Set Description
This set contains comics that are documented in one or more of the comic censorship books, pamphlets, magazine articles or legislative hearings from the late 1940s and early 1950s such as Fredric Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent (SOTI)”, Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure (POP)”, Gershon Legman’s “Love & Death (L&D)”, the 1950s New York State Legislative reports, and the 1954 US Senate report. For each comic I will include a description of why the comic was noted and a scan of the cover as well as scan of the objectionable material from the comic.
Set Goals
To assemble a comprehensive collection of comics documented in one or more of the comic censorship reference materials from the late 1940s and early 1950s.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Crime Must Lose 11 Universal
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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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Down With Crime 6 Universal
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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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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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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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Fight Comics 78 Universal
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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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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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| Parade of Pleasure |
Gangsters and Gunmolls 3 Universal
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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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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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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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| Parade of Pleasure |
Jungle Comics 143 Universal
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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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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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Jungle Thrills 16
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Jungle Thrills #16 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 98-99.
Jungle Thrills #16 reprints Rulah, Jo-Jo and Phantom Lady stories from All Top #15. On page 98, Wagner references a panel from the Rulah story “Jungle Murder in Duplicate” as he describes comic book based heroine figures: “However, the physical proportions and lack of warm clothing on the Wonder Women heroine are obviously designed to catch the male eye and draw in the adult buyer. For all these girls, who are generally engaged in attacking Red Indians, African Negroes, gorillas, leopards, and the wicked queens of jungle tribes, are equipped with a Bikini uniform of some animal skin. In fact, in Jungle Thrills no 16 I actually came across a derisive reference to the new look made by one of the heroine’s henchwomen, herself got up (or down) in the briefest of shorts and bra.” I believe Wagner’s use of the term “new look” is referring to a fashion trend introduced in 1947 by Christian Dior that became known as the post WWII new look.
Wagner again references Jungle Thrills #16 on page 99 “In Jungle Thrills no 16, with a cover of a buxom blonde in the grip of the perennial gorilla (animal), Rulah concludes a wild career of killing by savagely twisting her coloured opponent’s leg until he screams for mercy – ‘Let me go, Jungle Goddess, and I will be your slave for life.’ It is rather understandable that in the district of New York where I live, the children play games in which the coloured ones act out the roles of ‘slaves.’ The last book also features two more Wonder-Jungle heroines, Tanee and Phantom Lady, both of whom run around slapping other girls to make them talk.”
Wagner’s leg twisting/slave reference comes from the Rulah “Jungle Murder in Duplicate” story and the girl slapping scene is contained in the Phantom Lady “The Substitute Cinderella” story both contained in Jungle Thrills #16. I have included a scan of the Rulah leg twisting panel.
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| Parade of Pleasure |
Kaanga Comics 10 Universal
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Kaanga Comics #10 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 99.
On page 99, Wagner describes Kaanga Comics #10 as follows “There are many other Sheena-personifications. In Kaanga no 10 Jungle Girl rescues a friend from a gorilla, stabs two men, and one tiger, in six pages, while Kaanga’s mate, a hefty brunette, is captured, twice tied up, and finally survives a ‘wheel of a thousand torements’”.
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| Parade of Pleasure |
Leave it to Binky 29 Universal
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Leave it to Binky #29 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 76.
Wagner characterizes comic books such as “Leave it to Binky” as “adolescent-girl” books and criticizes these comics for their portrayal of women as dominating figures. On page 76 he describes Leave it Binky #29 as follows “In all these adolescent-girl comic-books, in fact, woman occupies a dominating position in the pre-marital mix-up. ‘Sis’ comes out on top. And, after reading of this kind of courtship, how thankful I felt that I had not myself gone through that stern school, that which a mincing machine would seem to be more tender. ‘What do I do now, Teacher?’ a balloon-breasted lass asks her judo instructor on the cover of Leave it to Binky no 29, as she heaves her boy-friend over her shoulder in an excruciating flying mare.
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| Parade of Pleasure |
Marvel Family 78 Universal
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4.0
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The Marvel Family #78 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 92-93.
