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Comics of the Crime, Horror & Weird Variety

Category: Eras/Ages

Owner: GAM

Last Modified: 7/2/2023

Set Description
In 1954, New Jersey Senator Robert C. Hendrickson served as the Chairman of a United States Senate Subcommittee to study the effects of comics on juvenile delinquency. The Senate’s subcommittee hearings in the spring of 1954 followed closely on the heels of similar work by a New York State legislative committee. The Chairman of the New York legislative committee was Plattsburg, NY Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick.

During the Senate hearings, Senator Hendrickson and Assemblyman Fitzpatrick posed together in front of a poster board displaying comic books representative of the “Crime, Horror & Weird Variety”.

Set Goals
My goal for this set is to collect all 24 of the "Crime, Horror & Weird Variety" comics displayed on the Hendrickson and Fitzpatrick poster.

Slot Name

Item Description

Grade

Owner Comments

Pics

Row 3, Column 5

Crime SuspenStories 20 Universal

6.5

The cover from Crime SuspenStories #20 is referenced in the “Seduction of the Innocent” (SOTI) as illustration #10. The caption under the illustration is “Cover of a children’s comic book.” Fredric Wertham, the author of the SOTI, obviously thought that the cover spoke for itself and needed no explanation in order to support his theories that comic books were inappropriate reading material for children and a key contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. While artist Johnny Craig’s cover is a classic of pre-code horror and crime comics, it’s not hard to image why graphic covers such as this created public outcry and calls for censorship in 1950s society.In addition to being referenced in the SOTI, Crime SuspenStories #20 was also 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 representative 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 SuspenStories #20 is located on the poster board at row 3, 5th in from the left.

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