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We’ve been a bit out of the news for a few days due to crushing deadlines on another project, and while scanning the news for catch-up purposes we noticed that Google was offering comicbook headlines of the past like this one from May 12, 1955. The story from the Oxnard Press-Courier relates the story of a vigilante group of concerned citizens who have vowed to make sure that comics on the newsstands were carrying the Comics Code seal and that the “comic book situation” provided proper reading for the kids.

Obviously, in the wake of the Wertham hearings, comics were being scrutinized and singled out. And a search for good literature was on:
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The image of some 50 groups and four subcomittees fanning out over the county in search of objectionable comics seems pretty over the top. How far did they get in their six-month mission? Attention spans were longer then, so it may have lasted a long time, right up until the debut of the Silver Age Flash fixed everything again.

1 COMMENT

  1. “The chief desire of the committee is to stress the idea of providing good literature as a substitute for the desire of juveniles to read substandard literature.”

    Replace “juveniles” with “fanboys” and isn’t that pretty much the indie-art comix crowd’s mission statement?

  4. “The image of some 50 groups and four subcomittees fanning out over the county in search of objectionable comics seems pretty over the top.”

    I have a photo of one of those committees hanging in my store— Flying Colors Comics in Concord CA. It was a gift from my life-long friend who originally got me into comics in 1967.

    It’s a great shot— and a constant reminder of how this business and art-form outlasted a strange period in U.S. history.

  5. I’m an American citizen, dammit! It’s my right to read substandard literature if I so choose. How dare they try to take that away from me! :)