Wagner is critical of the inaccurate portrayal of the Korean conflict in comic books and uses a story contained in Marvel Family #78 to illustrate his point. He describes the story as follows “The Marvel Family, however, who interfere in the Korean war fairly consistently now, consist of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jnr (the little lad who, as we have seen, has his own comic book to himself), and Miss Marvel, whose swirling skirt seldom comes much lower than her lap. Take the first story in The Marvel Family no 78, a patriotic legend entitled ‘The Marvel Family Battles the Red Star of Death’ (we have already had the Captain himself battling the ‘Red Crusher’ in Captain Marvel no 142). This latter personifies the red soldier in Korea in these stories, an unshaven, toothy Russian who evidently goes into action in Korea with a whip rather than a rifle and who makes remakes like ‘Die Yankee dogs! Let your blood and bone splatter all over the landscape!’ One page in this comic book features the word ‘WHAM!’ four times, each letter measuring three quarters of an inch in thickness. This is essentially a simple tale. Captain Marvel stops an American general from calling ‘a full scale retreat’ after the man has read one enemy pamphlet, and goes on to halt a bombing raid in mid-air. He deals as easily with Ruski soldiers as he does with those undefined foes who swear ‘By Buddha!’ The ‘red vulture’ himself is personally KO’ed by the Captain, Miss M administering a ladylike kick to the jaw (‘CHUMFFFF!’), followed by a snorting right hook (‘WHAM!’ again, I fear).
I have included a scan of the page containing the quadruple “WHAM!” as described by Wagner.
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| Parade of Pleasure |
Marvel Family 81 Universal
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5.5
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The Marvel Family #82 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on pages 92-93.
Wagner is critical of the inaccurate portrayal of the Korean conflict in comic books and uses a story contained in Marvel Family #82 to illustrate his point. He describes the comics as follows “In the Marvel Family no 81, where the Marvels go after the ‘mightiest mongol’, young Marvel shows that he is not behind the rest of his family in brutality; he mops the floor, literally, at the end of a stick, with a coloured, Mongolian enemy.
The Marvel Junior mopping scene is contained in the story “The Marvel Family Battles the Plundering Pasha, Chapter Two: The Perils of the Pasha”.
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| Parade of Pleasure |
Master Comics 132 Universal
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4.5
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Master Comics #132 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 Master Comics #132, along with three other comic covers, appears on a page with the caption “Crime and politics go side by side in some typical crime and superman-comics”. The color photo appears on the POP dust jacket with the cover of Master Comics #132 appearing on the top row, 4 in from the left.
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| Parade of Pleasure |
Plastic Man 40 Universal
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7.0
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Plastic Man #40 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 91.
Wagner describes Plastic Man #40 as follows “In Plastic Man no 40 ‘Plas’, as he is known to his intimates, starts off in an FBI Office – ‘YAWWWN! I’ve never seen crime so dull! Chief! I wish something would happen!’ It does. Using his arms as lassoos [sic], as ropes for binding recalcitrant prisoners, and for slugging round street corners, Plas swiftly fixes things up and catches the crooks, including a hula-hula dancer who turns men into monsters by hypodermic injections and cool Cola drinks. Wiggly Wanda, as this girl is called, apparently has some rather unlikely connection with the scientists at Los Alamos. The last story in this issue ends in the usual all in with a dozen criminals and Plas’s remark, as he KOs them one by one, ‘I’ll put you out of your misery!’
Wagner’s narrative comes from the story “Maker of Monsters” contained in Plastic Man #40.
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Sheena, Queen of the Jungle 18 Universal
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5.5
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Sheena Queen of the Jungle #18 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 98.
On page 98, Wagner is describing the characteristics of Wonder Woman like heroines and uses several examples of jungle book heroines. He uses story examples from Sheen Queen of the Jungle #18 “As often as not these stories will show the rescue of some American girl in topee [sic] and tight fitting jodphurs [sic] (but slightly more slender and girlish than Sheena), who is exploring the jungle. Sheena no 18 begins with a tale characteristic of this kind. Wicked natives capture and tie up the ‘civilised’ [sic] girl and prepare her for the guillotine. Sheena, however, performs a last minute rescue, scattering the Africans with her thrashing limbs, and tossing men about like dice. In the second story Sheena spears a rouge elephant in the eye, knives an alligator, and having quelled a Negro insurrection reports to the local commissioner (who is, of course, white) ‘You won’t have any more trouble with traders in that district, I promise you!’ In the last story, Bob, a white man and a friend of Sheena, is captured by a wicked Negro Queen, called Nairu. Sheena rescues him and goes for Nairu who (wise woman) runs for it – in vain, of course, ‘for the Jungle Queen’s bronze arms locked around her…’ The last picture shows the ‘poor benighted eathen bowing to the ground before the erect and rigid heroine, and submissively chorusing, “Sheena is the true Jungle Queen. Long Live Sheena!’
