A Matter of Standards

In the late 1940s, public burnings of comic books took place outside schools in New York State. By June 1953, things had got to such a pretty pass that a special subcommittee of the House of Representatives was set up to investigate. Put in front of it was the publisher Bill Gaines, of EC comics, responsible for many of the low points of the new ‘dreadfuls’, such as a story entitled ‘Foul Play’, which involved a man’s intestines being used to mark out a baseball pitch. Here is part of the official house transcript of the interview: SENATOR

Here is your May 22 issue [of Crime SuspenStories]. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman’s head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that is in good taste?

PUBLISHER

Yessir, I do – for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that the neck could be seen dripping blood from it and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody.

SENATOR

You have blood coming out of her mouth.

PUBLISHER

A little.

SENATOR

Here is blood on the axe. I think most adults are shocked by that.

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

Here is another one I want to show him … (earnestly, leaning over).

SENATOR

This is the July one. It seems to be a man with a woman in a boat and he is choking her to death with a crowbar. Is that in good taste?

PUBLISHER

I think so.

SENATOR’S AIDE

How could it be worse?

Maurice looks at the dreadful stuff in front of him, and then at the publisher’s defence. It seems a bit feeble.