The pictures that horrified America

[poppysgal]

(CNN) -- World War II was over, but as the 1940s gave way to the 1950s, a new evil lurked in the land.

The cover of David Hajdu's "Ten-Cent Plague," shown here, was drawn by Charles Burns.

It attracted a youthful audience -- boys, mostly -- who fell victim to its colorful images, dripping in red, and gave money to its purveyors.

Authorities took notice. The United States had a new menace, they said, one whose name started with "c" and whose first syllable rhymed with "bomb."

Comic books.

"The country was fixated on this," said David Hajdu, author of the recently released "The Ten-Cent Plague" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a history of the era.

These weren't just any comic books, the ones filled with the derring-do of superheroes. These had names such as "Tales from the Crypt," "Shock SuspenStories" and "Justice Traps the Guilty," and they told stories of crime and horror. Their cover images included alluring women (often in low-cut outfits), decaying corpses and spooky, murky swamps.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/05/08/comic.books/index.html

[poppysgal]

1. I just wanted to add

that these comic books are now classics, many considered highly collectible and are valuable. I remember reading them as a little kid (my big brothers stash) and some of them like "Tales from the Crypt" were really fun. I never realized there was so much turmoil over them.:dilemma:

[Echo In Light]

2. Yep. There's a doc film on renown horror film directors...

Guys like George Romero, John Carpenter, Roger Corman, David Cronenberg, etc weighing in on how the establishment didn't like the EC comics/Tales From The Crypt/Creepy, etc. Steve King's non-fiction account of how he became interested in the genre, Dance Macabre, is also an interesting source on the subject. After the audiences grew tired of the "classic" Universal Studios monsters, and they became fodder for the likes of Abbott and Costello, the public was accustomed to watered down cliches, and the upcoming wave of directors, writers and authors really shook the establishment by not adhering to the same formula.

[poppysgal]

4. the graphics

were awesome as well, When I think back and remember that this was not that many years after "Ozzie and Harriet" it probably did seem a little far out. But they sure did inspire the imagination. I was always such a sci-fi nut though.:bounce:

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. Reading through

a boxful of tattered old EC comics was the earliest catalyst for me that eventually saw me running the Star Wars comics line from Dark Horse Comics. My folks didn't care for the comics--I'm sure my mother would have been happier had I grabbed a volume of Nathaniel Hawthorne instead--but they also encouraged me to read anything and everything.

I credit graphic narratives (the high-blown term for comics) with opening my eyes to literature, graphic design, history, ability to tell really good ghost stories when camping, etc.