These story references all come from Sheena Queen of the Jungle #18. The specific stories are “The Skull Wearer of Wando Grotto”, “The Ivory Smugglers”, and “Secret of the Snake Queen”. I have included a scan of the page with Nairu surrendering to Sheena the true Jungle Queen.
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Soldier Comics 8 Universal
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6.5
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Solider Comics #8 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) as a black and white illustration of the front cover with the caption “Some current war comics, including one for World War III”.
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Superman 81 Universal
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5.5
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Superman #81 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) in the text on page 88.
Wagner, describing his research on superhero comics, provides the following description in a footnote on page 88 “Although I did not, in my research, discover a Superwoman comic itself, I discovered Superwoman in several other comics. In Superman no 81 this Amazon visits earth from Zor; she is called ‘Tharka’ and equally announces the new womanhood along with Wonder Woman – ‘Tharka is a mutation, a Zorian born ahead of her time, who has super-powers!”
Ironically, the story that Wagner referenced, “The Superwoman from Space”, is all about Superman helping Tharka save face by assisting her in accomplishing super deeds as, unbeknownst to her, her superpowers are inactive on Earth.
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Suzie Comics 88 Universal
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3.5
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Suzie Comics #88 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on pages 76-77.
Wagner provides commentary on several girl themed comic books and describes the cover of Suzie Comics #88 as follows “Suzie is another example of this genre, a typical dumb but effective blonde of generous build, whose style of humor is about as side splitting as the following extract hints: Electrician mending radio: ‘I found the trouble Suzie! There’s a short circuit in your TV set! Suzie: ‘Goody! Now all you have to do is make it longer!’”
Wagner goes on to comment on several other aspects of Suzie’s character and also describes a Katy Keene story contained in the Suzie #88 with passages such as the following “Throughout this story the buxom Katy is shown in the most suggestive of scarlet two piece bathing costumes (and one reads with alarm that some of those pictures were contributed by girl readers, fans of Katie, under fourteen – a fifty year old Rotarian couldn’t have improved some of them).”
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Thrilling Crime Cases 47 Universal
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7.0
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Thrilling Crime Cases #47 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 84.
On page 84, Wagner is describing the negative depiction of women in comic books and uses an example from Thrilling Crime Cases #47 “A scene from a story called ‘Thrill Crazed Killer’ in Thrilling Crime Cases no 47 shows an enormous blonde standing over a man she has just floored; he remarks, with reason, ‘Whew! I feel like I been run over by a truck’ to which she replies, ‘You haven’t been yet. But if you want to keep yourself from being put through a meat-grinder…you better pony up all the dough.’ The last picture in this plaintive little parable shows our heroine suggestively manacled, sweetly smiling, as she is led off to prison, the payoff in one picture after sixteen of successful violence.”
I have included a scan of the page from the story that contains the “enormous blonde standing over the man she has just floored.”
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Vault of Horror 23 Universal
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5.5
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Vault of Horror #23 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on pages 83-84.
Wagner, describing “crime-terror” comic books, uses examples from Vault of Horror #23 “To conclude this survey of almost unadulterated ghastliness, I refer to The Vault of Horror no 23, in which a woman is pursued by a Thing (‘It stand from oozing grave mud!, Clods of rancid crawling rotted flesh fell from its eyeless face…’), a man is decapitated (‘THOK!’), another boiled alive in a showerbath, and a tyrannous employer, who slaps his nine women employees, is burnt alive in his own sweatshop, the girls first flinging him under a sewing-machine and stitching up his lips in a perfectly sickening series of pictures accompanied by the text, ‘Heh, heh, heh! Well, a stich in time saves nine …’”. All these examples come from stories contained in Vault of Horror #23.
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War Report 4 Universal
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4.5
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War Report #4 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 94.
