<< Comics Workshop RECOMMENDED READING
This is an archive page for materials & links related to censorship of comics in various eras…
JUMP TO: 20th Century | Suppression of the Maya | Bayeux Tapestry
20th Century Resources:
- Comic Book Legal Defense Fund >>
+ CBLDF’s History of Comics Censorship - ALA: “Frequently Challenged Books”
CODE OF THE COMICS MAGAZINE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. / 26 Oct. 1954 / History @ CBLDF.org
“The comic-book medium, having come of age on the American cultural scene, must measure up to its responsibilities.”
The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (David HAJDU)
“In the years between World War II and the emergence of television as a mass medium, American popular culture as we know it was first created―in the pulpy, boldly illustrated pages of comic books. No sooner had this new culture emerged than it was beaten down by church groups, community bluestockings, and a McCarthyish Congress―only to resurface with a crooked smile on its face in Mad magazine.”
“Wars of Comics and Culture in ‘Ten-Cent Plague'” (NPR, 2008) >>
- FREDRIC WERTHAM’S PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF COMIC BOOKS – LEADING THE ANTI-COMICS MOVEMENT OF THE LATE 1940s // Via Archive.org, from the old Panelology.info article compiling resources on Wertham’s work & legacy.
- SOTI’s Anti-Comics Crusade Timeline >>
+ Anti-Comics Articles >> - “The Humor of the Colored Supplement” (RALPH BERGENGREN, The Atlantic, 1 August 1906)
“Lunacy, in short, could go no farther than this pandemonium of undisguised coarseness and brutality,-the humor offered on Easter Sunday morning by leading American newspapers for the edification of American readers.”
“A National Disgrace / And a Challenge to American Parents” (Sterling North, Chicago Daily News, 8 May 1940)
“Virtually every child in America is reading color “comic” magazines — a poisonous mushroom growth of the last two years. Ten million copies of these sex-horror serials are sold every month. One million dollars are taken from the pockets of America’s children in exchange for graphic insanity…”
“Horror in the Nursery”
(Collier’s, March 1948)
Staged photos & Frederic Wertham quotes…
New Fun (1935)
Action Comics #1 (1938)
Crime Does Not Pay
Crimes by Women
Wonder Woman
+ Sensation Comics [@wikipedia]
+ Profile of Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston @ CBR >>
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
EC Comics
[@wikipedia] >>
www.ECcomics.com
= official site
- “Tales From the Code: You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” = Effects of the code on romance comics (CBLDF.org)
- “ACG’s Recycled Romance” = Code-based revisions of romance covers — BEFORE and AFTER! (CBR)
HORROR COMICS @ wikipedia
“Cool Covers” @ RTS >> = mirror of RTSUnlimited.com‘s gallery detailing of the Comics Industry’s path to censorship…
Black Cat #50 (June 1954) = a fine example of the disconnect between gruesomely sensationalist cover art & a thought-provoking story inside…-
Seduction of the Innocent – the influence of comic books on today’s youth (Frederic Wertham, 1954) 
Fun Home Challenges @ CBLDF >>
“South Carolina legislators cut university funding over gay-themed books” (Feb. 2014)
“Bechdel Reacts to ‘Fun Home’ Controversy in So. Carolina” (Feb 2014)
You think the COMICS CODE was rough?
Wait ’til you learn the horrors of…
SUPPRESSION OF THE MAYA (16th Century)
“The Mayan Apocalypse: July 1562″ >>
“We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction.”
~ Bishop Diego de Landa (1562)
- For general MAYAN COMICS resources, see also:
ANCIENT MAYA Comics Workshop page >>
Maya Codices ~ [Dresden] [Madrid] [Grolier]
Diego de Landa >>
[suppression of the maya >>]
Bartolomé de las Casas >> [Apologism >>]
Popol Vuh (history of the Maya people) / About the Popul Vuh >> [@wikipedia]- …
BAYEUX TAPESTRY (11th Century +)
This embroidered history comic [read it! >>] has a long & gripping history of suppression, secret messages, mystery, & danger, and teaches us much about the relationship between visual narratives & political power…
For general Bayeux Tapestry resources, see:
Ducarel‘s account of viewing the Tapestry in 1752…- Lambert Leonard-Le Forestier = the “Savior of the Bayeux Tapestry” during the French Revolution >>
Nazi Ahnenerbe / Interest in Bayeux Tapestry >>- Orderic Vitalis’ Account of the Death of William the Conqueror = William’s condemnation of his half-brother Odo, Earl of Kent sounds awfully similar to later critiques of comics publishers… Was Odo the originator of the Bayeux Tapestry, or was it a gift of reconciliation from Eustace II?
For more Bayeux stories & mysteries, see:
- 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry (Andrew BRIDGEFORD)
Okay, the Mayan picture…
are they making little chocolate covered people?
That’s a modern artwork from the POPOL VUH archive site;
You’ll just have to dive into the Popul Vuh, & see what you find!
(Although I must admit I saw it as a coffee-centric creation myth…)
I’ve replaced the image, actually, with the Diego Rivera illustration “Creation”.