Broken Frontier

Dr. Fredric Wertham and his book – the notorious “Seduction of the Innocent” – have often been blamed for the creation of the self-censoring Comics Code and the destruction of the amazing E.C. line of horror titles. As a well-known and respected psychiatrist, Wertham claimed that comic books were detrimental to children, and it was largely due to his publicity campaign that Senate hearings were held focusing on the harmful effects of the comic book industry. Being curious, I decided to read the infamous book to find out exactly what it said.

Afterwards, I came to two main conclusions.

Dr. Wertham had very important things to say about the rampant racism, graphic violence and horrifying treatment of women that characterized “true crime” books (a genre of comic books that sold between 35-40 million issues a month in the early Fifties). Much of what was aimed at children in those years was disgusting even by today’s standards. Needles being injected into people’s eyeballs, men tied to the back bumpers of cars and dragged to their deaths (“Even Big Phil will admire this job - if he lives long enough to identify the MEAT!"), women raped, tortured and mutilated in graphic detail; there were many seriously psychotic images and scenarios being sold to little kids back then, and it needed to be addressed.

On the other hand, Dr. Wertham despised comic books, blaming them for everything from juvenile delinquency to illiteracy. His lack of objectivity sabotaged his book from the start; it’s hard to write a logical thesis when it’s based on an illogical hatred for your subject. At times it felt like Wertham was making up theories as he went along, bombarding his readers with ridiculous ideas in the hopes that the sheer quantity of complaints would disguise the noticeable lack of common sense. Wertham had a few valid points to make, but he presented them in such a moronic fashion that it was easy for most people to dismiss them.

Still for the most part “Seduction of the Innocent” is inconsequential now. All of the “true crime” series that bore the brunt of Wertham’s wrath stopped being published decades ago. The majority of Americans have either forgotten about comic books or don’t realize they still exist. And even prime-time television shows are allowed to deal more freely with mature subjects than comic books, so Wertham’s objections have been rendered meaningless.

But the writer brought up the subject of superheroes a couple of times in his book, and I thought it would be interesting to discuss some of his views regarding the trinity of icons: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Realizing that as a fan I’m biased and as a fifty-year-old work “Seduction of the Innocent” is very much a product of its time, I still was surprised at how much Wertham allowed his personal prejudices to cloud his judgment. He may have had valid complaints concerning true crime series, but his problems with superhero titles were mostly ridiculous.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the wisdom of Wertham…

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“The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher who died in 1900, was fond of making statements like that. As a religious man, Dr. Fredric Wertham despised everything Nietzsche stood for, but he reserved the most hatred for the philosopher’s concept of the superman – a person able to throw off the shackles imposed by society, religion and oneself and become, for all intents and purposes, a god.

Although Siegel and Shuster’s beloved creation had nothing to do with this philosophy, Wertham didn’t let that stop him from decrying their work as “an offshoot of Nietzsche's superman” and asking, “What is the social meaning of these supermen, superwomen, super-lovers, super boys, super girls, super-ducks, super-mice, super-magicians, super-safecrackers?” For Wertham, Superman was all of Nietzsche’s blasphemous assertions dressed up in a cape and a pretty costume.

According to Wertham, both Superman and Wonder Woman encouraged a fascist society where children either identified with superheroes and considered everyone else inferior or became “submissive and receptive to the blandishments of strong men who [would] solve all their social problems for them – by force.” He compared Superman to the Nazis – “we should, I suppose, be thankful that it is not an S.S.” on his chest – and listed the superhero’s attributes as “overwhelming physical strength, domination, power, ruthlessness, [and] emancipation from the morals of the community.”

“Psychologically Superman undermines the authority and the dignity of the ordinary man and woman in the minds of children.” Wertham never gave any corroborative evidence to back up his incendiary statements, but that didn’t stop him from repeating them several times throughout his book. His arguments were unwarranted, empty words meant to incite fear and anger. But if nothing else, Wertham proved Nietzsche right about one thing: if you look hard enough for ugliness, you will find it, even if you’re the only one able to see it.

***

Most people believe Dr. Fredric Wertham revealed in “Seduction of the Innocent” that Batman and Robin were homosexual lovers. That isn’t completely true. Wertham wrote about a “subtle atmosphere of homoerotism which pervades the adventures of the mature ‘Batman’ and his young friend ‘Robin.’” Wertham didn’t come right out and accuse Bruce Wayne of being a pedophile, but he strongly implied that Wayne’s partnership with Dick Grayson had homosexual undertones.

It’s hard to disagree with Wertham on this point. The relationship between Batman and Robin – both personally and as crime fighters – has never appeared to be particularly parental. Robin seemed sexually ambiguous most of the time (the feminine costume didn’t help matters), and it’s easy to see why people might have found the unintentional subtext objectionable. More than any other major superhero character, Robin has had a long history of provoking mixed reactions.

