Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is SOTI?
A: Seduction of the Innocent, often referred to by its initials (SOTI), is a book written by once-respected psychiatrist
Dr. Fredric Wertham, MD. Initially published in 1954, SOTI harshly criticized comic books as being harmful to
children. The publication of SOTI led to a Senate investigation of the influence of comic books on children,
and to the Comics Code Authority. SOTI helped bring about the demise of numerous comic book titles and publishers,
including EC Comics and many others. For more on SOTI, check out Wikipedia's entry on SOTI.
Q: What is the mission of SeductionOfTheInnocent.org?
A: SeductionOfTheInnocent.org is dedicated to the gathering and dissemination of information about
the mid-20th-century crusade to suppress, censor, or ban comic books, that culminated with the publication of Seduction of the Innocent
and Association of Comics Magazine Publishers' Comics Code Authority. The specific focus at the moment is on comics used in Seduction of the Innocent, and as time
and interest allow, the focus will expand to include related items such as Parade of Pleasure, Love and Death, Sterling North's
articles, and more.
Q: How could Dr. Wertham, who had a pretty impressive scientific background, have been so wrong?
A: Everybody makes mistakes. How could millions of people have bought a Milli Vanilli CD? Nobody's been able to explain it yet, but it happened.
Q: How can I contribute information to SOTI.org?
A: Just send us an E-mail! 
It's that simple.
Q: How can I help? If you're a "dot.org", you must be looking for money, right?
A: Frankly, no. We're really just looking for information. Of course, everybody's looking for money. If you'd care to make a NON-tax-deductible contribution to our efforts,
feel free to send us all the cash you can spare. But that's not why we're here, and we're doing this on a shoestring
budget (pretty close to $0). This doesn't cost us much, so we don't need much. We're really not asking for anything but information.
Q: How much is my copy of Seduction of the Innocent worth?
A: There's a really simple answer to that question. It's "worth" what somebody is willing to pay for it. The same could be said of any
collectible. While that statement is universally true, many people hope to assign a precise dollar amount to an item they have.
To find out something's "worth", you need to evaluate what buyers are willing to pay and how much sellers are willing to accept. Keep in mind that as with any collectible,
condition plays a significant role in what collectors are willing to pay. Here are some of the
prices from actual sales we've seen in the past few years: Modern (1996-2004) printing: $35-$90 in like-new condition. 1954 Second Printing: $65-$200.
1954 First printing, second state: $100-$350. 1954 first printing, first state (with bibliography): $150-$1000 and more. To see how much some sellers would like to
get for the copies they have for sale, search Amazon.com, Alibris.com, and eBay.com. To see how much some buyers have actually paid for the copies they purchased,
check completed auctions at eBay.com.
