Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 31, 2025 | 2 comments

SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS…

By SCOTT SHAW!

It’s hard to believe now, but once upon a time, comic books were considered to be garbage… or worse. As early as 1940, Sterling North’s editorial in the Chicago Daily News, “A National Disgrace,” scorned comic books. Time magazine in 1945 ran an article titled “Are Comic Books Fascist?” Even worse, mass comic book burnings were held around the country.

When crime-themed comic books became  popular – the first was Charles Biro’s Crime Does Not Pay (Lev Gleason Publications, 1942) – there was discussion about Congress taking some sort of action against the comic book industry. The public was worried that these comics were influencing youngsters and teenagers to become criminals. However, due to a 1948 Supreme Court ruling that a decades-old New York law that criminalized salacious works of art was unconstitutional, the attitude regarding crime comics temporarily abated.

But soon, anti-comic book hysteria returned. By the early ’50s it had reached its zenith — thanks to a psychiatrist who wrote a best-selling non-fiction book that was mostly fiction.

Published in 1954, psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent, brought back the public’s demonizing of “funnybooks,” and then some. His supposed exposé claimed that comics were responsible for influencing children to take up juvenile delinquency, gambling addiction, violence, and sexual deviancy. (Decades later, it was determined that Wertham’s “research” was mostly fabricated, relying heavily on unsourced anecdotes, cherry-picked examples, and pure speculation.) Unfortunately, parents believed his book’s message, and soon, they were gathering again to burn their kids’ favorite reading material, whether or not their themes were about killer criminals or comedic critters.

Later in 1954, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency agreed to let Wertham present his fecal “findings.” He provided examples of grisly comic book artwork that he claimed were a concerted effort to corrupt the youth of America with violent and sexual imagery. He even told committee chair Sen. Estes Kefauver that “Hitler was a beginner compared to the comics industry.”

Unfortunately, William “Bill” Gaines, the owner of Entertaining Comics, aka EC, had published horror comics series – The Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, and Tales from the Crypt – all so well-written, well-drawn, and well-selling that other publisher were imitating their material, but lacking EC’s excellence. Most of them were poorly written, amateurishly drawn, and oozing gore like the ketchup factory had exploded. Suddenly, due to EC’s success, there were dozens of crummy horror titles on the newsstands.

Display at hearing

On April 21 1954, just two days after the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, Gaines stepped before Kefauver  and the rest of the subcommitee voluntarily. He was not called as a witness or asked to defend his publications, even though EC’s crime and horror comics were the primary targets. Said Gaines: “Some may not like them. That is a matter of personal taste. It would be just as difficult to explain the harmless thrill of a horror story to a Dr. Wertham as it would be to explain the sublimity of love to a frigid old maid.”

Bill’s testimony began on a good note. He made a number of smart explanations of printed entertainment, its effect on kids, and the Biblical themes of many of the horror stories he was printing. But eventually, he ran out of steam, due to Benzedrine, an amphetamine he was taking to dull the edge off of dealing directly with the government, something that would make anyone nervous. Gaines had apparently miscalculated when he needed to take his dose, and as the questioning went on, he lost his energy and focus.

Gaines testifies

At one point, Gaines got into an argument with subcommittee counsel Herbert Beaser about whether there was a limit to what EC would include in a comic book. Beaser asked if the only test for his content was whether it would sell. Gaines countered that he was also limited by “the bounds of good taste.” This was too much for Kefauver, who then held up a copy of a recent issue of Crime SuspenStories:

Johnny Craig’s classic cover

Kefauver: “Here is your May 22 issue. This seems to be a man with a bloody ax holding a woman’s head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that’s in good taste?

Gaines: “Yes sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that the neck could be seen dripping blood from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody.”

Kefauver: “You have blood coming out of her mouth.”

Gaines: “A little.”

Kefauver: “Here is blood on the ax. I think most adults are shocked by that.”

And so on…

Things went from bad to worse. Not only was Gaines outmaneuvered, the next day, the comments during his testimony were on the cover of The New York Times. Within a year, due to the newly-formed Comics Code Authority, almost all of EC’s first wave of comic books had vanished from the spinner racks, as did any comic book from any publisher with the words “crime” or “horror” in its title. The only EC comic book that was left was Mad, which was edited, written, and laid out by Harvey Kurtzman.

Psychoanalysis #1 (March-April 1955). Cover art by Jack Kamen, with coloring by Marie Severin and lettering by Ben Oda.