When the New Teen Titans were featured in a series of anti-drug comic books in the early Eighties, Robin was the only member of the group that didn’t appear, although he was probably the one character most kids would have been familiar with. Shortly afterwards, Robin officially changed his costume and renamed himself Nightwing. In Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” masterpiece – a future version of Batman - it was popularly rumored that the Joker had raped Robin before killing him, even though there was no mention of that in the book itself. A few years later, the majority of “Batman” readers participating in a bizarre D.C. promotion voted for the boy who replaced the original Robin to be violently killed.

There has never been a sexual relationship of any kind between Batman and Robin – either actual or implied – but readers have sometimes found the unusual intimacy between the two uncomfortable. I think Wertham was justified in discussing the issue, even if claiming that the “Batman type of story may stimulate children to homosexual fantasies” seemed like overkill. But considering how controversial the subject of homosexuality remains even fifty years later, Wertham’s opinions don’t seem that abnormal.

Until he decides to talk about “lesbians,” that is…

***

“The homosexual connotation of the Wonder Woman type of story is psychologically unmistakable. ‘The Psychiatric Quarterly’ deplored in an editorial the ‘appearance of an eminent child therapist as the implied endorser of a series…which portrays extremely sadistic hatred of all males in a framework which is plainly Lesbian.’”

Dr. Fredric Wertham considered Wonder Woman the “Lesbian counterpart of Batman.” I think it says a lot about both the author and the time period that while Wertham described Batman’s relationship with Robin as being subtly homoerotic, he had no qualms about accusing Wonder Woman outright of being a man-hating dyke. “She is physically very powerful, tortures men [and] has her own female following,” he wrote, calling her “an undesirable ideal for girls, being the exact opposite of what girls are supposed to want to be.”

Reading what he had to say, it became immediately apparent to me that Wertham wasn’t that concerned with Wonder Woman’s sexual orientation. The strongest evidence he offered to support his claim was reporting that she called her friends “my girls”. What really seemed to bother him was not that she might have been homosexual but that she didn’t treat men with the proper amount of respect. “She is a frightening figure for boys,” he stated bluntly, then five chapters later repeated himself: “For boys, Wonder Woman is a frightening image.”

To judge the morals of the Fifties by today’s standards is unfair and meaningless. As societies change and mature, so do opinions and ideals. But I have to admit I found Wertham’s views extremely disappointing anyway.

He spent almost 20% of his book citing example after example of the cruelty displayed to women in crime comic books. In one story, which Wertham claimed was typical for the medium, twelve of the 37 panels portrayed “brutal near rape scenes.” I couldn’t help but respect someone who thought women should be depicted with dignity, not constantly cast as the violated victim.

But for a man intelligent enough to be horrified at the disgusting treatment of females in comic books, it seems bizarre that he would so nakedly despise a female character that could fend for herself. It’s one of many contradictions in Wertham’s book, but it’s also one of the most pathetic. The good psychiatrist doesn’t want to see women treated badly, but he doesn’t want women to protect themselves either, so he resorts to childish name-calling.

Wonder Woman might be able to battle evil and injustice, but even she can’t wipe out stupidity.

***

If you are interested in reading “Seduction of the Innocent”, the entire text is available online at www.pennydreadfull.net/soti.html. Because so many of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s complaints are ludicrous, there’s a certain cheese factor that comes into play. “An important area where comic books do specific harm is the acquisition of fluent left-to-right eye movements, which is so indispensable for good reading,” he states at one point. “The eyes have to form the habit of going from left to right on the printed line, then returning quickly to the left at a point slightly lower.” Wertham shockingly reveals that the typical comic book fan “acquires the habit of reading irregular bits of printing here and there in balloons instead of complete lines from left to right.”

If you’re bored, you might want to read the book that almost destroyed an industry. But be warned. The book is often repetitious, Wertham doesn’t provide any supporting evidence for many of the arguments he makes, and his unwavering hatred for comic books in general becomes unbelievably annoying after a while.

The fact that Wertham’s a major idiot most of the time doesn’t help either.

Pick of the Week:

With “Depths”, Dark Horse begins the process of collecting all of Paul Chadwick’s Concrete stories in chronological order. At $12.95 for 200 pages, the first volume is certainly inexpensive, the quality is high and the design of the book is beautiful.

Concrete is a thousand-pound creature with the mind of a man and the body of a rock. He’s not the typical comic book character by any means – instead of fighting super-villains; he tries to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. He’s in love with the wonder of the world, and what would be a serious handicap for almost anyone else becomes for him an excuse to appreciate life to the fullest extent.

It’s hard to accurately describe the series. It’s an adventure story that is sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking, a warm character study that is surprisingly touching without being sentimental. The artwork is exceptional too; Chadwick draws as well as he writes. If you’re curious, this is the perfect opportunity to follow the legendary independent series from the beginning and judge for yourself why this is one story that deserves to be collected and read for years to come.

Disclaimer: The preceding article was a commentary, not a review. If it had been a review, it would have been informative and well-written, with quotable phrases like “I laughed, I cried, I got my thumb stuck in the fax machine again.” Instead, it’s an opinionated rant by a man who has posters of “Matrix” and “Lord of the Rings” hanging above his computer. If you agree with anything I’ve written, please send cash. If you don’t agree, please send money. But either way, please feel free to leave your own opinions on the Lowdown forum. Thanks!