Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954 by psychiatrist Dr. Frederic Wertham was one of the most impactful events in comic book history, leading to censorship in comics and the establishment of the Comics Code Authority This category lists issues that were referenced in the book with Wertham's reasons for why comic books were damaging to the youth of America
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Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: insulting racial depictions
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: insulting racial depictions
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a gruesome baseball game played with dismembered body parts including the catcher's chest plate appearing to be naked breasts
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a gruesome baseball game played with dismembered body parts including the catcher's chest plate appearing to be naked breasts
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Origin of Crypt of Terror, Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a character receives incompetent advice from a psychologist which leads to his death
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Origin of Crypt of Terror, Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a character receives incompetent advice from a psychologist which leads to his death
Key Facts
Iconic story ‘Teen-Age Dope Slaves’
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: adolescent drug use brought to the attention of the public led to lurid publications devoted to the subject
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Iconic story ‘Teen-Age Dope Slaves’
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: adolescent drug use brought to the attention of the public led to lurid publications devoted to the subject
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: sexual innuendo, reprint of Authentic Police Cases #6
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: sexual innuendo, reprint of Authentic Police Cases #6
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: inappropriate wording characterizing the hero as a "superlover"
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: inappropriate wording characterizing the hero as a "superlover"
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham uses this book as an example of creators using a pseudonym to publish objectionable material
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham uses this book as an example of creators using a pseudonym to publish objectionable material
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man spanking a woman, bent over his knee
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man spanking a woman, bent over his knee
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: story about a hero who robbed a bank and shot five men to death
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: story about a hero who robbed a bank and shot five men to death
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: excessive violence/electric chair panels
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: excessive violence/electric chair panels
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham considers a diagram explaining how to lock the inside of a window from outside 'a diagram for housebreakers'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham considers a diagram explaining how to lock the inside of a window from outside 'a diagram for housebreakers'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a legal battle between Eerie and Eerie Adventures led to Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, to believe the courts cared more about protecting the financial interests of publishers than the well being of the children
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a legal battle between Eerie and Eerie Adventures led to Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, to believe the courts cared more about protecting the financial interests of publishers than the well being of the children
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham considers a panel that diagrams a killer's plan offers instructions on 'how to prepare an alibi'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham considers a panel that diagrams a killer's plan offers instructions on 'how to prepare an alibi'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a woman wearing a skirt has one leg fastened to a chair and the other raised and tied to a box as a man approaches her with a hot poker
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a woman wearing a skirt has one leg fastened to a chair and the other raised and tied to a box as a man approaches her with a hot poker
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: the hero displays racism after throwing bombs and a man from a plane while yelling 'bombs and bums away'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: the hero displays racism after throwing bombs and a man from a plane while yelling 'bombs and bums away'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: erotic hanging
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: erotic hanging
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: instructs girls on how to avoid making mistakes when committing a crime
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: instructs girls on how to avoid making mistakes when committing a crime
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: cover art depicting women engaged in a gunfight with police
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: cover art depicting women engaged in a gunfight with police
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to the establishment of the Comics Code Authority
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to the establishment of the Comics Code Authority
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man pours the poison used to kill his wife down the drain and avoids being charged for murder
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man pours the poison used to kill his wife down the drain and avoids being charged for murder
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: gratuitous violence
Reprinted from True Crime Comics #2
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: gratuitous violence
Reprinted from True Crime Comics #2
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham is parodied on the cover, tied to a chair with tape over his mouth
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham is parodied on the cover, tied to a chair with tape over his mouth
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: examples of how to commit multiple crimes
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: examples of how to commit multiple crimes
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a milkman stumbles upon a woman who has been 'raped and murdered' according to Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a milkman stumbles upon a woman who has been 'raped and murdered' according to Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a woman wearing a skirt has one leg fastened to a chair and the other, raised and tied to a box as a man approaches her with a hot poker
Reprint of Dynamic Comics #17
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a woman wearing a skirt has one leg fastened to a chair and the other, raised and tied to a box as a man approaches her with a hot poker
Reprint of Dynamic Comics #17
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a seventeen-year old girl seduces a man, robs then kills him
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a seventeen-year old girl seduces a man, robs then kills him
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham criticizes the publisher of this issue who displayed the comics code logo but did not adhere to the rule that no blood is to be shown
