Review of
Worlds of Fear: Stories of Weird Adventure,
Volume 1, ISBN 9781786360588
Five out of five stars
Comics before the Wertham slam
In 1954, there
was a sea change in the publication of comics. Dr. Frederic Wertham, now dismissed
as a crank that falsified data, published his book “Seduction of the Innocent,”
in 1954. In his book he reached the conclusion that comic books promoted delinquency
and a lack of respect for authority in children. In response to the genuine fear
that they would be censored by the government, the publishers enacted what was
called the comics code authority.
There were 41
provisions to the code and the words “terror” and “fear” were banned from the
titles. Nudity and any references to sex or drugs were also forbidden. Violence
was toned down to the point where it was minimal and the previous depictions of
gore, where humans were severely damaged or killed, disappeared.
This book contains
the “Worlds of Fear” issues from November 1951 through June 1953. By modern
standards, the artwork is weak and the dialog rather stilted, yet the horror
stories remain horror stories. Not really different from the B movie horror
stories that were so popular at the time.
This book is a
historical look back and when one considers what is fairly standard fare in
modern entertainment, even that which is available to children, it comes across
as rather tame.
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