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n_howard0718's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
1.5
How does bro not cook with even a single page?
scheu's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately very dated, fortunately still good for a laugh or two. Wertham's obsession with Batman's supposed homosexuality spread like a weed in America's collective subconscious - sad to think that was his primary legacy.
some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
Pretty laughable nowadays, though I suppose hindsight is 20/20 when looking back. If there's anything this book should prove, it's the collective stupidity that mankind is capable of. Hopefully this book will become a distant memory as comics continues to grow and thrive as a creative, artistic medium.
samsonian's review
dark
informative
medium-paced
2.5
pretty mid ngl, dated ideals
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Rape
rdpulfer's review against another edition
2.0
It's hard to look at this book without considering the impact it had on the comic book industry as a whole - the formation of the Comic Book Authority Code, the fall of EC Comics and at least two decades of censorship within the industry.
That said, I was surprised to see the (in)famous child psychologist had some valid points. He does show how many Golden Age Comics were written with varying degrees of jingoism and racism, especially to Black characters. He also has a whole chapter dedicated to a gimmicky ads found in comics promising to help young people gain/lose weight to appear more attractive - a rather forward-thinking commentary on body issues which still plague our society.
But I wouldn't go so far as to call even remotely Wertham objective. For every valid criticism of the content of comic books, there are dozens of points supported by flimsy evidence, anecdotes or straw man arguments. He lumps superheroes in with "crime comics", which is a little bit like saying "Iron Man" is a war movie since it begins in the Middle East. And of course, the most alarming of all superhero comics is . . . Wonder Woman (this was written in the 50's after all).
Ultimately, I can't really recommend this as anything other than a curious time capsule, though one that had devastating effects on the industry as a whole.
That said, I was surprised to see the (in)famous child psychologist had some valid points. He does show how many Golden Age Comics were written with varying degrees of jingoism and racism, especially to Black characters. He also has a whole chapter dedicated to a gimmicky ads found in comics promising to help young people gain/lose weight to appear more attractive - a rather forward-thinking commentary on body issues which still plague our society.
But I wouldn't go so far as to call even remotely Wertham objective. For every valid criticism of the content of comic books, there are dozens of points supported by flimsy evidence, anecdotes or straw man arguments. He lumps superheroes in with "crime comics", which is a little bit like saying "Iron Man" is a war movie since it begins in the Middle East. And of course, the most alarming of all superhero comics is . . . Wonder Woman (this was written in the 50's after all).
Ultimately, I can't really recommend this as anything other than a curious time capsule, though one that had devastating effects on the industry as a whole.
whitneyborup's review against another edition
2.0
I've been reading about this book for years, so I thought it was probably time to read the actual thing. Sometimes I think we're too hard on Wertham. He doesn't give children enough credit for being able to understand symbols and the difference between fiction and reality, but his points about Batman and Robin being gay are not as homophobic as some scholars make them out to be.
gerd_d's review
3.0
Best read as a manifest of its times, because as such it has its entertaining moments.
Wertham does come off as well intended at first, and some of his observations are not too far out there. Quite actually some of it is still relevant and heavily discussed today.
Topics like the objectification of women, racial prejudice and unnecessary use of overt violence... but just when he has you got so far to believe him having half a brain comes some nonsense like this:
Superwoman (Wonder Woman) is always a horror type. She is physically very powerful, tortures men, has her own female following, is the cruel, "phallic" woman. While she is a frightening figure for boys, she is an undesirable ideal for girls, being the exact opposite of what girls are supposed to want to be.
Add to this that the whole text is terribly overwritten, Wertham makes the same point over and over at the start of each new chapter, as if it could gain any credibility if only said often enough. His point being a variation on: "This kid read a comic book and got incited by it to torture/murder/rape another person" - the scary thing about this being that one gets the sense that Wertham really believed so, leading towards the end to him making the statement that kids and minors commiting terrible crimes are not to blame for their actions, the comic book industry is at fault.
(Seriously, anybody seeking to excuse rapists, in fact demanding they should not be punished for their actions, should be shot on sight.)
Half of the text could have been cut out, never missing anything.
Speaking of missing, Wertham never cites any (reliable) sources for anything he writes. For all we can tell each and everything is just Urban Myth because a lot of his anecdotes have this "A friend / a cousin / a guy I once knew" vibe to them. It's all kept just plausible enough to maybe believable, yet too intangible to prove.
Another "charming" quality of the author is, he poses himself as open minded at first, only to then constantly go on about how comics wake (dangerous) homoerotic thoughts in children, how they normalize the idea of homosexuality, how they prepare kids for (homo-)sexual abuse ...
While his entry about how Batman and Robin really are a gay pair is involuntary comedy of the finest, his blatant homophobia is anything but funny.
This said, I liked the literary quotes, like his bending The Bard's words to his use:
"Thus comic books make cowards of us all"
or this not very subtle, but highly enjoyable play on the title of Steinbeck's famous novel (or Robert Burns' poetry, as such):
As late as 1951 a liberal magazine, The Reporter, carried an article on "The Comic Book Industry" in which it gave what it thought was the answer: Children are charmed by comic books because in them they can follow "the fortunes of cowhands and mice."
Wertham does come off as well intended at first, and some of his observations are not too far out there. Quite actually some of it is still relevant and heavily discussed today.
Topics like the objectification of women, racial prejudice and unnecessary use of overt violence... but just when he has you got so far to believe him having half a brain comes some nonsense like this:
Superwoman (Wonder Woman) is always a horror type. She is physically very powerful, tortures men, has her own female following, is the cruel, "phallic" woman. While she is a frightening figure for boys, she is an undesirable ideal for girls, being the exact opposite of what girls are supposed to want to be.
Add to this that the whole text is terribly overwritten, Wertham makes the same point over and over at the start of each new chapter, as if it could gain any credibility if only said often enough. His point being a variation on: "This kid read a comic book and got incited by it to torture/murder/rape another person" - the scary thing about this being that one gets the sense that Wertham really believed so, leading towards the end to him making the statement that kids and minors commiting terrible crimes are not to blame for their actions, the comic book industry is at fault.
(Seriously, anybody seeking to excuse rapists, in fact demanding they should not be punished for their actions, should be shot on sight.)
Half of the text could have been cut out, never missing anything.
Speaking of missing, Wertham never cites any (reliable) sources for anything he writes. For all we can tell each and everything is just Urban Myth because a lot of his anecdotes have this "A friend / a cousin / a guy I once knew" vibe to them. It's all kept just plausible enough to maybe believable, yet too intangible to prove.
Another "charming" quality of the author is, he poses himself as open minded at first, only to then constantly go on about how comics wake (dangerous) homoerotic thoughts in children, how they normalize the idea of homosexuality, how they prepare kids for (homo-)sexual abuse ...
While his entry about how Batman and Robin really are a gay pair is involuntary comedy of the finest, his blatant homophobia is anything but funny.
This said, I liked the literary quotes, like his bending The Bard's words to his use:
"Thus comic books make cowards of us all"
or this not very subtle, but highly enjoyable play on the title of Steinbeck's famous novel (or Robert Burns' poetry, as such):
As late as 1951 a liberal magazine, The Reporter, carried an article on "The Comic Book Industry" in which it gave what it thought was the answer: Children are charmed by comic books because in them they can follow "the fortunes of cowhands and mice."
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