttocks is frowned upon by the Post Office – if it occurs in adult books. But in a typical comic book for children such erotic scenes are described in detail. The villain (a foreigner, of course) has the half-nude girl in his power. As an appetizer, she is hit in the face. Then: ‘I know that you shall love me and shall be loyal after you have taken a dozen or so lashes across your beautiful back!’ She is taken to the cell, bound by the wrists to a tall post, her breasts conspicuously drawn, and pleas for mercy. The man stands behind her with a coiled whip in hand”.
Wertham’s description comes from the story “Scott Hunter of the C.I.D. Meets Mr. Zin – The Hatchet Killer” contained in Killers #1. In addition to the SOTI, this story was referenced in the New York Legislature’s 1951 Committee report on comic books.
|
| Slot: |
1951 NY Report Pages 55-57 |
| Item Description: |
Top Secrets 7 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 5.5 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Top Secrets #7 is referenced in Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) in Illustration #21 and in the text on page 90.
Illustration #21 depicts a panel from Top Secrets #7 that demonstrates the self defense “vulnerable” areas of the human body. Wertham captioned the illustration “How to hurt people”. Additional commentary on the comic is provided in the text on page 90 “Where crime comics pay a hypocritical obeisance to educational demands they show their true colors even more clearly. For example, under the lame pretext of self-defense, they show pictures of ‘Vulnerable Areas’ in the human body with such notations as: EYES: finger jab or thumb gouge BRIDE of NOSE: edge of hand blow”.
This comic was also referenced in the 1951 New York Legislative Committee Comic Censorship report on pages 55-57.
|
| Slot: |
1951 NY Report Page 30 |
| Item Description: |
Women Outlaws 1 |
| Grade: |
CGC 6.5 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Women Outlaws #1 is referenced in Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) as illustration #7.
Illustration #7 comes from a panel in the “Cattle Kate – Queen of the Rustlers” story contained in Women Outlaws #1. The panel depicts Cattle Kate, just prior to her hanging, screaming “Lousy!!! Filthy!!! I’ll Tear Ya…” at her capturers. Wertham captioned the panel “Giving Children an image of American womanhood”.
|