Berlin, May 10, 1933. A gigantic blaze rises in the heart of the German capital, projecting disturbing shadows around the Place de l’Opéra. Excessive, monstrous shadows. The freshly elected Nazis ordered to bring together all the titles representing “The non -German spirit” and burn them in public places. It’s done. Flames several meters high lick the bindings of the works signed Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Victor Hugo or Ernest Hemingway… “Against decadence and moral forfeiture!”vociferate a student by delivering a dozen manuscripts to the stake.
The scene is tragic. Throwing a book in fire already has a deadly gesture. On this ruthless night, it is not only words, but knowledge, tolerance and humanity that are consumed. The columns of gray ash which swirl above the Place de l’Opéra Berlin will soon be supplanted by the smoke from the crematorium ovens … “Where we burn the books, we end up burning men”prophesied the poet Heinrich Heine in 1821. The works of the German Jewish writer are also part of the charred titles, whether in Berlin or in around twenty other cities in Germany at the same time.
One would have thought that the Nazi scarecrow would serve as an example. Rejecting. However, the Flames of the Autodafés will not go out with the armistice: fifteen years after the fateful Berlin night, a new rumor of fire points … on the other side of the Atlantic. In Pendleton, Los Angeles, Auburn, Buffalo, Memphis, Indiana, the flames devour new titles between 1948 and 1954. Except that it is no longer the “non -German” works that are persecuted, but pure American products. In the middle of the blackened pages, there are tight costumes, some onomatopoeias … and the burned face of Superman.
Pulp friction
Figures of the pulp literature which democratized in the United States in the 1920s, superheroes and superheroines are the products of an anxious era. Sanded by the great depression, caused by the 1929 stock market crash, the American population turns to these cheap magazines, drawn on poor quality paper (the term “pulp” designates the wood fiber residues used for their manufacture), to escape from a gloomy daily life. Superman (1938) then Batman (1939), avenging hero who is in injustice, were the firstborn of this tormented period, followed by Captain America (1940) and Wonder Woman (1941).
Success is there. In a few years, dozens of colorful characters flood the kiosks and the prosperous industry. In 1948, she recorded $ 72 million in sales over the year, a considerable sum if it is brought to the sales price of comics, between 10 and 50 cents per unit … This new form of art, however, is far from pleased everyone. Conservative circles are concerned about seeing their children devour adventures where heroines in small clothes are rescued by bodybuilded males, all in a large deluge of hemoglobin. What if these influences were dangerous?
Wertham vs superman
This is what the psychologist of German origin Fredric Wertham (1895-1981) seems to think. Practitioner in a Harlem clinic in New York, the latter catalyzes popular anger by publishing Seduction of the Innocent (1954), a work in which he accuses comic books to corrupt the morality of young people. “Murders, crimes and drug trafficking are offered to children in a literature that the defenders of comics call the modern version of the stories of the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen or Tales from my mother L’Oye, he protests. But are there heroinomaniacs at Grimm, Marijuana smokers at Andersen or drug traffickers at the mother’s mother? ”
His fixed idea: according to him, reading these illustrated magazines would promote juvenile delinquency. Citing some various facts in which young readers would have committed reprehensible acts, Fredric Wertham calls for their general censorship. But since 91 to 95% of children aged 6 to 11 read comics, how can we be surprised that certain offenders are also readers?
Even if the words of the German-American psychiatrist are not supported by any solid evidence (it will be revealed later that he had made the elements of his study), Fredric Wertham manages to ignite the good conscience of conservative America, then in full hunt for macCarthyst witchs. Superstitious parents, fascinating politicians, scouting clubs and evangelists go so far as to organize comic book pys through American metropolises, encouraging children to throw their favorite magazines! “Depravation for children: 10 cents per copy”can we read on newspapers … In Rumson, in New Jersey, the mayor gives rewards to the Boy Scouts which harvest the most comics-the winner receiving the privilege of lighting the autodafé itself.
A Comic Book Burning from 1954. A Public Fear of Comic Books result in the comics code Authority to be establised the same year. This reactionary measure was taken to censor comic books and deem them appropriat for children. Can you find the ec comics in this photo? pic.twitter.com/9bildmzmdj
– EC comics (@eccomics) January 15, 2024
The gagged superheroes
Relayed by the mainstream national media, Fredric Wertham’s concerns are lighting new pins between 1948 and 1954. The controversy ended up taking over the management of the American Senate, where the psychologist takes on the role of a dependent witness. “I think Adolf Hitler was a beginner compared to the Comic Books industryhe declares in response to a question of a democratic senator. She attacks children much earlier. She teaches them racial hatred at the age of 4, before they could read. ” To spare poor advertising that would precipitate industry in turmoil, comic book giants must react. In 1954, they established the comics code Authority (CCA), a set of rules now governing the publication of comic book magazines.
The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was created to regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member Publishers Submit Comic Books to the CCA, Which Screens them for conformance to its comics code, and authorizes the use of their seal on the cover if the books comply. pic.twitter.com/5zl4LFXJAP
– Captain Zakk (@zakkisbatman) April 14, 2024
This new regulation is like Professor Wertham: traditionalist, boring, moralizing. Among the recommended editorial choices, it becomes necessary to make the Gentiles triumph at the end (for fear of glorifying the Bad Guys) and to banish ghouls, vampires, zombies and other supernatural creatures of small boxes. Other victims: the female protagonists. “The inclusion of women in stories is specifically discouragedspecifies a memo of National Comics Publications (future DC Comics) in 1954. Women, when used in the structure of the plot, must have secondary importance and be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of female physical qualities. ”
Forced relations for Batman and Robin
No publication is spared. We denounce the “fascist” character of Superman, is alarmed by the sadomasochistic trends of Wonder Woman, villes the homoerotic ambiguities of Batman and Robin … To receive the seal of approval from the CCA, the content must be sanitized, standardized, evacuating all violence or vulgarity. It was at this time that Wonder Woman, a figure of emancipation much appreciated by young American, was forced to return to his home … to take care of his offspring. Batman and Robin receive girlfriends, respectively Batwoman (1956) and Batgirl (1961), in order to dispel any misunderstanding about their sexuality!
Unsurprisingly, the purge bleeds the Comic Books market. Between 1954 and 1956, almost half of them evaporated kiosks, pushing hundreds of unemployed designers, designers and colorists. The CCA Conservative Policy will continue its grip until the end of the 1980s, notably banishing the transgender and LGBT+characters, forcing the industry giants to explore fairly agreed creative avenues. An ultimate transgression of the original spirit of the pulps, whose subversive and provocative content will have to remain in the drawer until the resurgence of darker comics (Watchmen,, Daredevil,, The Punisheretc.) in the 1990s. The fire lasted half a century.
