Seduction of the Innocent described overt or covert depictions of violence, sex, drug use, and other adult fare within " crime comics "— a term Wertham used to describe not only the popular gangster / murder-oriented titles of the time but also superhero and horror comics as well — and asserted, based largely on undocumented anecdotes, that reading this material encouraged similar behavior in children.

Comics historian Les Daniels commented, " In retrospect the imperative seems less than inevitable, perhaps no more than trendy gender bending or possibly just a response to the homophobia inspired by Fredric Wertham more than thirty years earlier.

Comics, especially the crime / horror titles pioneered by EC Comics, were not lacking in gruesome images ; Wertham reproduced these extensively, pointing out what he saw as recurring morbid themes such as " injury to the eye " ( as depicted in Plastic Man creator Jack Cole's " Murder, Morphine and Me ", which he illustrated and probably wrote for publisher Magazine Village's True Crime Comics Vol.

Given the subsequent emergence of organized fandom for comic books among adults who grew up reading them during Comics ' Golden Age, it is ironic Wertham at one point in Seduction ( pp. 89 – 90 ) asserts " I have known many adults who have treasured throughout their lives some of the books they read as children.

* Comics Reporter: " Let's You and Him Fight " Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5-Bart Beaty and Craig Fischer discuss Beaty's " Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture "

Comics, especially the crime / horror titles pioneered by EC, were not lacking in gruesome images ; Wertham reproduced these extensively, pointing out what he saw as recurring morbid themes such as " injury to the eye ".

Wertham nevertheless considered the Comics Code inadequate to protect youth.

" The Study of Man: Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham "

The story was singled out by Robert Warshow in his 1954 essay " Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham ".

Still infamous to most comics fans of the time, Wertham encountered suspicion and heckling at the convention, and stopped writing about comics thereafter.

The shorts were intended to satirize suggestions that early Batman comics implied a homosexual relationship between the eponymous title character and his sidekick Robin, a charge most infamously leveled by Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent.

Primarily, Wertham assigned the blame to parents, not the industry nor the creators, in his book, and even his anxiety over Batman's and Robin's perceived homosexual subtexts was aimed at the welfare of a child introduced to that sort of family unit, not on some a priori immorality or sinfulness to such a lifestyle.

Homosexual interpretations have been part of the academic study of Batman since psychologist Fredric Wertham asserted in his Seduction of the Innocent in 1954 that " Batman stories are psychologically homosexual.

" Wertham wrote, " Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of homoeroticism which pervades the adventures of the mature ' Batman ' and his young friend ' Robin.

Wertham, author of the influential study Seduction of the Innocent, cited a particular panel of the story's dope-dealing narrator about to be stabbed in the eye with a hypodermic needle as an example of the " injury-to-the-eye " motif.

Psychologist Fredric Wertham decided that the phenomenon was a landmine of hidden and repressed Freudian issues, and that a sidekick's involvement in violent acts with his hero masked a sexual subtext.

Fredric Wertham ( March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981 ) was a German-born American psychiatrist and crusading author who protested the purportedly harmful effects of violent imagery in mass media and comic books on the development of children.

Wertham was born on March 20, 1895 in Munich.

( Wertham's claim that Wonder Woman had a bondage subtext was somewhat better documented, as her creator William Moulton Marston had admitted as much ; however, Wertham also claimed that Wonder Woman's strength and independence made her a lesbian.

Wertham objected to not only the violence in the stories but also the fact that air rifles and knives were advertised alongside them.

According to Wertham, news vendors were told by the distributors that if they did not sell the objectionable comic books, they would not be allowed to sell any of the other publications being distributed.

In extensive testimony before the committee, Wertham restated arguments from his book and pointed to comics as a major cause of juvenile crime.

Beaty notes " Wertham repeated his call ... national legislation based on the public health ideal that would prohibit the circulation and display of comic books to children under the age of fifteen.

