Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency (1955) comic books 1938-1955

Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency, Interim Report of the Committee of the Judiciary, a Part of the Investigation of Juvenile Delinquency in the United States (1955, 84th Congress, 1st Session, Report No. 62) is a historically significant piece of comic book history, being the interim report from the Senate sub-committee report on comic books and juvenile delinquency, an investigation headed by Kansas Senator Estes Kefauver. from kansas. This is part of the landmark Senate report from the 84th Congress which led to the Comics Code Authority. This report was part of a larger Senate investigation of juvenile delinquency in the United States. Although lacking in pictures, the report has numerous references to salacious comic book stories that were specifically pointed out and targeted by the committee. A summary of the content includes: a brief history of the development of the comic book industry, the nature of crime and horror comic books (with specific examples), crime and horror comics as a contributing factor in juvenile delinquency, other questionable aspects of comic books, comic books as a medium of communication, where should responsibility of policing horror and crime comic books rest, followed by a concluding summary? There is a 10 page appendix with the following: A) The senate resolutions,; B) The code of the National Cartoonists Society, the code of the Association of Comic Magazine Publishers from 1948, and the code of the Comics Magazine Association of America, adopted October 26, 1954 (the Comics Code Authority); C) Correspondences from the Committee; D) A list of comic book publishers and all comic book titles as of spring, 1954; E) A chart showing the organization of the comic book industry in the United States according to distributor, comic group and publisher in the spring of 1954. Includes testimony by Joe Musial, Walt Kelly and Milt Caniff, as well as Dr. Wertham. Seven stories are specifically highlighted for their content: 1) "Bottoms Up" (Story Comics); 2) "Frisco Mary" (Ace Comics); 3) "With Knife in Hand" (Atlas Comics); 5) "Hhead Room" (Entertaining Comics, EC); 5) "Orphan" (EC); 6) "Heartless" (Story Comics - Mysterious Adventures); and 7) "Stick in the Mud" (Story Comics - Mysterious Adventures). How American comic books are thought of overseas in England and in communist countries, where the belief that comics lead to juvenile delinquency is mirrored. The report had very limited distribution, being generally available only to senators, congressmen and their staff.