Equal Time

In the interests of fairness, check out the following article on Slate questioning if Dr. Frederic Wertham is perhaps fairly labeled by comic fans and creators alike as the Joseph Stalin of the comic book world.

It’s a decent read.

However, inasmuch as I enjoy torching uptight moral crusaders, considering what a spectacular failure Wertham’s attempt—via his highly dubious study on the social impact of comics on young readers, The Seduction of The Innocent—at social engineering has proven 54 years later, I find it difficult to gin up much anger in his direction. In fact, I’d wager that most comic readers under the age of 25 have no idea who Frederic Wertham is, much less what his bizarre psycho-scribble was about.

In other words, Wertham is well on his way to being utterly forgotten, both by history and pop culture. And as such, we should do nothing to slow that course from finishing itself out.