" The committee's questioning of their next witness, EC publisher William Gaines, focused on violent scenes of the type Wertham had decried.

Beaty reveals in 1959 Wertham tried to sell a follow-up to Seduction on the effects of television on Children, to be titled The War on Children.

This led to an invitation for Wertham to address the New York Comic Art Convention.

" The Strange Case of Dr. Wertham " Amazing Heroes # 123 ( August 15, 1987 ); " The Return of Dr. Wertham " Amazing Heroes # 124 ( Sept. 1, 1987 ); " From Dr. Wertham With Love " Amazing Heroes # 125 ( Sept. 15, 1987 ) part series, see below for link to condensed version posted online under title " Fredric Wertham-Anti-Comics Crusader Who Turned Advocate ".

" The Comics Journal has described Aragonés as " one of the most prolific and brilliant cartoonists of his generation.

In The Penguin Book of Comics Belinda is described as " a perpetual waif, a British counterpart to the transatlantic Little Orphan Annie.

* In the DC Comics universe, Cagliostro is described as an immortal ( JLA Annual 2 ), a descendant of Leonardo da Vinci as well as an ancestor of Zatara and Zatanna ( Secret Origins 27 ).

In The Comics ( 1947 ), Coulton Waugh described Willard's art style as " gritty-looking.

Rich Kreiner described John Cassaday's artwork in The Comics Journal as being " close to the gold standard for fabulous realism in mainstream comics ".

In an interview with Comics Bulletin, Dixon described this choice as a fertile clash of values: " Dinah's more idealistic approach is at the heart of this book.

1UP. com editor Nadia Oxford described the Nintendo Comics System version of Ridley as being more of a " squashed bug " than a " fearsome reptile ".

In a bio published in issue # 25 of the Tiny Toon Adventures comic ( Marvel Comics volume ), a character bio described Fifi as " a expatriate of Paris ", indicating that she lived there before moving permanently to Acme Acres.

Comics critic Tom Heintjes described Bizarros themes, cryptic aspects and expansion into performance art:

Metamorpho, unlike other super-humanoids described in DC Comics, could not assume a fully human, normal appearance, being no longer composed of flesh, blood and bone.

This series, which Aparo co-created with writer Mike W. Barr, would be described by DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz as being " a team series more fashionable to 1980s audiences.

From 2004 to 2006, Dark Horse Comics published two series of Escapist comic books based on the superhero stories described in the novel, some of which were written by Chabon.

Chosen, published by Dark Horse Comics, was described by Millar as a sequel to the Bible, and has been optioned by Sony Pictures.

Launched with a title for Free Comic Book Day 2003, the line started soon after with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge, both described by Clark as " monthly 64-page prestige-format books at $ 6. 95, which is the same price they were when last produced, in 1998.

Comics historian Don Markstein described the Male Call characters:

Comics historian R. C. Harvey described Crane's Sunday page innovation:

As comic-book writer-editor Dennis O ' Neil described, the Marvel Method, " perfected by Stan Lee and his early Marvel Comics collaborators, requires the writer to begin by writing out a plot and add words when the penciled artwork is finished.

Ron Goulart, in Encyclopedia of American Comics, described the Hershfield approach to cartoon humor:

In Adventure Comics # 370, though, a triple-layer inertron prison was described as too tough for Superboy or Mon-El to break through.

" In the 2006 edition of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Marvel Comics included a profile of the ' Ultimate Nullifier ' which, using technobabble, described the device to be of " unknown origins " within the context of the fictional Marvel Universe.

The gold version is often described as the " holy grail " of console game collecting, similar to items from other collectible hobbies, such as the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card, or the Action Comics # 1 comic book.

Founding the Engine Comics imprint in 2000, Renshaw wrote and published the Rough Guide to Self Publishing, which is now in its fourth edition ( 2007 ) and was described as ' essential purchase for budding self-publishers ' by industry paper Comics International.

Comics historian Don Markstein described the couple's battle of wits: