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Clubwoman Magazine 9/1954 |
Crime and Justice 20 Universal
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7.0
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The September 1954 issue of Clubwoman Magazine contained an anti-comics article “Crime Entertainment” and the cover of the magazine pictured a boy reading a comic with several other comic covers on display. Crime and Justice #20 is one of the comics featured on the cover (it is the one the boy is reading).
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Family Circle 2/1949 |
Superman 49 Universal
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4.0
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The February 1949 issue of Family Circle contained the article “What can YOU do about COMIC BOOKS?” written by Harvey Zorbaugh (Professor of education and director of the Clinic for the Social Adjustment of the Gifted, New York University) and Mildred Gilman (author and mother). The cover picture of the story shows three boys reading comics and Superman #49 is one of the comics pictured (laying cover face-up on the ground).
For more information on the Family Circle article please see (http://www.lostsoti.org/FamilyCircleArticle.htm)
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Family Circle 2/1949 |
Cookie 9 Universal
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4.0
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The February 1949 issue of Family Circle contained the article “What can YOU do about COMIC BOOKS?” written by Harvey Zorbaugh (Professor of education and director of the Clinic for the Social Adjustment of the Gifted, New York University) and Mildred Gilman (author and mother). The cover picture of the story shows three boys reading comics and Cookie Comics #9 is one of the comics pictured (it’s the one being held by the boy seated at ground level).
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Fredric Wertham Picture |
Shock Illustrated 1 Universal
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7.5
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Following the implementation of the comic code in 1954, E.C. Comics introduced the magazine “Shock Illustrated” in October 1955. Described as “picto-fiction”, Shock Illustrated was an attempt by E.C. to recapture the audience that had been reading its highly popular horror and crime comics that were now banned by the comic code. Other magazines in the picto-fiction series included Terror Illustrated, Crime Illustrated, and Confessions Illustrated.
Fredrick Wertham, author of the “Seduction of the Innocent” and godfather of the comic book censorship movement, was keeping a watchful eye on comic book publishers and was pictured skeptically reviewing E.C.’s first issue of Shock Illustrated. The series did not prove to be popular and had a short run of just three issues.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Mr. District Attorney 38 Universal
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5.5
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Mr. District Attorney #38 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. Mr. District Attorney #38 is located on the poster board in the upper left corner of row 1.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Marvel Tales 124 Universal
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4.0
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Marvel Tales #124 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. Marvel Tales #124 is located on the poster board at row 1, 4th in from the left.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Combat Casey 16 Universal
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6.5
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Combat Casey #16 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. Combat Casey #16 is located on the poster board at row 1, 6th in from the left.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Black Magic 24 Universal
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6.5
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Black Magic #24 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. The cover of Black Magic #24 is located on the poster board at row 2, 3rd in from the left.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Crime Must Pay the Penalty 34 Universal
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7.5
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Crime Must Pay the Penalty! #34 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. The cover of Crime Must Pay the Penalty! #34 is located on the poster board at row 2, 4th in from the left.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Hand of Fate 21 Universal
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4.0
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Hand of Fate #21 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. The cover of Hand of Fate #21 is located on the poster board at row 2, 8th in from the left.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Baffling Mysteries 19 Universal
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4.5
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Baffling Mysteries #19 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. The cover of Baffling Mysteries #19 is located on the poster board at row 3, 7 in from the left.
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Hendrickson & Fitzpatrick Picture |
Crime and Punishment 67 Universal
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4.5
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Crime and Punishment #67 is featured on a poster board prop used in the 1954 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings exploring the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
The poster board, displaying 24 comics of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”, appears in a picture with Senator Robert C. Hendrickson (Chairman of the Senate subcommittee). Standing alongside Senator Hendrickson is New York State Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick chaired a similar juvenile delinquency subcommittee of the New York State Legislature. The cover of Crime and Punishment #67 is located on the poster board at row 3, 8 in from the left.
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Ladies Home Journal 11/1953 |
Racket Squad in Action 8 Universal
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4.5
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The November 1953 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal contained the article “What Parents don’t know about Comic Books” written by anti-comics crusader Fredric Wertham, M.D. The article contained excerpts from Wertham’s famous comic censorship book “The Seduction of the Innocent” published on April 19, 1954.
The title page of the article was accompanied by a picture of a sitting boy reading a comic with several other comics spread around him. “Racket Squad in Action #8” is one of the comics on the ground to the left of the boy in the picture.
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Love & Death |
All-American Western 103
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5.5
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All-American Western #103 appears in Gershon Legman’s “Love & Death” (L&D) in the text on page 36.
On page 36, Legman is describing the proliferation of crime based comic book titles and mentions that publishers have resorted to disguising the ever increasing number of crime based comics and includes All-American Western #103 as one of those disguised titles.
All-American Western #103 was the inaugural issue of this title as it was formerly the superhero based All-American comic and Legman identified this renaming as a means of disguising the switch to another crime based comic.
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Love & Death |
Fight Comics 48 Universal
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6.5
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Fight Comics #48 appears in Gershon Legman’s “Love & Death” (L&D) in the text on page 48.
Legman criticizes comic books for their use of inappropriate sexual symbols and uses an example from Fight Comics to illustrate his point “As to this enormous use of sexual symbols in comic books it is almost useless to speak, except to mention that it is a predictable enough result of censorship: the whales rushing up between the legs of women who go out to fish for minnows (Jumbo Comics #94), the rhinoceros with double horns on his nose coming up at a six-year old girl-child in the crotch (Fight Comics #48)”.
Legman’s rhinoceros horn sexual symbol referenced is taken from the splash page panel of the story “Tiger Girl” contained in Fight Comics #48.
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Love & Death |
Jeanie Comics 16 Universal
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5.5
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Jeanie #16 appears in Gershon Legman’s “Love & Death” (L&D) in the text on pages 47-48.
Legman is critical of comics targeted at teenage girls and uses an example from Jeanie #16 to make his point: “And so there are published not only a handful of female crime and western comics, but whole series of so called teenage comic-books specifically for girls, in which adolescent sexuality is achieved in sadistic disguise, without father-daughter incest, without intercourse, without petting, without even a single kiss, through a continuous humiliation of scarecrow fathers and transvestist boyfriends by ravishingly pretty girls, beating up the men with flowerpots and clocks and brooms, wearing their clothes, throwing them out of windows, setting them on fire, pulling out their teeth with plies, smashing them in the face with flatirons, and breaking bottles of ketchup over their heads so as not to deprive young readers of the sight of something that at least looks like blood. (With the exception of the standard ketchup trick, all of these are from a single teenage comic, Jeanie #16.)”
I have included a scan of Jeanie pulling teeth with pliers as described by Legman.
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Love & Death |
Jumbo Comics 94 Universal
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5.5
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Jumbo Comics #94 appears in Gershon Legman’s “Love & Death” (L&D) in the text on page 48.
On page 48, Legman references a panel from Jumbo Comics #94 for its sexual symbolism “As to this enormous use of sexual symbols in comic-books it is almost useless to speak, except to mention that it is a predictable enough result of censorship: the whales rushing up between the legs of women who go out fishing for minnows (Jumbo Comics #94)”.
The references to whales between the legs of women comes from a panel in the story “The Hawk” contained in Jumbo Comics #94.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Action Comics 168 Universal
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4.0
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Action Comics #168 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 90. In this section of the POP, Wagner dissects the character flaws of various superheroes and the worlds in which they inhabit. He notes the absence, or incompetence, of police in many of the superhero comics and uses Action Comics issues #168 and #176 to illustrate his point. In addition to Superman, he references excerpts from storylines starring the character Vigilante (the alter ego of Greg Sanders a western singer and songwriter that takes up guns to avenge his father’s death by the hand of bandits) that are contained in Action Comics.
He describes Vigilante as follows: “The last story in Action Comics number 176, by the way, is called ‘Vigilante’ and features a hero of this name and type in the usual Western extravaganza. With lariat and pistol ‘Vig’ accounts for literally scores of villains in the bloodbath of each issue, and in these stories the police seldom put in an appearance at all. Recently, however, Sup’ has been toning down his activities somewhat and Vig has followed suit; in Action Comics no 168 the former dealt solely with animals, while the latter did his shooting on a target-range.”
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Parade of Pleasure |
Action Comics 176 Universal
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5.5
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Action Comics #176 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 90.
Wagner uses the story “Muscles for Money”, contained in Action Comics #176, to describe Superman’s powers “To give some idea of Superman’s abilities, one need only glance at a typical story in Action Comics no 176; here Superman-Kent (his name always printed in a reverently heavy type) flies, dislodges huge rocks with his ‘X-Ray’ vision, whisks men through the air, converts the carbon in a pencil into a diamond by the pressure of his hands, flies to South Africa and back in a few seconds, burrows through a mountain to rescue a man trapped in a mine, lifts a children’s carnival into the stratosphere, carves a vault out of a hillside with his fists, brings a carload of fleeing crooks back by rubbing a bar ‘at SUPER-SPEED’ and thus converting it into a magnet, hauls more men off through the air, and so on. All this takes Superman eleven pages.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Adventure Comics 189 Universal
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5.5
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The cover of Adventure Comics #189 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) as a full page black and white illustration. In addition, the cover is referenced in full color on the POP dust jacket (more specifically 4th row from the top, 4th comic in from the left). For additional reference, I have included a scan of the interior black and white cover illustration of Adventure Comics #189 contained in POP. Please note Wagner’s incorrect captioning of the illustration as he refers to Superboy being Superman’s brother.
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Parade of Pleasure |
All True Crime 49 Universal
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6.0
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All-True Crime #49 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 79.
On page 79 Wagner describes the violet nature of crime comics and summarizes All-True Crime #49 as follows “All-True Crime no 49 contains 13 killings by criminals (excluding the ‘group slaughter’ of an exploded aircraft) as against four by the police, two of which are indirect – nor does this allow for the numerous cracks to the skull that would certainly put most normal human beings to sleep for good”.
The multiple killings are distributed throughout the comic however the exploded aircraft “group slaughter” reference comes from the story “Prisoners” contained in All-True Crime #49.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Atomic War! 4
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4.5
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Atomic War! #4 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 96 and as a color picture on the dust jacket cover (bottom row, 2nd from the left).
On pages 95-96 Wagner, in context to how Russians are portrayed in war comics, describes Atomic War #4 as follows “Total war is assumed. Geneva Conventions go by the board. No prisoners are taken by either side, unless to be tortured (only by Russians, in this case). Poison gas, flame-throwers, and atomic bombs are frequently employed by both sides. One war-comic I have before me is called Atomic War and shows a jet plane delivering a bomb, marked ‘New Year Greeting 1961’ while from the cockpit emerges the balloon ‘When this NEW guided missile hits the Kremlin, those Russkies will really have a hot time!’
I have included a scan of the title page from the “Arctic Assault” story to give a flavor of how atomic war is depicted in war comics from the early 1950s.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Batman 74 Universal
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5.0
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Batman #74 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 90.
On page 90, Wagner describes Batman as follows “Batman is another of these Fuhrer incarnations, hooded, begauntleted with a strong right in place of the normal processes of the law. However, I did notice that in his swank Gotham City apartment he is undemocratic enough to employ a butler. He has a young and adoring help, called Robin, and his enemy is again often the intellectual. In Batman no 74 he has three villains to cope with, all of them brainy, and the first, called ‘The Joker’, ends up in a padded cell, the proper place, presumably, in the universe for those who think. As Batman dives on his second victim in the final act of ‘justice’, he tells him that none may escape Batman’s law – and delivers a haymaker with his left.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Battle Action 5 Universal
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5.0
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Battle Action #5 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on pages 93-94.
One of Wagner’s chief complaints with war comics is the way they misrepresent how modern warfare is conducted and he uses Battle Action #5 to provide several examples - “In my experience the Army is a corporate affair, achieving its major successes through obedience to discipline. The war-comic, however, shows the individual running the war, generals accepting plasy-walsy advice from enlisted men, and it concentrates on the more awful moments of combat in well-nigh hilarious terms. So Battle Brady, an heroic G.I., the central figure in Battle Action, continually wins the Korean war alone. More, he virtually created the war – ‘The fighting in Korea was just a police action… but when Battle Brady and Sgt. Socko Swenski got there it became a Real War!’ ‘BRAC! CAK! CAK! VOOM! WA-BRUM-BA!’ are the opening ‘words’ of Battle Action no 5 with Pvt ‘Battle’ Brady rain’ to go. Battle, in fact, dotes on action, in a way I have seldom, in real life, been privileged to observe in a human being, who usually rather enjoys hanging on the existence. ‘Hooray for the Brooklyn Dodgers!’ he yells as he plunges his bayonet hilt-deep in het another red.’
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Parade of Pleasure |
Battle Action 12 Universal
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5.0
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Battle Action #12 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) as a full color illustration on the dust jacket. The upper left corner of the comic can be seen on the front cover of the dust jacket on the bottom row of comics to the far right.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Battle Brady 11 Universal
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4.5
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Battle Brady #11 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 95 and both color and black and white illustrations.
The cover of Battle Brady #11 is printed in black and white as an interior illustration and in full color on the POP dust jacket (more specifically 3rd row from the top, 1st comic in from the left).
On page 95, Wagner describes a story from Battle Brady #11 as follows “Short-skirted women, like the recurrent Yalu River Rosie, constantly appear, usually as commie agents. Battle Brady no 11, decorated with a cover of a GI bayoneting two reds at a time (‘Heads up, commies! It’ll only hurt a minute!’), has a concluding yarn in which six girls, all reds, appear, all showing their knees, and most of them most of their thighs. This story involves the search for an enemy ‘intelligence’ agent call Manchuria Mary. She is caught, but only after she has KO’ed two GIs and been seen bathing nude in a pool.”
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Parade of Pleasure |
Battlefront 11 Universal
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4.0
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The cover of Battlefront #11 is shown in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) with a color picture on the dust jacket (2nd row up from the bottom, 5th in from the left).
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Parade of Pleasure |
Beyond 18 Universal
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4.5
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Beyond #18 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 81-82.
Wagner describes Beyond #18 as follows “These crime-terror booklets, seemingly on the increase, show a monstrous reiteration of the morbid, of tombs, electric chairs, mortuaries, surgeries, and so forth. Take The BEYOND no 18: its first story tells of a girl who tries to murder her husband, only to find him turn into a phoenix which finally burns her in its embrace… The second is a welter of murders committed by a ‘ghost’. The third concerns a man who finds a severed hand in a Ming dynasty box. This hand steals his girl-friend in a fine scene and eventually strangles the man himself while he is in a strait-jacket in a lunatic asylum… The fourth story starts off with a man dying in the electric chair, but he proves unkillable and returns to life to run a gang of crooks in a city where the police are powerless to stop him with mere bullets. In the end his body decays, rather contradictorily, and ‘Jules Scholler dragged his rotting body to the dump. There, amidst the burning garbage, he committed his tortured soul to the flames.’
As described by Wagner, I have included a scan of the panel of Jules Scholler committing his rotting body to the dump.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Blackhawk 61
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7.5
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Blackhawk #61 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 91-92.
Wagner identifies Blackhawk as a form of politically extreme comic book and, while not named, references the story “Stalin’s Ambassador of Murder”, contained in Blackhawk #61, to illustrate his point. He describes the story as follows “A typical issue, then, no 61, finds the gang up against ‘a horror so simple, so fiendishly ingenious that it walks besides you and me on the street, and we cannot recognize it’. What else could this be but American Communism? The first picture sets the tone; it shows the boys busting in the platform of commie speakers … and Blackhawk himself smacking open the jaw of one of the offenders concerned”. Wagner goes on to describe additional story elements from Blackhawk 61 that he views as politically extreme.
I have provided a scan of the title page to “Stalin’s Ambassador of Murder” for additional reference.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Blackhawk 62 Universal
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7.5
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Blackhawk #62 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 91 and a color illustration of the cover of the comic is shown on the dust jacket located on the top row 1st in from the left.
On page 91, Wagner describes Blackhawk 62 “The cover of this comic, incidentally, is easily recognizable. Blackhawk no 62 shows the leaders slitting open the jaw of a Russian soldier, and so on”.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Blackhawk 66 Universal
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5.0
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Blackhawk #66 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) with black and white, and color pictures of the cover.
The cover of Blackhawk #66 is shown in a full page black and white photo, along with three other books, in the interior of POP with the caption “Crime and politics go side by side in some typical crime and super-man comics”. In addition to this photo, a portion of the cover of Blackhawk #66 is shown on the color dust jacket. It’s the comic located on the bottom row, 6 in from the left.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Captain Marvel Adventures 142 Universal
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5.0
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Captain Marvel Adventures #142 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 92 and 96.
On page 92, Wagner describes comics that feature stories of superheroes “interfering” in the Korean War and uses an example of Captain Marvel battling the “Red Crusher” in issue #142.
On page 96, Wagner describes comic book weapons “In Captain Marvel no 142 the Captain uses a flame-thrower against troops as a matter of course”.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Classics Illustrated 89 Universal
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8.0
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Classics Illustrated #89 featuring Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) with a full page black and white illustration of the comic’s cover with the caption “Pictures from a typical classic-comic”.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Classics Illustrated 128
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7.0
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Classics Illustrated #128 featuring Macbeth is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 102.
Wagner believed that educational comics, such as Classics Illustrated, had done little to improve the comic genre and often overemphasized violence. For example, on page 102, he described the stories of Hamlet and Macbeth as depicted in Classics Illustrated as follows “In Hamlet, for instance, I noticed that of the forty-four pages nine were of the ghost scene, while eight more were of direct physical combat (Hamlet himself goes about most of the time with a drawn sword). Six pictures show Ophelia slowly drowning. Hamlet, however did not seem to be, in text, quite so strictly corrected as Macbeth, the ‘classic’ (in all senses) comic of which Punch made so much”.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Combat 10 Universal
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5.0
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Combat #10 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) with color and black and white photos.
A black and white photo of the cover of Combat #10, along with three other war themed comic covers, appears on a page with the caption “Some current war comics, include on for World War III”. The color photo appears on the POP dust jacket with the cover of Combat #10 appearing on the top row, 3 in from the left.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Combat Casey 8 Universal
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5.0
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Combat Casey #8 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 94.
On page 94, Wagner describes the unrealistic portrayal of war in comic books and provides an example from Combat Casey #8 “A favourite, recurrent, screamingly funny joke is for two commie soldiers to make simultaneous bayonet lunges at the grinning GI hero (‘I’m surrounded,’ he winks at us), who then ducks, with the result that the commies kill each other. Even on the most bathetic of crass Hollywood screens this sort of thing would seem rather stiff, but, believe it or not, I found this identical situation recently in two contemporaneous war-comics, Combat Casey no 8 and Combat Kelly no 11.
Wagner’s example from Combat Casey no 8 comes from the story “Slam into Combat on the Side of Combat Casey” where Casey and his fellow GI Penny do indeed duck in the nick of time.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Combat Kelly 11 Universal
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8.5
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Combat Kelly #11 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 94 and as color illustration.
On page 94, Wagner describes the unrealistic portrayal of war in comic books and provides the following example: “A favourite, recurrent, screamingly funny joke is for two commie soldiers to make simultaneous bayonet lunges at the grinning GI hero (‘I’m surrounded,’ he winks at us), who then ducks, with the result that the commies kill each other. Even on the most bathetic of crass Hollywood screens this sort of thing would seem rather stiff, but, believe it or not, I found this identical situation recently in two contemporaneous war-comics, Combat Casey no 8 and Combat Kelly no 11”.