On page 94 Wagner describes several war themed comics and uses the story “Cross of Courage” from War Report #4 as an example of how religious themes are presented in war comics. He describes the story as follows “The Church, meanwhile, in these war comics also ‘talks turkey’ (as a nun puts it, speaking of His Holiness the Pope, in a recent propaganda film); War Report for March 1953 kicks off with the story of a padre who learns that might is right and who at the end brings a sword, not peace, with a vengeance. Chaplain James Tucker at first hates carnage but in the last pictures he hurls a grenade, shouting ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ and cracks a commie on the skull with his rifle-butt (‘YAGHH!) remarking, ‘And the Lord has a long arm, my erring brother!’
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Weird Science 17 Universal
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5.0
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Weird Science #17 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on pages 81 and 82.
On page 81, Wagner introduces fantasy/science comics as follows “…for a more horrific kind of crime-comic has been putting in its appearance. This is what I call the crime-terror kind of crime-comic, and it shades off at its far end into the purely absurd fantastic-science type of comic-book, of which there are an increasing number. Indeed, I found a story in Weird Science no 17 in which there appears a publisher who, when asked how business is going, replies “Terrible! If it weren’t for the science-fiction craze, I’d be out of business!’.
On page 82, Wagner refers to Weird Science #17 again “Weird Science no 17, mentioned above, has one of the most inordinately loathsome covers I have encountered on any comic-book. Owing to the ineptitude of the drawing, it is difficult to distinguish exactly what is meant to be, but in general it seems to depict an oozing, pus-ridden monster, a mixture of octopus, ape, and giant ray, squeezing to death a beautiful agonized girl. The contents, in this case, match the cover, two pictures showing blondes, dresses trousses to the lap, being trampled to death, one by an unspeakably ugly monster and the other by a mob of American citizens making for Miami Beach on a public holiday! We may pause a moment for this latter. For this story is as simple a slice of anti-intellectualism as you could wish for. We see the usual stereotype of the professor that is supposed to be a satisfactory substitute for us spellbound masses, bespectacled, absent-minded, clearly the kind of man who would get a flunking grade in Bloomingdales, lecturing his class on ‘the law of averages’. He waxes loquacious over the possible collapse of his law, and we see in pictorial form what might happen if everyone in American decided to take a vacation to Miami Beach or Ebbets Field at the same moment. Chaos would come again, according to the prof. Finally, we see him affirming that the law has broken down today and that ‘our society is going to suffer terribly!’ Then comes the pay-off. We see his class. There is only one student present of out 378. In other words, profs are cranks and their jeremiads are to be ignored. There is a final twist at the very end, where the single ‘student’ attending the lecture gets up as the prof flings out another warning and reveals himself to be the janitor of the building, who replies, in crackerbarrel calm, ‘Wal, I wouldn’t worry ‘bout it none, Perfessor! Y’see…ah’m the janitor here … an t’day is Sunday.’
Wagner’s anti-intellectualism story example comes from the story “Off Day!” contained in Weird Science #17. His examples of “trampled blondes” are pulled from the stories “Plucked” and “Off Day!”
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Whiz Comics 142 Universal
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5.0
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Whiz Comics #142 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 89.
Wagner observed that superhero comics use primitive vocabulary and often depicted scientists as hapless fools in constant need of rescue. He uses an example from Whiz Comics #142 to illustrate his point “As a character in Whiz Comics no 142 puts it as he knocks three others flying (‘SMACK… UGGH… POW!’), ‘Your friends, Mike, have a limited vocabulary.”
The panel that Wagner references comes from the story “Lance O’Casey and the Contraband Cargo” contained in Whiz Comics #142.
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Wings Comics 115 Universal
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5.0
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Wings Comics #115 is referenced in Geoffrey Wagner’s “Parade of Pleasure” (POP) on page 85. Overstreet incorrectly attributes the reference to page 89.
Wagner uses Wings Comics #115 to provide an example of the aggressive nature of women characters in comic books. He notes the following “Dr. Powdermaker tells us that in Hollywood more men have to resist the advances of girls than visa-versa. In Wings Comics no 115 I actually found this situation taken so far that in the last picture of one story a girl, who has been proved right, turns to her boy-friend and says, ‘Speaking of rewards, Mister – Bend Over!’
Wagner’s reference comes from the story “Suicide Smith” contained in Wings #115. In this story, the hero, Suicide Smith, saves overcomes Latin American rebels and saves his girlfriend Dale in the process. In the last panel, a grateful Dale does indeed ask her boy-friend to bend over for his rewards.
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