Colton Waugh's 1947 book, The Comics focused primarily on comic strips. However, one chapter was devoted to comic books. In that one chapter, you'll find a criticism of one specific comic book. Compare Waugh's description below to the comic book he must have been looking at: Alex Schomburg's cover to Speed Comics #33. Take a typical comic-book cover of World War II days. Scene, a Jap wireless shack, through whose open door is seen a vessel being dive-bombed and bursting into flames. Which side is that ship on? It isn't obvious. In the foreground a Jap is sending a message under difficulties; he screams, revealing hideous buck-teeth as he sends. A baseball bat swung by a tough youngster has smashed him on the head in a white explosion. Another Jap, with bloody Samurai sword in one hand, spitting gun in the other, has has also been socked by a noble, hooded male in brilliant blue. Meanwhile a blood-red blond man is smashing the power plant with his gloved fists -- Hey! Look out! There's a green Jap splut-sputting him with a machine gun! Yes, but see that blond, teen-age girl crouching on the pink table; she's got a blood-red ax; she's coming down on the Jap's head, or is she? A hideous, shaven crook is leaning through a porthole aiming a blowgun at her -- Yeah, but see that youngster in the blue business suit jabbing a bayoneted rifle at the whole group -- But another jap is reaching at him! Ah, but a gorgeous superwoman with blood-red hair and highly stylized harlequin mask, through which peer blood-white eyes is strangling the Jap with one of her delicate arms, as with the other, she -- oh, well. The layout artist, on completing this page, probably looked hopelessly at it, figured it was a failure. He had used up every inch of available screaming space, yet, there was no block of ice enclosing a glorious, frozen girl about to be sawed in half by a ghoulish hellscientist done up in a whie coat and pince-nez. Probably the editor, looking at this cover, said to himself, "That layout guy Prangle is slipping. We gotta get more action."

In the mid-1950's, the pamphlet "The Truth About Comic Books" was published. This religious tract quotes from Wertham's November, 1953 Ladies' Home Journal article, but does not mention Seduction of the Innocent, so it would seem that this was published between November, 1954 and the publication date of SOTI (April, 1954). Many thanks to eBayer Comicstew (Stewart Silver) for discovering this previously-unknown piece of comic book history and for providing this information! More to come!

