View Full Version : Seduction of the Innocent
iSteve
03-12-2007, 08:09 PM
One of the ads promoting DC’s Countdown has Mary Marvel on it with the words, Seduction of the Innocent. I should have recognized the phrase immediately, but it took a while to register. Seduction of the Innocent was a 1954 book written by Dr. Fredric Wertham arguing that comic books were a cause of juvenile delinquency and sought to ban them. Wertham said that comics inappropriately showed drug use, sex, and violence, thus causing a moral decline among youth. Some of the subjects he explored in his book were the S & M themes of Wonder Woman, the homoerotic relationship between Batman and Robin, and hidden sexual imagery in comics. Wertham’s book led to a Congressional inquiry and later the adoption of the Comic Code Authority.
So what message about Countdown do you think DC meant to convey by using this very evocative and previously controversial phrase?
Discuss.
conorkilpatrick
03-12-2007, 08:16 PM
Hopefully a big F' you to Dr. Wertham, the man who single-handedly did more damage to comic books than anyone in the history of the medium.
ekval
03-12-2007, 08:19 PM
I think it'd just be great to have Wertham set foot in a modern comic shop. Or a high school...
Or watch a TV commercial...
Or maybe read the Bible or something...
mikegraham6
03-12-2007, 08:21 PM
I think it'd just be great to have Wertham set foot in a modern comic shop. Or a high school...
Or watch a TV commercial...
Or maybe read the Bible or something...
i'd like to give him my copy of Grand theft auto
xyzzy
03-12-2007, 08:23 PM
I think it'd just be great to have Wertham set foot in a modern comic shop. Or a high school...
Or watch a TV commercial...
Or maybe read the Bible or something...
He did address a comic convention in the seventies about a book he wrote about fanzines.
iSteve
03-12-2007, 08:28 PM
Maybe Mary Marvel falls under the influence of that naughty Wonder Woman. She starts wearing black leather and "whips" that disobedient Freddy Freeman into shape. And the music playing in the background is:
Crack that whip.
Give the past the slip.
Step on a crack.
Break your momma's back.
When a problem comes along.
You must whip it.
Before the cream sits out too long.
You must whip it.
When something's going wrong.
You must whip it.
Now whip it.
Into shape.
Shape it up.
Get straight.
Go forward.
Move ahead.
Try to detect it.
It's not too late.
To whip it.
Whip it good.
I might buy that and I'm not sure that I even know who Mary Marvel is
iSteve
03-12-2007, 08:31 PM
Taking comics back to the really "good ol' days."
Whip it good!
kwok_talk
03-12-2007, 08:50 PM
Break out the flowerpot hats!
Break out the flowerpot hats!
I've never stopped wearing mine
kwok_talk
03-12-2007, 09:25 PM
I've never stopped wearing mine
I got domesticated and used mine for gardening.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/fredhosley/devofred.gif
actual photo
drwally
03-12-2007, 09:28 PM
He did address a comic convention in the seventies about a book he wrote about fanzines.
Let me guess, he was invited as a joke to provide comedy, and he thought he was being taken seriously, which was the joke...that is the only scenario that I can think of that can explain that weird situation. Many comic fans in the 70s were major hippies that loved making fun of idiots like Wertham that came of the 50s.
Congress held hearing back then about comics they never read. They heard testimony from people in the industry that completely contradicted Wertham back then, and they believed Wertham.
Today, all the major media news outlets are running stories about Cap's death, and probably didn't read that particular book, much less any other comic--an expert on everything without reading anything. My god, progress is so amazing, isn't it?
Mary Marvel -- Seduction of the Innocent. Oh my god that is so, like, "po-mo," wow, I'm like totally...whatever. Just let me know if they write a good story and produce a good comic when it comes out. Po-mo is like totally last decade...
six-gun
03-12-2007, 10:17 PM
I wrote my thesis in dual enrollment Comp 1 about the subject, I can post a link to the paper if anyone wants to read it.
It got a 98% from a college prof
kwok_talk
03-12-2007, 10:20 PM
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/fredhosley/devofred.gif
actual photo
That made me actually laugh out loud. I'm glad I have an office to myself.
thanks sir
http://www.revision3.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif
k33k3r
03-12-2007, 10:23 PM
Maybe it was to cause things like this to happen. Or maybe to see if any who got the "joke." I did not and have never heard of this.