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valjeanval's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting read. It delves into the comic book panic of the early 1950s and the founding of the Comics Code which remained in effect long after the initial panic had passed. The story is similar to pretty much every time a new form of media captures the attention of youth culture, and the history reads very similar to the roots of rock and roll, television, and video games.
It is a well-researched book, and it does a good job of not making supermen of the key players in its story. It depicts many of the early comic creators (Eisner excepted) as men looking to make money with the new comic craze and not seeing anything particularly wrong with how they were doing it. These men were then supported by dozens of people who, for reasons of class, color, gender, or other gatekeepers, couldn't or didn't want to pursue art in other areas. The book doesn't defend comics as class literature, but openly admits that a lot of it was trashy pulp designed for a quick thrill. However it also demonstrates that reading a little trashy pulp does not undermine the morality of a nation. A little publicity, an upcoming election, and some sketchy individuals with Dr. in front of their names can do a lot of damage to common sense as evidenced by the lengthy list of artists who never worked again following the comic purge.
As an educator, censorship is always an issue in my life, whether it's deciding what books go in my classroom library or listening in more than a bit of shock as my students describe the latest horror movie to me. This book is a good reminder that blanket censorship is rarely an effective tool in guiding children and often does more to popularize the banned thing than to prevent it. Taste is always up to the individual, and much as it pains the adults watching over them, children need opportunities to develop their own. In the age where violent video games and rap music are the current easy targets for media and politicians looking to show concern for the morality of the nation, I think this book is an important read. Supervision is different from censorship, and our kids are often much savvier than we believe.
It is a well-researched book, and it does a good job of not making supermen of the key players in its story. It depicts many of the early comic creators (Eisner excepted) as men looking to make money with the new comic craze and not seeing anything particularly wrong with how they were doing it. These men were then supported by dozens of people who, for reasons of class, color, gender, or other gatekeepers, couldn't or didn't want to pursue art in other areas. The book doesn't defend comics as class literature, but openly admits that a lot of it was trashy pulp designed for a quick thrill. However it also demonstrates that reading a little trashy pulp does not undermine the morality of a nation. A little publicity, an upcoming election, and some sketchy individuals with Dr. in front of their names can do a lot of damage to common sense as evidenced by the lengthy list of artists who never worked again following the comic purge.
As an educator, censorship is always an issue in my life, whether it's deciding what books go in my classroom library or listening in more than a bit of shock as my students describe the latest horror movie to me. This book is a good reminder that blanket censorship is rarely an effective tool in guiding children and often does more to popularize the banned thing than to prevent it. Taste is always up to the individual, and much as it pains the adults watching over them, children need opportunities to develop their own. In the age where violent video games and rap music are the current easy targets for media and politicians looking to show concern for the morality of the nation, I think this book is an important read. Supervision is different from censorship, and our kids are often much savvier than we believe.
ubalstecha's review
4.0
This is an outstanding look at the Comics Scare of the 1950s. Author David Hadju explores the hysteria that surround the belief than comics were corrupting the youth of America.
Comics were scapegoated for changes that the adults perceived in society, especially in children. Radical methods were used to try and curb the industry, legislation, senate hearings, even book burnings. I couldn't help but be reminded of Tipper Gore's attacking of heavy metal music in the eighties and Jack Thompson's ongoing crusade against video games.
Perhaps the best part of this book are the interviews. Hadju is able to track down people who worked in the industry during its hayday. Their words tell of an industry that was aimed at more than just adolescent boys. It was also one that employed women in creative rolls at a time when their options were limited.
I listened to this as an audio book and found it easy to follow and very compelling.
Comics were scapegoated for changes that the adults perceived in society, especially in children. Radical methods were used to try and curb the industry, legislation, senate hearings, even book burnings. I couldn't help but be reminded of Tipper Gore's attacking of heavy metal music in the eighties and Jack Thompson's ongoing crusade against video games.
Perhaps the best part of this book are the interviews. Hadju is able to track down people who worked in the industry during its hayday. Their words tell of an industry that was aimed at more than just adolescent boys. It was also one that employed women in creative rolls at a time when their options were limited.