In addition to the text reference, the cover of Combat Kelly #11 is referenced in full color on the POP dust jacket.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Crime and Justice 14 Universal
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4.0
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Crime and Justice #14 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) with a full color illustration of the title page for the story “Bait for a Killer”. The cover of Crime and Justice #14 is also shown as a black and white illustration.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Crime Exposed 13 Universal
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6.5
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Crime Exposed #13 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 80.
On page 80, Wagner describes several crime based comic books and summarizes Crime Exposed #13 as follows “Crime exposed no 13 (how hypocritical can these titles get, by the way?), with the cover of another bosomy beauty in the grip of a killer, has twenty-six ‘acts of violence’ (actual shots gone home, or blows delivered) in twenty-one pages of pictures: ‘UNGHH!’ or ‘AGHRRR!’ or ‘UGHHH!’ or again ‘EEEAGHH!’ describe the victims various reactions, while the attitude of the police is typified by the following invitations put into the mouths by officers of the law, ‘Come here, Punk’ and ‘Cut out the tough act, or I’ll clout you one’.”
The story with the expressive victim sound effects is “The Hidden Man” and the unbecoming police officer dialogue is from the story “The Cat’s Paw!” both of which are from Crime Exposed #13. I have included a scan of the page with the police officer dialogue as described by Wagner.
Note that Overstreet lists Crime Exposed #13 used in POP on page 81 but its actually page 80.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Crime Must Lose 11 Universal
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6.5
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Crime Must Lose #11 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 89.
On page 89 Wagner is providing examples of how comics don’t appreciate brainy stories or characters and describes Crime Must Lose #11 as follows “In Crime Must Lose no 11, as a matter of fact, there is a crime-character ironically nicknamed ‘Brains’; he crushes his chief rival under a lead chandelier with a splash (he himself, however, is mown down with a tommy-gun by his victim’s busty blonde sister in the next picture).
The scene Wagner describes comes from the story “Mob Rule!” featuring Pete “Monster” Malkins and Henry “Brains” Benedict.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Down With Crime 6 Universal
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5.5
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Down with Crime #16 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 80.
Wagner describes a story from Down With Crime #6 as follows “The central story in Down With Crime no 6 concerns a double-crossing crook called Johnny (‘Elbows’) Scarlet, another portrayal from real life, it seems, who treats the men he murders ‘like a butcher handles meat’, as a pal puts it to him. There are seven killings in this story and twenty-one explosions recorded by diligent comment in the copy.
The story Wager references is “The Puncture-Proof Assassin” with the subtitle “The Amazing Story of Johnny (Elbows) Scarlet, the Gangster Who Couldn’t be Killed!”.
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Famous Funnies 204 Universal
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8.5
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Famous Funnies #204 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 79 and 99.
On page 79, Wagner describes the cover as follows “Famous Funnies no 204 has a picture of reds being burnt alive by napalm bombs”. On page 99 he again references the issue “In Famous Funnies no 204 there is a quite detailed, near-pathological whipping of a coloured man by a brawny, bosomy girl Queen.” In this instance, Wagner is referring to the story “Tom Terriss the Vagabond Adventurer and the Queen of Tuareg”. I have included a scan of the cover page from this story showing the Queen with her whip.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Fight Against Crime 15
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4.5
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Fight Against Crime #15 is depicted in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) as both black & white, and color illustrations.
An interior page of POP contains a black and white illustration of the cover of Fight Against Crime #15. The black & white illustration appears alongside other comic covers with the caption “Crime and politics go side by side in some typical crime and superman-comics”.
The color illustration of the cover of Fight Against Crime #15 is located on the POP dust jacket. Its located in the 2nd row of comics 3rd in from the left.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Fight Comics 78 Universal
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6.0
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Fight Comics #78 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 99.