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham criticizes the publisher of this issue who displayed the comics code logo but did not adhere to the rule that no blood is to be shown
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: violence toward the police
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: violence toward the police
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a criminal mentors two boys, instructing them to punch a man that they robbed, regardless of his cooperation
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a criminal mentors two boys, instructing them to punch a man that they robbed, regardless of his cooperation
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: teaches the revenue potential in becoming a criminal with a pricing menu for delivering a black eye ($4.00), broken limbs ($10.00) or the 'whole job' ($100+)
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: teaches the revenue potential in becoming a criminal with a pricing menu for delivering a black eye ($4.00), broken limbs ($10.00) or the 'whole job' ($100+)
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a girl nailed by the wrists to a tree with blood flowing from her wounds
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a girl nailed by the wrists to a tree with blood flowing from her wounds
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man threatens to stab a woman in the eye with a syringe and criminals drag two men to their death on a gravel road, optimal for 'erasing faces'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man threatens to stab a woman in the eye with a syringe and criminals drag two men to their death on a gravel road, optimal for 'erasing faces'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham describes the first eight pages of this comic as being gratuitously violent and a poor representation of the source material
HRN stands for Highest Re-order issue Number on back cover - the lower the number the earlier the printing. Generally a first printing will have an HRN that matches the issue number on the front
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham describes the first eight pages of this comic as being gratuitously violent and a poor representation of the source material
HRN stands for Highest Re-order issue Number on back cover - the lower the number the earlier the printing. Generally a first printing will have an HRN that matches the issue number on the front
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a criminal instructs his partner to punch a man in the eye using brass knuckles and to twist them upon impact
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a criminal instructs his partner to punch a man in the eye using brass knuckles and to twist them upon impact
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a mother teaches her children to kill the police and a man chokes a high school girl to death because she denied him a kiss
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a mother teaches her children to kill the police and a man chokes a high school girl to death because she denied him a kiss
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: on the back cover, a young man 'nude except for a well-filled loin cloth' could cause boys to become 'addicted to the homoerotically-tinged comic book'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: on the back cover, a young man 'nude except for a well-filled loin cloth' could cause boys to become 'addicted to the homoerotically-tinged comic book'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: after witnessing the beating of an old man, a woman explains how she has become desensitized to witnessing the violence that used to disturb her
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: after witnessing the beating of an old man, a woman explains how she has become desensitized to witnessing the violence that used to disturb her
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: violence toward the police
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: violence toward the police
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man viciously slaps a woman yelling, "I'll teach you to do as your told!"
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a man viciously slaps a woman yelling, "I'll teach you to do as your told!"
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham writes, 'this book is the usual parade of invitation to sadistic perversion, race hatred and violence for violence's sake'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham writes, 'this book is the usual parade of invitation to sadistic perversion, race hatred and violence for violence's sake'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: morbid fantasies - a story about humans unable to use their legs
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: morbid fantasies - a story about humans unable to use their legs
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent which led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Superboy usurps American History by being the aid to George Washington in the president's most famous moments
First mention of Smallville
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent which led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Superboy usurps American History by being the aid to George Washington in the president's most famous moments
First mention of Smallville
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: provides instructions on how to steal from the blind
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: provides instructions on how to steal from the blind
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham cites poor writing, 'keep those paws to yourself, space-rat,' meant for those who 'find regular reading too hard'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: Wertham cites poor writing, 'keep those paws to yourself, space-rat,' meant for those who 'find regular reading too hard'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: the main character believes that those who disobey his orders deserve to be killed feels guilty after murdering a deaf man
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: the main character believes that those who disobey his orders deserve to be killed feels guilty after murdering a deaf man
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: criminals drain the blood of a woman, reprinted from Red Seal Comics #16
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: criminals drain the blood of a woman, reprinted from Red Seal Comics #16
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: the cover 'has nothing to do with medicine and is unmistakably sadistic'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: the cover 'has nothing to do with medicine and is unmistakably sadistic'
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: specializes in highly accentuated and protruding breasts in practically every illustration
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: specializes in highly accentuated and protruding breasts in practically every illustration
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: sexual innuendo of a woman speaking to a man saying, "ya ain't gonna shoot anybody with dat rod are ya?"
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: sexual innuendo of a woman speaking to a man saying, "ya ain't gonna shoot anybody with dat rod are ya?"
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a dead man is depicted with his face frozen in fear as onlookers notice his tongue has been ripped out
Key Facts
Referenced in Seduction of the Innocent, led to establishing the Comics Code Authority
Reason: a dead man is depicted with his face frozen in fear as onlookers notice his tongue has been ripped out
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