Did Comic Books Cause 60s Radicalism?
That was the fear of some people in the 1950s, that comic books were corrupting the youth. There was an actual Senate investigation into Juvenile Delinquency in 1954 which resulted in something called the “Comics Code” which is still around till this day. It’s a kind of self censorship board funded by the major companies.
Salon has an interesting article today about how comics and the comics code may have inspired the rebellion of the 60s. I do think censorship isn’t the answer to anything. Violent comics books and video games are more of a catharsis than an inducement. And sexual innuendo is something you learned on the playground, even in my time. Comics were pretty tame when these investigations happened. They were mainly used to shut down one of the most successful publishers, EC Comics, who went on to do Mad Magazine. Because they were paying more than the other publishers, and generally treated artists better, the others saw them as a threat and did everything they could to cut them off at the knees.
Comics have the ability to reach a universal audience, as the article about teaching with comics indicates. I’m glad to see comics are still going strong, in their own way, in the 21st century. I think their future is bright.
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