On page 99 Wagner narrates several jungle girl themed stories and uses a Tiger Girl storied contained in Fight Comics #78 as one his examples. He describes the story as follows “Tiger Girl, in Fight Comics no 78, is thrown to crocodiles (these ‘crocs’ again – this time they end up fighting each other for her!), and, when saved, metes out justice to mere males with a ferocious bull whip – ‘Then the fury song of that singing whip…’”.
I have included a scan of the page that contains the panel with Tiger Girl’s singing whip.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Fight for Freedom! nn Universal
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7.5
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Fight for Freedom (no number) is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 102.
On page 102, Wagner describes several educational and classic theme comics and notes the following for the promotional comic Fight for Freedom “I rather like the one, however, sponsored by US industry, called The Fight for Freedom, which ascribed the American Revolution as due in large part to ‘government planners’ in London. I hope this will be preserved”.
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Gangsters and Gunmolls 3 Universal
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6.0
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Gangsters and Gun Molls #3 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on pages 84-85.
On pages 84-85, Wagner describes two stories from “Crime Never Wins no 3”. He mistitled this issue as “Crime Never Wins” is the top banner to “Gangsters and Gun Molls #3” and not the actual title of the book. He describes the first story as follows “the heroine of the first story, whose dress looks as if it has been put on her by a spray-gun, slaps two women, knocks out two men, one with a bottle, and kills one police officer in six pages”. He describes the second story “the heroine of the last, a laughing blonde, kills four men, knocks out a fifth, and brutally slaps a girl bank-clerk in as many snappy pages. As she robs one man she declares explicitly that she is not going to leave ‘till I show Mister Tough Guy what it means to be tough’.
The first story Wagner describes is titled “Juanita Perez the Gypsy Killer!” and the second story is “Marie Swain, Rod-Baby!” I have included a scan from the Marie Swain story where she “brutally slaps a girl bank-clerk” as described by Wagner.
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Is This Tomorrow nn Universal
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8.5
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Is This Tomorrow #nn is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 102.
Speaking on educational and classic literature themed comics, Wagner describes the comic “Is This Tomorrow” as follows “There was also a Catholic comic, direct against Communism in 1949, and carrying so much bloodshed and providing so vicious in outlook that most American cities banned it”.
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Parade of Pleasure |
Jumbo Comics 155 Universal
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6.5
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Jumbo Comics #155 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 98.
Wagner describes a Sheena story as follows “In a typical story, in Jumbo Comics no 155, Sheena is clubbed by savages, forced to walk the plank, keel-hauled behind a ship (‘if the crocs do not get you my dear – then my seven tests will’), thrown to lions, and left to a herd of rogue elephants, all in nine pages”.
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Jungle Comics 143 Universal
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6.0
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Jungle Comics #143 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 99. On page 99, Wagner is comparing the similarities between various jungle based comic books and describes Jungle Comics #143 as follows “In Jungle Comics no 143 Kaanga’s mate is being tied up once more. She is abducted on a zebra by a hulking character in a T-shirt, resembling an ex-pug, and well and truly roped up. ‘I’ll be killed,’ she says as she squirms seductively in her bonds, ‘ripped to pieces by apes!’ Actually, the reverse is what happens in this kind of comic. Animals are no match for these Wonder Women.”
The panels referenced by Wagner coming from the opening story Kaanga story “The Moon’s of Devil Drums” contained in Jungle Comics #143. I have included a scan of the page with the panel of Kaanga’s mate squirming seductively in her bonds.
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Jungle Comics 145
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8.0
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Jungle Comics #145 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 99. On page 99, Wagner is comparing the similarities between various jungle based comic books and describes Jungle Comics #145 as follows “In no 145 of this series, the same girl is tied up three times in ten pages, while another called Camilla (no shades of Fanny Burney here) stabs two savages, one tiger, rides a rogue elephant, and wrestles successfully with a bearded male guard”. I have included a scan from the Camilla story that shows her wrestling.
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