Ghosts of Comics Past: 1952

Multiversity’s history column returns for a quick glance at the comic industry of 1952. If you’d like some extra context, you can always revisit 1950 and 1951 before continuing. Now, on with the show!

Despite continuing criticism from handwringers in the media, the comic industry maintained its upward momentum in 1952. Sales at the country’s 100,000 newsstands were somewhere between 60 and 80 million comics per month, up from 50 million just two years earlier. The largest publisher by volume was Marvel / Atlas, who accounted for a little over 15 million of those monthly copies. Dell, who had significantly fewer titles than Marvel, came in second with 10 million. The other major publishers were in the 6-7 million range, with newer publishers like Farrell Comic Group and Comics Media bringing up the rear. The industry was changing fast, with a new title being created every three days on average.

Comic books were vastly outselling traditional children’s books, and Publisher Lev Gleason claimed that 75% of kids aged 4-19 read comics regularly. Popular publisher EC tried to leverage that audience by starting its Fan-Addict club late in the year. Some readers were beginning to take things into their own hands, and fandom took a step forward when Ted White created the first comic fanzine, “The Story of Superman.” Educators were trying to find positive ways to use comic books in the classroom to engage students, and Dora V Smith’s guide to K-12 curriculum, “The English Language Arts,” covered them extensively.

The political response to comics was simmering in 1952. The previous year’s Senate committee report didn’t turn up much of interest, and most of the power players were focused on the year’s presidential race. Democrat Estes Kefauver won 12 states in the primaries but lost the nomination. Wanting to be a strong contender for the next cycle, he sought a cause that would keep him in the public eye. Juvenile delinquency was still a concern for a large portion of voters, and he had a working relationship with renowned psychologist and comic-hater Frederic Wertham. That eventually led to another hearing that prompted the formation of the Comics Code Authority. Meanwhile, at the state level, the New York state legislature passed a bill to restrict the content of comic books. It was opposed by the ACMP, the ACLU, and New York Governor Thomas Dewey, who vetoed it on First Amendment grounds.

The big newsmaker of 1952 remained the Korean War, which was entering its second year. War comics, which had fallen out of favor after World War II, were experiencing a renaissance as teen boys and young men wanted to learn more about the military. Harvey Kurtzman set new standards of excellence in the genre with EC’s “Two Fisted Tales,” but his unflinching realism left no room for the patriotic-to-the-point-of-propaganda style that had been popular during WWII. For not disguising the undesirable parts of war, Kurtzman was even investigated by the FBI in the hopes of prosecuting him under the Alien Sedition Act. Trying to horn in on the sales of “Two Fisted Tales,” other publishers duplicated the style without the substance. It reached the point where the US Navy banned select war titles from military bases for being contrary to American interests. In an article for the influential magazine “Ladies Home Journal,” Wertham claimed Navy Command found the material too gory for sailors.

Speaking of gore, horror comics continued to thrive. After EC kick started the genre in 1950 with three titles, other publishers flooded the market with imitations. The 150 horror titles released in 1952 represented 30% of the industry’s output.

While war and horror comics were in a growth phase, other genres weren’t so lucky. All of the Jungle comics except for Sheena had been canceled following constant complaints from sources like “Time” magazine and the Catholic Church about the scantly clad women found therein. Only DC was still publishing superheroes, and it was down to just Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman titles with some other holdovers appearing in backup stories. Those were buoyed by the premiere of the TV show The Adventures of Superman starring George Reeve. Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” newspaper insert changed its name to “Outer Space” in July, dropped Spirit in September, and disappeared entirely in October as Eisner focused on his business with the government. Romance comics started the year strong and there were so many in the early part of 1952 that, by raw numbers, they represented about 25% of the comics released for the whole year. However, that same oversaturation burst its bubble and romance comics had nearly disappeared by December. Crime comics were still popular, but the sales showed it, too, was slipping.

There were two events that were minor in 1952, but would snowball into more meaningful milestones later. The first was Harvey Kurtzman’s move from war comics to humor with the creation of “Mad.” The satire started as a spoof of other EC comics, but soon expanded to the social satire that influenced generations. The second was Harvey Comics’ acquisition of Paramount’s animated characters. Casper and Little Audry would soon help the publisher secure its place as the dominant force in comics for young readers.

…but those are stories for another time.