Wertham’s personal archives, however, show that the doctor revised children’s ages, distorted their quotes, omitted other causal factors and in general “played fast and loose with the data he gathered on comics,” according to an article by Carol Tilley, published in a recent issue of Information and Culture: A Journal of History.
“Lots of people have suspected for years that Wertham fudged his so-called clinical evidence in arguing against comics, but there’s been no proof,” Tilley said. “My research is the first definitive indication that he misrepresented and altered children’s own words about comics.”
http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0211comics_CarolTilley.html (via mattfractionblog)
A pretty amazing story if yr a comics fan (even if it is just confirming what everyone thought) - it’s hard to think of a more significant intervention in the history of American comics than “Seduction Of The Innocent”. The bit at the end is heartwarming too.
Now to BREAK OPEN THE VAULTS of the Viewers And Listeners Association and get to the truth of Mary Whitehouse and L’Affaire Dr Who.
