Burns comics burn

[samurainoir]

[johnmiic]

All those people can go to their graves knowing those issues would probably be worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Just the the dopes who burned Beatles memorabilia for John Lennon saying The Beatles seemed to be more popular than Jesus Christ.

[ctc]

>All those people can go to their graves knowing those issues would probably be worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

'Course, the irony is that those comics are only worth so much 'cos nobody took care of them. I wonder if the burnings had a significant contribution to golden age scarcity in later decades.

Don C.

[Brazoo]

I can't feel anything with this pic, because I can't make out any of the comics. The only emotion I have is slight contempt for those weird 16-going-on-60 children/adults they had back in the 50s. Creepy and horrible stuff!

[torgospizza]

I guess it's hard for some of us that were raised in a world where super heroes dominate the medium to grasp how pervasive crime books must have been. Does anyone have numbers on how popular they might have been, or is it possible the moral panic made them seem bigger than they were? It often seems like otherwise vapid work is given a huge boost due to infamy (I'm thinking Mike Diana, whom they would have executed in the '50s).

[Figuremod73]

people back in the '50s were a strange lot. at least we got MAD out of it.

[ctc]

>Does anyone have numbers on how popular they might have been, or is it possible the moral panic made them seem bigger than they were?

I don't have exact numbers, but there were a few insanely popular genres. Superheroes took off during the war and almost completely tanked right after. Crime, horror and jungle comics were the dominant genres. They died after the inquest, and what remained became kiddified. MAD survived 'cos it wasn't a comic.... it was a magazine. That distinction saved it from being seen as strictly kid stuff; although the apparent audience wasn't MUCH older.... teens and such.

....and MAD can be seen as a precursor for the undergrounds of the 60's/70's; considering how many of THAT genre's creators were MAD fans....

Superheroes are a weird one, 'cos they didn't really take over until the 80's. Even Marvel and DC published horror, war, western and romance comics well into the 70's.

Don C.

[samurainoir]

Harry Potter books being burned in recent years.

[Figuremod73]

I remember when the Harry Potter books were being burned and I thought about how they might as well burn the Oz books to. Sheesh.
EC did some very interesting stuff after their comic lines were finished, I like the crime stuff that is pretty much stories with illustrations.

[Random Axe]

Too bad those weren't all Liefeld books...

[johnmiic]

Too bad those weren't all Liefeld books...

My brother has 12 long boxes he would like to contribute!

[samurainoir]

My brother has 12 long boxes he would like to contribute!

It's no fair, I never win anything. Send them to me (particularly the 1st appearances of Deadpool and Cable). I've opened a Creature Cantina in Canada and promise to roll around in them in front of needy children while laughing maniacally and railing at the injustice that back issues of Youngbloods cost a quarter here.

[Cosmicman]

It's funny the little **** that got some of these religious turds rattled up back then. They were burning anything that seemed out of normal or looked like it could be 'sinful'.
I think it would be funny if some of them were able to take a look at the music I listen to now a days like Mercyful Fate, Coven, King Diamond or Danzig. They would probably light themselves on fire thinking they saw the devil himself. Geesh.

I'm glad nowadays people are less weird about stuff like that and blaming strange things on whatever they deemed as evil and having personal bonfires. I would give anything to steal that one pile of the Beatles memorabilia/records they were stomping/burning in my Beatles' Anthology DVDs.
What people think they know or think someone says is funny. John Lennon he was just a musician (a good one at that) and a smart *** but not a devil worshipper. It's funny how times have changes with music and art.

[JediJaida]

What gets me is how anyone with half a brain, or even a fourth of a brain could think that comic books, of all things, were responsible for juvenile delinquency, drug use, etc.

Juvenile delinquency is a response to poverty and despair; the kids despair of ever amounting to anything, because most of their teachers tell them "You're going to end up just like your parents!", and what happens? The kids, who have all the potential to change the world for the better, go into a downward spiral, and fulfill their teacher's prophecy of doom.

Sure, some of them turn around, and go onto great things, or even what we consider mediocre things.

But, for the most part, the kids turn out to be like their parents, and the religious morons of the day blame comic books.

Comic books were an escape, at least for me as a child.

They showed a world where certain people had fantastical powers, fought against Snidely Whiplash-esque villains, and managed to win in the end.

That's a bad thing?

People, of all walks of life, need an escape from reality once in a while.

The religious morons didn't say anything about Little Orphan Annie? She went up against Nazis, kidnappers, power hungry nutcases, was put into all sorts of scrapes, and usually managed to escape by the skin of her teeth with the help of her dog, Sandy.

The people back then didn't see that J.D. was mostly the fault of society at large, because they couldn't be bothered with REALLY changing things for the better; like getting rid of Jim Crow laws, educational reform, medicinal reform, etc.

If those in power had even once thought "Huh, racism is bad. Maybe I should try to do something about it, now that I'm a Senator/Governor/whatever." the world might not have turned into such a messed up place in the 60's.

It took the efforts of simple people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and others in order to do away with racism.

And they were hated for it, why?

Because they made those in power, who should have been doing their jobs, and not covering their enormous rear ends, look bad.

To this day, there are people who hate comic books. They hate books period, because books cause people to think for themselves, and give them ideas on how to make their lives and the lives of others better.

It's no different than those who didn't want the printing press to be a success, way back when.

They didn't want common people to get ideas on bettering themselves. (Ewwww, they're acting like they have feelings! shudder, shudder. And they're getting uppity and demanding that we treat them like people instead of serfs and slaves, and infidels! We have to burn printing presses or make books too expensive to buy! That'll teach them!) was the prevailing thought of those in power.

Come on people! They are just COMIC BOOKS! They are works of fiction!

Get over yourselves and go back to your lives, such as they are, and leave the rest of us to the adventures of the Avengers, X-Men, Superman, et al.

Your opinions are neither asked for, nor wanted, and are not welcome!

[Figuremod73]

I wonder how the guy who created wonder woman would have felt to have witnessed this. He was a psychologist, right?