In Memory of Dr. Wertham - SOTI Images to Corrupt Our Youth

[Twistty1]

This was the first book posted in this thread... Just won it on Heritage, couldn't wait to post.. I noticed they changed the cgc label and added more notes to it.

 

[esquirecomics]

Picked up a copy of The Collector #16 from 1969 recently and was stunned/excited to see a letter from Dr. Wetham!

 

[Bat-Man]

Picked up a copy of The Collector #16 from 1969 recently and was stunned/excited to see a letter from Dr. Wetham!

 

 

 

[The Troll King]

 

I never got that reference from Jungle 98. I guess I can't see what others see.

 

 

Maybe this will help. It's not the backside, it's the front.

 

 

I don't need circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back to explain this one. By Cole I think.

I often wonder if I have seen all of the weird stuff by Cole and then I see another new one.

Well...new to me.

 

scan from ga.uk

 

Alice's Restaurant

[SOTIcollector]

[/img] One of the forgotten ones ...TG99

Very cool...

Thanks..just picked up a second copy too ! A real real nice one ! :banana:I am looking for a "Peter Penny and his magic dollar" SOTI book .......Never ever see them EVER ..... ?Anyone have an extra ?TG99

Hard book...I've never seen a copy or the redrawn version either...

You asked for it... since SOTI has been my primary focus for years, how about both the original AND the redrawn Peter Penny?

 

[SOTIcollector]

I searched the threads and while I found some past discussions of SOTI, I did not see any that focused on bringing to life in 2005 the images that so aggravated the good Dr. 50 years ago. So in his honor and memory (he died in 1981), I bring to you the start of what should become an interesting thread. In addition to posting the cover (and any interior pages if possible), try to explain what caused the controversy in the particular book.

 

 

Here's one I just picked up last week in one of the sale threads (thanks Point Five).

It's another of the "suspected SOTI" books.

 

Wertham wrote, "On the floor under his open hand lay a comic book with this cover: a girl on a horse with a noose around her neck, the rope tied to a tree. A man was leading the horse away, tightening the noose as he did so."

 

Rangers #38 is the closest book to fitting this description that I've been able to find. It's close, but not an exact match. There really aren't that many hanging covers out there, and only a small percentage of those feature women. This woman is on a horse about to be hanged, but the person causing the hanging is whipping the horse and not leading it away. I've posted this at the SOTI site as well. Thoughts? Could Rangers #38 be another newly-discovered "lost SOTI" book?

[adamstrange]

I think that's an excellent candidate to be the comic he was describing.

 

If Wertham didn't have the comic in front of him at the time he was writing (and I doubt he did) then his memory could have been off or he could be using the term "leading" because he didn't realize the guy had a whip -- he may have thought the whip was the halter. Alternatively, maybe he liked that term better than "whipping" or "driving."

[Flex Mentallo]

I think that's an excellent candidate to be the comic he was describing.

 

If Wertham didn't have the comic in front of him at the time he was writing (and I doubt he did) then his memory could have been off or he could be using the term "leading" because he didn't realize the guy had a whip -- he may have thought the whip was the halter. Alternatively, maybe he liked that term better than "whipping" or "driving."

 

I agree - I cant think of anothe comic book with this motif. Purely for interest, the motif was used at least once on a magazine!

 

 

Rangers #38 more accurately fits the bill!

[Mac Man]

Hey guys! Quick question: Any idea where one can get their hands on a cheap copy of SOTI? It doesn't seem like there are many copies to be found, and considering its infamy in the field, I'm surprised it hasn't seen publication for comics study.

 

*And I just landed a copy of the infamous Crime Suspense Stories 22 for a little SOTI fun! *

[Scrooge]

For study and reference, it's available online ... No need to buy a copy + you can always ILL it, though you might not get the version with the index. Quite a few libraries have copies.

[SOTIcollector]

Any idea where one can get their hands on a cheap copy of SOTI? It doesn't seem like there are many copies to be found, and considering its infamy in the field, I'm surprised it hasn't seen publication for comics study.

 

If you want to buy a copy of Seduction of the Innocent rather than downloading a bootleg, the cheapest route to take is the modern reprint sold through Amazon (was $39.95, but now $44.95). Don't be fooled by their claim of "limited edition," though. It goes into "limited edition" print runs of 220 on a regular basis, and there have been numerous printings over the last several years. It looks as if they print 220 "limited" copies and, when Amazon sells out of those copies, they go back to press for another 220 "limited" copies.

[BOOT]

You asked for it... since SOTI has been my primary focus for years, how about both the original AND the redrawn Peter Penny?

 

 

Anyone have any idea why this was redrawn? What changes were made?

