There's a great book that answers all these questions without having to audit a course: Here's the short version: Superheroes arose in 1938 because the detective comic genre was glutted, the paranormal comic genre was glutted and Action Comics managed to find a nice exemplar of deus ex machina that captured some of the unspoken controversy about fascism and unilateralism. The superhero genre ebbed and flowed because superhero comics are the safest, least controversial form of comics and comics in general have suffered constant attack. Comic books have mirrored society like any other medium. The comic book industry WAS shut down because there was an obsession with morals and parenting. In 1948 comics had more reach than movies and radio combined. In 2010 DC calculated that there were 200,000 active comic readers in the United States. It's not much of a stretch to say that rock'n'roll exists because the outlet of comics was destroyed by congress. Comic book art became acceptable purely because of Roy Lichtenstein. Comic books became useful as a source of movie revenue with the release of Superman in 1978. Superman owes its existence to Jaws and Star Wars, which paved the way for the summer blockbuster. Any questions?
I want to read The Ten-Cent Plague and share it with my siblings who also had to hide their comics. I wonder, too, if comix became more acceptable as attitudes towards education changed. Books like this started coming out and parents began to appreciate that reading a comic book is still reading.
I grew up in the '70s, the only comics I remember having to hide were these (which were awesome btw) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers
This dude owes me a shitload of comix. and 95% of lesbians were enthralled by Wonder Woman comics. You know, it's strange that so many people were taken in by the arguments against comic books. My father, in every respect, was unconventional, an activist, an atheist, against discrimination and bigotry of all kinds, a charismatic fighter for human rights: but he sure had a hate-on for comic books. Too bad he died (at 43) before I had a chance to ask him why. I'll have to ask my mother if they ever talked about it. We all read books all the time anyway, as well as comics. My mom is 88 and sometimes remembers interesting things.Wertham also claimed that Wonder Woman's strength and independence made her a lesbian.) Citing one of Wertham's arguments, that 95% of children in reform school read comics proves that comics cause juvenile delinquency.
Have you dug into the history of Wonder Woman? Mile-high view: William Marston was a pervy bisexual polyandrist into BDSM who maintained a wife and a girlfriend simultaneously. The psychologist instrumental in the sham science of the polygraph also created the "Lasso of Truth" and initially created Wonder Woman as a black-patent-leather-wearing dominatrix from the Amazon. The "subtext" was "text" until William Gaines argued that Wonder Woman probably shouldn't look quite so much like a whips'n'chains Nazi fantasy.