What Worried Wertham?

For the fourth consecutive year, I decided to reread and blog about Seduction of the Innocent, Fredric Wertham's influential tome attacking the comic book industry. One argument that I previously overlooked was Wertham's belief that the abundance of illustrations within comic books stifled the imagination, as evidenced by children reproducing graphic images from comic books in their own drawings.

In Wertham's opinion as a psychiatrist, comic books lacked the constructive escapism often found in fairy tales. He cited reports of boys hurting themselves by leaping from high places while pretending to be superheroes. He added that even comic books extolling the dangers of drug addiction invariably taught children how to use heroin and other narcotics. Such hazards, according to Wertham, were compounded because comic books were themselves habit-forming. At the time of his writing in 1954, approximately 90 million comic books sold each month in the United States.

While conceding that other factors might also contribute to juvenile delinquency, Wertham cautioned adults against underestimating the negative impact of comics. The following excerpt from Seduction of the Innocent comes from the closing paragraph of Chapter II:

		Once in the waiting room of the Clinic I saw a little boy crouched over a comic book, oblivious to everything around him. In passing I could see the title of this story he was reading. Big capitals spelled out T A R Z A N. Surely, I thought, the adventures of Tarzan are harmless enough for juveniles of any age. But I was misled, as many parents no doubt are. … Tarzan was not the whole title of the story I had seen the boy in the waiting room reading. There was a subtitle "The Wyoming Killer" and two other headings, "From Police Files" and "A True Crime Story." The story was not about Tarzan, but about a hero who robbed a bank and shot five men to death.

Over the past century, several companies did publish comic books based on the Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Marvel's monthly Tarzan series ran 1977-79.

Secret Origins of the Headmen

Three of the four criminals who would later form the Headmen first appeared in tales published in science-fiction and suspense anthologies. Those cerebral stories ran as reprints in Weird Wonder Tales #7 (December 1974).

Dr. Arthur Nagan led a group of aging men on a jungle expedition in the story titled "It Walks Erect!" Building on his prior research, Nagan exchanged internal organs from each of the men with those of a captured gorilla. The procedure made the men feel young and vigorous while greatly weakening the ape. As a form of retaliation, a group of gorillas attacked Nagan and placed his head on the body of an ape, turning him into a Gorilla-Man.

Before ever becoming Shrunken Bones, Jerry Morgan was a scientist with big ambitions. But when not even his step-brother believed in him, Jerry threw out the experimental vapor he'd been developing. In irony of ironies, step-brother Sam happened to walk through the cloud of Cellular Shrinkage Vapor. Inadvertently reduced to a few inches in height, Sam Morgan was a "Prisoner of the Fantastic Fog."

The mysterious Chondu attracted his share of critics early on when speaking of the powers of the mind. But he proved the nay-sayers wrong, and even acted heroically, in his debut adventure titled "The Wrath of Chondu!" When an escaped convict threatened to murder Chondu on the street, the mentalist made the criminal's gun vanish—then mystically banished the crook to limbo.

"It Walks Erect!" originally appeared in Mystery Tales #21 (Sept. 1954).

"Prisoner of the Fantastic Fog" first appeared in World of Fantasy #11 (April 1958).

"The Wrath of Chondu!" originally ran in Tales of Suspense #9 (May 1960).

What If…? Alternate Origins

The Defenders never starred in their own issue of What If?, but #37 featured parallel tales about two members of the team.

In his classic origin story, Norrin Radd persuaded Galactus to spare his homeworld of Zenn-La. In exchange, he became the Silver Surfer, commissioned to locate other planets for Galactus to devour. After meeting the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer begged Galactus to spare Earth as well (Fantastic Four #48-50).

"What if Galactus Had Turned the Silver Surfer Back into Norrin Radd?" In this alternate reality, Galactus responded by returning the philosophical Surfer to his original, human-like self. With space-travel technology from Mr. Fantastic, Norrin Radd then returned home only to find a tragic twist of fate. His long lost love, Shalla-Bal, had become the new herald of Galactus in a renewed agreement to preserve Zenn-La. Galactus removed all memories of her former life so she would not challenge him, as the Surfer had. Out of erroneous respect, Galactus also restored powers to Norrin Radd, but with a catch. The Silver Surfer was now trapped on Zenn-La, unable to embark into space or reunite with his true love as she roamed the cosmos.

Of the original X-Men, Beast was the first to break from the team and attempt to lead a normal life. Accepting a post as a biochemist with the Brand Corporation, Hank McCoy developed a formula to augment mutations. The result boosted Hank's abilities but left him covered in fur (Amazing Adventures #11). After a half-crazed period of adjustment, Beast continued fighting crime (usually sporting only blue shorts, like Thing of the Fantastic Four).

"What if--the Beast Had Truly Become a Beast?" In this alternate reality, Beast did not regain his composure after the accentuated mutation, attacking his friends in the X-Men while seeking their help. Though still reasonably intelligent, Beast's brutal instincts made him ill-fit for society. Comparing their friend to a wild animal that should not be caged, the X-Men brought Beast to the Savage Land to assist the jungle hero Ka-Zar.

What If ? Vol. 1, No. 37. February 1983. "What if--the Beast Had Truly Become a Beast?" Alan Weiss (scripter/penciler), Jim Sherman (inker/colorist). "What if Galactus Had Turned the Silver Surfer Back into Norrin Radd?" David Anthony Kraft (scripter), Mike Vosburg (penciler), Steve Mitchell (inker), Diana Albers (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist), Mike Gruenwald (editor), Jim Shooter (editor in chief).