I listened to this as an audio book and found it easy to follow and very compelling.
lolaleviathan's review
4.0
In Positively 4th Street, David Hajdu examined how four individuals (Bob Dylan, Richard Farina and Joan and Mimi Baez), or at least their images, embodied the contradictions of 1960s America. The Ten-Cent Plague focuses on an earlier, more forgotten battle in twentieth-century American culture wars: the mass hysteria over and subsequent banning of comics. He traces comics from their inception in the Sunday funnies to the explosion of crime, horror and romance comics in the early '50s.
Hajdu is not the liveliest prose stylist, but the story itself is as engaging as a pre-Code comic book, full of twists and turns, highs and lows. Hajdu is at his best when he describes the individual personalities at play, fascinating characters like Estes Kefauver, Fredric Wertham and Bill Gaines. I found myself near tears when EC head and Mad publisher Gaines tore up his own horror comics on national television. Without too much editorializing, Hajdu shows the creative, anarchic atmosphere of early comics, a haven for artists and readers marginalized by mainstream media (for writers, often because of color, gender or ethnicity; for readers, age) and subsequently how tragic the eventual adoption of the Comics Code was for these individuals as well as the country at large.
He briefly examines the fascinating contrast between Kefauver and Hendrickson's juvenile delinquency hearings with those of the contemporary, Joseph McCarthy, on the subject of Communism. Hajdu's analysis is so clear and insightful that I wish he did more of it: McCarthyism was fundamentally anti-elitism, while the anti-comics movement vilified the vernacular and common in favor of "High" Culture. What a fascinating encapsulation of the warring drives present everywhere in American culture: I need only point to the past several presidential elections... and the ones before those... Another reviewer complained that a discussion of the comics scare should include some comparison to current debates about video games or music, but this isn't really Hajdu's style, and I think most readers can make these connections on their own.
Hajdu is not the liveliest prose stylist, but the story itself is as engaging as a pre-Code comic book, full of twists and turns, highs and lows. Hajdu is at his best when he describes the individual personalities at play, fascinating characters like Estes Kefauver, Fredric Wertham and Bill Gaines. I found myself near tears when EC head and Mad publisher Gaines tore up his own horror comics on national television. Without too much editorializing, Hajdu shows the creative, anarchic atmosphere of early comics, a haven for artists and readers marginalized by mainstream media (for writers, often because of color, gender or ethnicity; for readers, age) and subsequently how tragic the eventual adoption of the Comics Code was for these individuals as well as the country at large.
He briefly examines the fascinating contrast between Kefauver and Hendrickson's juvenile delinquency hearings with those of the contemporary, Joseph McCarthy, on the subject of Communism. Hajdu's analysis is so clear and insightful that I wish he did more of it: McCarthyism was fundamentally anti-elitism, while the anti-comics movement vilified the vernacular and common in favor of "High" Culture. What a fascinating encapsulation of the warring drives present everywhere in American culture: I need only point to the past several presidential elections... and the ones before those... Another reviewer complained that a discussion of the comics scare should include some comparison to current debates about video games or music, but this isn't really Hajdu's style, and I think most readers can make these connections on their own.
nycterisberna's review against another edition
4.0
Qué maravilla de edición la de EsPop (que incluye un libro con portadas y viñetas destacadas) y qué excelente ensayo es éste. No sólo porque describe muy bien la histeria generada por un supuesto aumento en la delincuencia juvenil que jamás se comprobó con hechos, si no porque muestra muy bien el mecanismo de un chivo expiatorio (quema de cómics, ostracismo de los dibujantes, la censura ridícula del Comics Code, entre otras). La información sobre la época, la forma de trabajo y los artistas es invaluable. Todo fan de los cómics debería leerlo.
sireno8's review
5.0
As a comics fan, I knew that the comics ban had happened but I didn't know any of the gory details. Hadju's considerable power of description and ear for quotes not only gives you detail and context but brings the whole situtaion and country at large to life. As a reader you feel like you were there. Add to that a brief history of where comics came from in America and a descriptive overview of each major genre of comic as they are created and before you know it you are completely engrossed. A must read not only for every serious comic fan but for any American pop culture historian.
vanillafire's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
neven's review against another edition
2.0
Abandoned, sadly. There's clearly a fascinating story here, but it's laid out in a dense, haphazard, and tiring manner. Everything is given the same flat treatment, from the story of the first Superman comic to a warehouse owner's coat. Dull quotes sprinkled throughout for no discernible reason.