Editorial Responses to the attacks on comic books The Overstreet Price Guide notes that several Marvel comics have anti-Wertham editorials. However, the scope of Marvel's published defense against the anti-comics attacks goes far beyond what's noted in the Guide. It appears that in most if not all comics for an eight-month period, Marvel included editorial material defending their publications from Dr. Wertham and other critics. There were four different editorials from November, 1948 through June, 1949, one of which responded to Dr. Wertham's accusations directly and referred to him by name. Editorial #1 First, this editorial appeared in the Marvel books cover dated November and December, 1948. Editorial #2 In January and February, 1949, the following editorial appeared in Marvel's books. Editorial #3 In March and April, 1949, this editorial appeared in Marvel's books. Editorial #4 In June, 1949, this editorial appeared in Marvel's books. It probably appeared in May as well, but we have yet to confirm that. Below are some of the books that contained these editorials. Unless a specific editorial is noted, we're working to verify exactly which editorials were in which books.
Title	Issue
ALL WESTERN WINNERS	3
BLAZE CARSON	3	Editorial #2 Read it!
BLONDE PHANTOM	22
CAPTAIN AMERICA	71
CINDY COMICS	32	Editorial #1 Read it!
CINDY COMICS	33	Editorial #2 Read it!
CINDY COMICS	34	Editorial #3 Read it! This information was contributed by eBayer ThePillowQueen.
CRIMEFIGHTERS	5	Editorial #1 Read it!
CRIMEFIGHTERS	6	Editorial #2 Read it!
CRIMEFIGHTERS	7	Editorial #3 Read it!
FRANKIE AND LANA COMICS	13	Editorial #2 Read it!
FRANKIE AND LANA COMICS	14	Editorial #3 Read it!
GAY COMICS	35	One of Marvel's editorials defending against Wertham's charges. Thanks to eBayer ThePillowQueen for the info. This information does not appear in the Overstreet Guide.
GAY COMICS	37	Editorial #3 Read it! Thanks to eBayer Doyman for the info. This information does not appear in the Overstreet Guide.
GEORGIE AND JUDY COMICS	21	Editorial #2 Read it!
GEORGIE AND JUDY COMICS	22	Editorial #3 Read it!
HEDY DEVINE COMICS	32
JUNIOR MISS	33	Editorial #2 Read it!
JUSTICE COMICS	8
KID COLT OUTLAW	4	Editorial #2 Read it!
LANA	4	Editorial #2 Read it!
LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE	6
LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE	7	Editorial #3 Read it!
MARGIE	45
MARVEL MYSTERY	89	Editorial #1
MITZI'S BOY FRIEND	5	Editorial #1
MITZI'S BOY FRIEND	6
MY ROMANCE	2	Editorial #1 Read it!
MY ROMANCE	3	Editorial #2 Read it!
MY OWN ROMANCE	4	Editorial #3 Read it!
NELLIE THE NURSE	17	Editorial #2 No mention of this in Overstreet.
OSCAR COMICS	8	Editorial #1; not noted in Overstreet as such. Thanks to eBayer ThePillowQueen for this info! Read it!
OSCAR COMICS	10	Editorial #3 Read it!
PATSY WALKER	20	Editorial #1 Read it!
PATSY WALKER	21	Editorial #2 Read it!
TEEN COMICS	30
TESSIE THE TYPIST	20
TEX TAYLOR	4	Editorial #2 Read it!
TWO-GUN KID	5	Marvel's Anti-Wertham editorial (1st?)
TWO-GUN KID	6	Editorial #2
TWO-GUN KID	7	Editorial #3
VENUS	3	Editorial #1
VENUS	4	Editorial #3
VENUS	5	Editorial #4
WILD WESTERN	6	Editorial #2 Read it!

Misc.
Title	Issue
ADVENTURES INTO DARKNESS	13	Cannibalism story cited by TE Murphy in article(s).
CRIME DOES NOT PAY	63	Issues 63, 64- Possible use in SOTI
HAUNT OF FEAR	27	Wertham cameo appearance
JO-JO COMICS	15	Cited by Dr. Wertham in May 29, 1948 Saturday Review of Literature article. Read it! Overstreet erroneously lists the date as 5/47.
JUNGLE COMICS	104	In Camilla story, villain is Dr. Wertham
MISTER MYSTERY	3	Anti-Wertham editorial Read it!
PANIC	3	Senate Subcommittee parody
SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES	15	Used in 1954 Reader's Digest article
SPIRIT	2/27/1949	Wertham appears in the story as Dr. Wolfgang Worry. A middle school music teacher is driven insane by a crime comic he rescues from a bonfire. This was reprinted in the Spirit #5.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT	40	Used in Senate hearings & in Hartford Courant
VAULT OF HORROR	36	"Pipe Dream" classic opium addict story
WEIRD FANTASY	13	EC's Anti-Wertham "Cosmic Correspondence"
WEIRD MYSTERIES	5	Anti-Wertham column. Read it!
WEIRD MYSTERIES	8	Used in a '54 Readers Digest anti-comics article

More Anti-Comics Items In the 1940's and 1950's, comics were under attack by books, articles, and radio talk shows. Since then, there have been sporadic attacks on comics. One such attack was launched in the pages of Seduction of the Innocent Revisited by John Fulce, published in 1990. Both SOTI and SOTI Revisited had authors with strong anti-comics opinions, and both books cited numerous examples of comics the authors felt were harmful. However, that's where the similiarities between the two books end. Whereas SOTI was written by a well-respected psychiatrist who had impeccable research and psychiatric credentials, SOTI Revisited cites as its author's primary credentials the fact that he previously owned a comic book store before becoming a religious crusader. The original Seduction of the Innocent had an enormous impact upon popular culture and nearly killed the comic book industry, but SOTI Revisited had virtually no impact whatsoever on the industry. "Revisited" is mentioned here largely because of its name, and not because the content or influence of the book warrants its inclusion.