[irrelig]Finally! More than you ever wanted to know about comic books and the puritanical busybodies who almost destroyed them. We discuss the events leading up to the hysteria of the 1954 Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency, as well as the key players such as Bill Gaines of EC Comics and the dreaded Dr. Fredric Wertham. This episode has it all — crime, horror, gore, suppression of free speech, a televised showdown between giants, and a befuddled little psychiatrist who kept referring to his personal case records as “a laborious clinical study.”
It clocks in at just over 90 minutes; check it out here. And while you’re waiting for that to download, here’s a peek at another EC Comics cover to whet your appetite:
19 Responses to “62: The Comics Scare of the 1950s”
How come this podcast is not on iTunes tonight?
I miss you guys! it’s been a long time since your last podcast.
It’ll be on iTunes soon. I just pinged the server — usually it takes an hour or so for iTunes to update its information.
Honestly, we do need to save Stephen Baldwin.
If we don’t get him back on track, he will no longer make such silver-screen gems as “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas,” “Dead Weekend,” or “Earthstorm.”
Please, think of the Baldwins.
My grandpa had all the Tales from the Crypt comics and I remember him getting in trouble with my grandma when he let me read them (I was about 6).
Unfortunately the comics were lost in a house fire.
I blame them for what I’ve become.
Great topic, guys! It probably would not have been one of which I would have thought!
This kind of episode is why I listen to Irreligiosophy! I didn’t know any of that history about Bill Gaines and such. I used to read MAD magazine as a kid … and lived near a staff artist from Tales from the Crypt. Good inspirations for my career in games.
Diet pills in the 1950s/60s/70s were a little stronger than you can get today. Gaines was up all night working on a speech and displaying other odd behavior because he was tweaking.
Hey guys thanks for getting the show out. I won’t say anything about the wait but it has been a sad few days being forced to listen to inferior podcasts.
After all there can be only one!!!
Aw, why couldn’t you have had it up last week? A nice long episode like that would have had allowed me to prepare my luggage uninterrupted.
Leighton’s quip about a list of banned publications merely doing a person’s research for them as to what the good comics are, I’m reminded of a funny “banned list” that backfired on the American military. Some intrepid MP went out to investigate all the bars around the US base on Seoul. Which ones were offering more than just drinks. Bars offering sex for money were then put on a banned list. The military published the report which include the name of the bar, the location, what sexual service the MP negotiated for, and the price offered.
It rapidly became the sex tourist’s “menu” and fixed a price in the minds of GIs, contractors, and I dare say ESL teachers what they should be paying for which service.
Hey, thanks for ruining my favorite halloween costume (wonder woman–Hallie Berry ruined catwoman).
Chuck and Leighton, thanks for another great podcast. My brain really enjoys your company. Keep up the great work!
Though the horror comics never really recovered but superhero comics had a big resurgence after the comics code and were if anything more popular.
As for Stephen Baldwin there is a hilarious response video entitled ignore Stephen Baldwin, restore Joss Whedon.
You weren’t clear on whether there was going to be a podcast this week, I’m assuming that is so it can be interpreted either way depending on how lazy you are this week. I will be devastated if there isn’t one, I may end up naked on a dung heap scraping myself with a pottery shard.
You guys were so close to connecting the comic scare to what has been said in the media and churches about video gaming. Many of those “studies” over the last two decades have been equally fuzzy, but are treated as gospel for a press looking for the next big story. The podcast was a blast and I learned some fun new things. Wonder Woman’s cuffs and lasso have never been so sexy to me. And thanks for the Watchmen props for us real geeks!
Yo dudes!
Love the podcast. Especially like the fact Charlie sounds like Randy Marsh (which can only be good). Like the dumb sidekick too ; )
I’m a huge Anime and Manga fan.
I’ve noticed that the big reason why American comics never really appealed to me, was that largely, I didn’t find large men beating the shit out of each other appealing and that in the 90’s, the medium had stagnated to basically homoerotic Super Hero stories that spanned back as far as the 30’s.
So what you’re essentially saying is that because of religious finger pointing and blame gaming, Western comics became total shit?
(No, it’s not that I think just because it’s American it’s shit, it’s just that Super Hero stories with long backstories are boring and go nowhere. Transmetropolitan is probably one of the best examples of what you can do with comics; it also happens to be that it’s also like a foreign exchange student in the sense that most of it’s friends are Japanese. Watchmen doesn’t count, since it’s a total deconstruction of the Super Hero genre, and in a sense, a big fuck you to DC and Marvel fans, and an even bigger fuck you to Golden/Silver Age fans.)
Nit pic-o-the week:
The senator’s name is pronounce Keef-awe-ver. I remember when his name was on everyone’s tongue. As I recall, he ran for president.
what the jesusfuck did this have to do with anything
@bob – It was an excellent example of how the religious right fucks it up for the rest of us.
@Foxy Mclovin – It’s pretty obvious thats what’s going on. I wonder what they will blame next. I hope they go back to booze. I’d love to see a new prohibition movement. Good times not had by all.
Great show guys.