 

 

[Mac Man]

Any idea where one can get their hands on a cheap copy of SOTI? It doesn't seem like there are many copies to be found, and considering its infamy in the field, I'm surprised it hasn't seen publication for comics study.

 

If you want to buy a copy of Seduction of the Innocent rather than downloading a bootleg, the cheapest route to take is the modern reprint sold through Amazon (was $39.95, but now $44.95). Don't be fooled by their claim of "limited edition," though. It goes into "limited edition" print runs of 220 on a regular basis, and there have been numerous printings over the last several years. It looks as if they print 220 "limited" copies and, when Amazon sells out of those copies, they go back to press for another 220 "limited" copies.

 

Yeah, I noticed Amazon is one of the few that provides copies for under $50. I need to get used to being a cheapie Still, with the pile of books I'm buying, anywhere I can save a few $ is welcome.

 

@Scrooge: I probably could get away with library use, but I somehow feel like this is one of *those* books I really need to own a copy of.

[Scrooge]

Have you checked if your school has a copy? I know I've kept books for years at a stretch in my office. Renewed them once a year and kept them on my shelf

[Mac Man]

Well, the college where I teach won't have a copy as it's a community college and that sort of thing wouldn't be within its scope of books and the university where I'm getting my Ph.D. is in Western PA (and I live near Hartford, CT). I'll probably just pony up and buy one--besides, it'll be good to add to the collection.

[Stevenrams]

I remember years ago and I do mean years ago I was a college freshman at UCLA and I checked the URL (University Research Library) to see if the library had a copy. They did not but they discovered that Cal State Los Angeles had one so I borrowed the copy via an interlibrary loan. You would have thought a world famous institution of higher education would have their own copy, but the librarian revealed that their copy had been stolen. Anyway, I borrowed the book for a few weeks, read it, and then returned it. At the time I had only one SOTI book, a Superman 58. Werthatm took umbrage that on the splash page of the first story there was a little boy shooting a police officer with a squirt gun. This, claimed Wertham, showed a disrespect for authority.

 

 

[Larryw7]

I got a copy of SOTI when a Catholic seminary in Connecticut liquidated part of their library. My cost? 50 cents. Unfortunately I sold it.

[BB-Gun]

I remember reading a copy that I borrowed from Chester County (PA) LIbrary back in 1990 but by 2000 it was gone. Probably stolen. Thanks for mentioning the Amazon book editions. I will have it put on my Christmas list.

bb

[SOTIcollector]

You asked for it... since SOTI has been my primary focus for years, how about both the original AND the redrawn Peter Penny?

 

 

Anyone have any idea why this was redrawn? What changes were made?

 

 

I have a reasonable guess as to why it was redrawn.

First, let's take a look at the changes that were made:

This page:

Ended up looking like this.

 

 

Note that it appears as if additional drawing has been added to the bottom of each panel. Panel 1 originally showed only a small corner of the desk; the redrawn panel 1 shows all of the side of the desk. Panel 2 originally stopped at the teacher's calves, but in the redrawn version it stops below the teacher's feet. And so on. There's an additional example of this at the SeductionOfTheInnocent website, and that's where you can see these two pages side-by-side.

 

If you look carefully at the bottom of each panel in the redrawn version, it looks as if it was not drawn by the same artist as the top of each panel. It appears that to create a new version of the book, somebody took the art from the original edition, pasted it to a board with some extra room between the horizontal gutters, and then added new artwork to fill in the space between panels. Maybe a better term for the newer version of the book is "partially redrawn". The artist who added the new art, the bottom 15% or so of each redrawn panel, didn't seem to have the artistic skills of the original artist. For example, the boy's arms are distorted in panel 2, and in panel 4 the table is missing a leg and the boy has both legs but no feet.

 

Now that we have an idea of what was done, we get to the "why" question. Note that the dimensions of the first book are 7 1/8" x 10 1/8" and the dimensions of the partially redrawn one are 6 15/16" x 9 15/16". My guess is that after the success of the first edition, the publisher went back to press but was unable to print the same sized book again. Perhaps it was a new printer, or the old printer got new presses. With a book that was 3/16" shorter on each side, the dimensions had changed, and the artwork had to be modified to fit. It seems a plausible explanation, but one for which I have no further evidence other than what's noted here. If anybody else has any more evidence or another plausible explanation, I'd love to hear about it.

 

 

[excelsior1986]

wertham was a quack. i think he read to much freud or was a perv in his own. im reading "The Ten Cent Plague" right now. about a quarter of the way through. some pretty interesting history in it. if anyones interested in this time in the history of comics i highly suggest it.