{"id":5065,"date":"2011-11-07T07:21:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T12:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=5065"},"modified":"2019-11-27T14:04:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T19:04:59","slug":"comics-will-rot-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/11\/07\/comics-will-rot-your-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Comics Will Rot Your Brain!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Despite my love of comic books, there used to be a breed of comic magazines with lurid covers that Dr. Frederic Wertham<\/a><\/strong><\/em> was probably right about. They probably would <\/strong>rot your brain.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Victim of brain rot and male pattern baldness – a lost soul!<\/p><\/div>\n

I used to see these magazines in the same section as the detective and the really tawdry celebrity scandal rags near the spinning comic rack. I was repulsed\u00a0 and intrigued by the covers featuring badly rendered blood soaked monsters mutilating one another and either a buxom zombie or vampire girl barely dressed in tattered clothing that was perpetually in danger of falling away from some of the more intimate, R-Rated bits. I always wanted to look at them, but it seemed wrong, and I was terrified that the lady at the cash register would notice me ogling such trash. Spider-Man<\/em> and Fantastic Four<\/em> comics were fine entertainment, but there was something wrong with these black and whites.<\/p>\n

I don’t really recall looking at them at the time. I may have and been disappointed by the quality of the printing and the pedestrian to sub-par art. Warren Publishing’s<\/strong> black and white magazine comics (Vampirella, Creepy, Famous Monsters<\/em>) were trashy, but they seem like the height of sophistication compared to something like Witches’ Tales<\/em> and some of Eerie Publications<\/strong><\/a> other rags. Also, in the body of the comics there was nothing like the frightful free-for-alls depicted on the covers. There is no knock-down, drag-out, ultimate fighting bouts between vampires and werewolves except on the lurid covers.<\/p>\n

These weird black and white comics went with a magazine format that wasn’t under the purview of the Comics Code Authority<\/strong><\/a>. EC Comics had done the same thing with Mad Magazine<\/strong><\/em> when they were forced to abandon their horror and crime comic lines. The difference is that Mad<\/strong> was more effective working outside of the Code’s stringent guidelines, and it had hysterically funny stories by the top comic talents of the field while Eerie’s<\/strong> rags appealed to mouth-breathing morons.\"\"<\/a>There weren’t many ads in these magazines unlike Warren’s<\/strong> books which were packed to the gills with 8mm movies, posters and rubber masks. Eerie Publications’<\/strong> ads seemed to be aimed squarely at juvenile delinquents, mental defectives and ne’er do wells.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Parasitic germ organisms are making you go bald? Double your money back?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The back cover shows the typical comic ads that everybody chuckles about like X-Ray Specs and bald wigs, but take a closer look at what is among the 7 Foot monsters and Raquel Welch pillows<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Switchblades and pellet guns. Sounds like somebody’s going to lose and eye and\/or have a stretch in juvie.<\/em> Permanent records will be shredded! Your second grade teacher always had a bad feeling about you!<\/p>\n

Even if you get the magazine past the judgmental cashier at the drug store, you better not let Mom see you with this!<\/p>\n

I’d like to thank Bill Cucinotta<\/strong><\/a> who lent me a fantastic box filled with Eerie Publications and similar magazines. I had seen and bought some of Marvel’s black and white magazines, but I never had the chance of really examining the brain rotting, bottom feeding trash mags. Thanks, Bill!<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite my love of comic books, there used to be a breed of comic magazines with lurid covers that Dr. Frederic Wertham was probably right about. They probably would rot your brain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[335],"tags":[11,988,994,990,993,76,391,992,991,828,989],"class_list":["post-5065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-what-i-miss-about-comics","tag-bill-cucinotta","tag-black-and-white","tag-blood","tag-bottom-feeder","tag-eerie-publication","tag-horror","tag-monsters","tag-reform-school","tag-switch-blade","tag-trash","tag-witches-tales"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Witches-Tales-detail.jpg?fit=640%2C634&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-1jH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41217,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/08\/17\/with-the-comico-boys\/","url_meta":{"origin":5065,"position":0},"title":"With The Comico Boys","author":"Joe","date":"August 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the well worn stack of comics that I refer to as Barbershop Comics was an old issue of the X-Men that hit the stands late in 1981. There is nothing special about that particular issue, but the advertisement above for comic conventions caught my eye. I attended the Philadelphia\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/X-MEN-153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40095,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/02\/21\/na-na-na-gonna-have-a-good-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":5065,"position":1},"title":"Na – Na – Na – Gonna have a good time!","author":"Joe","date":"February 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in 1984 Philadelphia's own Bill Cosby was a giant in the field of entertainment. He was the star of both the television and silver screen, filled arenas with his stand-up comedy act and sold tons of vinyl records recording his comedy routines. He was wildly popular so why not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/The-COZ.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/The-COZ.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/The-COZ.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3221,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/06\/24\/meet-the-swingers-monkey-bird-continues\/","url_meta":{"origin":5065,"position":2},"title":"Meet The Swingers! Monkey & Bird Continues!","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The movie wasn't so hot, but Mickey and Sylvia's date goes on as Monkey & Bird continues at CO2 Comics! Catch up with cutest couple in comics (according to my sister-in-law Pat) by clicking HERE!!! But wait, THERE'S MORE!!! This week, I thought I'd throw in a couple of sketches\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Monkey & Bird"","block_context":{"text":"Monkey & Bird","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/monkey-bird\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/ch2-09-ink-PROMO-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41584,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/09\/27\/a-james-bond-bait-and-switch\/","url_meta":{"origin":5065,"position":3},"title":"A James Bond Bait and Switch","author":"Joe","date":"September 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember seeing this issue of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu back in 1975 sitting on a shelf among lurid detective magazines and other black and white comics like Creepy and Eerie at Davis Drug in Westville, NJ. I was never a fan of Marvel's line of martial arts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17146,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2014\/08\/26\/instant-arsenal-of-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":5065,"position":4},"title":"Instant Arsenal of Power","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I chuckle at how crude the ads were in comic books with their utter lack of finesse and marketing acumen, but when I think about it, I realize that these advertisers didn't have to rely on focus groups or demographics. They had their audience perfectly pegged. Young males with power\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Our-Army-at-War-1974.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Our-Army-at-War-1974.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Our-Army-at-War-1974.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36406,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2021\/08\/10\/a-weighty-request\/","url_meta":{"origin":5065,"position":5},"title":"A Weighty Request","author":"Joe","date":"August 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When you have about an inch of column space and are competing for eyeballs with Sea Monkeys, switchblade pocket combs and get-rich schemes, subtlety is a luxury advertisers in comic books could not afford. The advertisement above along with dozens of other ads making offers that were probably too good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Curious Clutter"","block_context":{"text":"Curious Clutter","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/curious-clutter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Sue-and-John.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}