EXTRACTS: Illustrators Crime Comics Special © 2020 Book Palace Books (144 pages in full edition)

15 censorious book, ‘Seduction of the Innocent’. Crime comics were second only to horror comics in regards to the degree of outrage they attracted. Publisher Bill Gaines managed to straddle both genres with titles such as Crime Suspenstories and its sister title Shock Suspenstories. Wertham’s book, along with strident pronouncements by politicians and other worthies, ultimately led to the setting up of a Senate subcommittee chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver in 1954, and even though the hearings ultimately went nowhere, Kefauver having bigger fish to fry, the parade of comic book publishers in front of the committee and, the resultant opprobrium heaped upon the industry, led to the emasculation of what had once been a medium noted for its raw vitality. With the introduction of the Comics Code, the spark went out of action comics: the few remaining superheroes were left to battle it out with aliens and mad scientists, the more fantastic the villains, the less threatening they became. Crime comics, along with horror comics, were considered well beyond the pale and the genre would not be revived until the early 1980s In France the tradition of crime and detective fiction has spawned many great comic strips, not least of which is Nestor Burma , scripted by Leo Malet and drawn by Jaques Tardi. © Casterman 1780 - 2020 © Casterman 1780 - 2020 © Casterman 1780 - 2020