Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign

by John A. Lent (Editor)

"The campaign in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s to rid comic books of their violent content, and often-times to obliterate the medium itself, had far-reaching and deeply felt reverberations. Spearheaded by moralists, educators, politicians, and psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham, anti-comics crusades led to book burnings, town meetings, periodical discourses, and the draconian Comics Code, recognized as the most oppressive act of self-censorship in this country's history. At issue was the possible link between comic books and juvenile delinquency, although then-current concerns about communist infiltration, lowered educational levels, and moral decay also crept into the arguments."--BOOK JACKET. "Pulp Demons is the first systematic study of the fallout of the American controversy abroad. Eight distinguished scholars survey the historical roots, chief players, and sociocultural/political implications of anti-comics campaigns in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Using primary data gathered through interviews, content analyses, and searches of private papers and public documents, they fashion a fascinating account overall of one of the most prolonged, wide-ranging, and vicious attacks ever leveled at a mass medium, enveloping a mix of odd bedfellows that included the Communist Party, anticommunist groups, religious denominations, the cartoonists, and others."--BOOK JACKET.

306 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

John Lent edited the journal Asian Cinema and chairs both the Asian Cinema Studies Society and the Asian Popular Culture Group of the Popular Culture Society. He has authored over 60 books and co-organized the International Symposium on Chinese Film held at Swarthmore College in 2000.