During this nightmare of anxiety, Gaines began to book  appointments with a psychiatrist. So did EC’s editor/writer Al Feldstein and EC writer Robert Bernstein, who suddenly didn’t have any comics to write. They quickly came up with five new series that complied with the Comics Code Authority stamp. The new wave was called “New Direction,” with the titles Impact (contemporary suspense), Valor (historical adventure) Extra! (journalism), Aces High (WWI pilots), Psychoanalysis (mental-health care), M.D. (medical), and Incredible Science Fiction, in that order. None of them lasted for more than five issues. Gaines was the one who pitched Psychoanalysis, due to its positive influence on himself, upon which Al and Robert agreed.

Bi-monthly Psychoanalysis was approved by the Comics Code Authority, but most newsstands were reluctant to display it. The comic’s host — modeled somewhat after EC’s horror hosts the Crypt Keeper, the Vault Keeper and the Old Witch — was the very serious “The Psychiatrist.” The comic featured three patients: Freddy Carter, Mark Stone and Ellen Lyman.

Psychoanalysis #2 (May-June 1955). Cover art by Jack Kamen, with coloring by Marie Severin and lettering by Ben Oda.

Freddy was dealing with psychosomatic health problems. Mark  was a Jewish man who had troubles with his weight and women’s reaction to his size. (He also closely resembled Robert Bernstein!) Ellen Lyman was very anxious, about recurring dreams, her arguing parents, her clumsiness, and her looks. (She didn’t appear in the fourth and final issue, having been “cured” in the previous one.)

Psychoanalysis‘ scripts were written by Daniel Keyes (the author of the short story and novel Flowers for Algernon) and Robert Bernstein, who also wrote for DC, Marvel, Quality, Lev Gleason, St. John,  Archie, Farrell, and other comic publishers, as well as pulp magazines. All of Psychoanalysis’ covers and interior stories were drawn by Jack Kamen, EC’s expert artist at depicting appealing domestic couples who  murder their partner. Jack also worked for Marvel, Fox, Avon Star Publications, Harvey, Charlton, Four Star Publications, Fiction House, and more. It’s likely that Gaines intended to have a series that would keep Jack working.

Psychoanalysis #3 (July-Aug., 1955.) Whoa, check out that Salvador Dali-inspired background! By Kamen, Severin and Oda.

The pages from these comics were reformatted as a daily comic strip, samples for possible syndication, but it was never picked up by a syndicate.

At the invitation of TV star Steve Allen, Psychoanalysis was adapted into two episodes that were telecast as part of NBC’s late-night Tonight show. One script was by Al  Feldstein; the other was by Howard Rodman.

Psychoanalysis #4 (Sept.-Oct., 1955.) Kamen, Severin, Oda.

Fortunately for EC, to help avoid the restrictions of the CCA, Gaines remade Mad from a four-color comic book into a black-and-white magazine, but soon, Kurtzman quit and Feldstein took over. Gaines and his team of creators continued to tell kids in my generation – and many after – to distrust advertising, entertainment, and authority in general.

(Thanks to Mark Evanier for the info input!)

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MORE

— ODDBALL COMICS: Herb Trimpe’s THE GLOB Was a Real Pile of Poo — and We Love Him For It. Click here.

— ODDBALL COMICS: CARMINE INFANTINO, the Jane Goodall of Comics. Click here.

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For over half a century, SCOTT SHAW! has been a pro cartoonist/writer/designer of comic books, animation, advertising and toys. He is also a historian of all forms of cartooning. Scott has worked on many underground comix and mainstream comic books, including: Fear and Laughter (Kitchen Sink); Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie); Simpsons Comics (Bongo); Weird Tales of the Ramones (Rhino); and his co-creation with Roy Thomas, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! (DC).

Scott also worked on numerous animated cartoons, including producing/directing John Candy’s Camp Candy (NBC/DIC/Saban); Martin Short’s The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (NBC/Hanna-Barbera Productions); Garfield and Friends (CBS/Film Roman); and the Emmy-winning Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies (CBS/Marvel Productions), among many others. As senior art director for the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency, Scott worked on dozens of commercials for Post Pebbles cereals with the Flintstones. He also designed a line of Hanna-Barbera action figures for McFarlane Toys.

Scott was one of the comics fans who organized the first San Diego Comic-Con, where he has become known for performing his hilarious Oddball Comics Live! slide shows.

Need funny cartoons for any and all media? Click here! Scott does commissions!