Frederic Wertham.
(Frederic Wertham, 1954, Hidden Persuaders)
Seduction of the Innocent
1954, hysteria swept through the United States. The public believed that comics badly influenced children. This lead to riots where groups gathered together and burned comic books. However, nothing changed until Frederic Wertham wrote Seduction of the Innocent. In this book, he claimed that comics influenced children into homosexuality, violence, and criminal activity. Giving evidence that later was proved to be fake.
"Superman not only defies the laws of gravity, which his great strength makes conceivable; in addition he gives children a completely wrong idea of other basic physical laws."
~ Frederic Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent.
(Seduction of the Innocent, 1954, Hidden Persuaders)
Rioters burning comics.
(Born Banned, 1940, CBLDF)
"Badly drawn, badly written and badly printed - a strain on young eyes and young nervous systems - the effect of these pulp-paper nightmares is that of a violent stimulant. Their crude blacks and reds spoil the child's natural sense of color; their hypodermic injection of sex and murder makes the child impatient with better, though quieter, stories. Unless we want a coming generation even more ferocious than the present one, parents and teachers throughout America must band together to break the 'comic' magazines."
~ Sterling North, Goodreads.
Comics Code Authority
Once Seduction of the Innocent entered the public, people started panicking. Parents forbade their children from reading comics. Comic companies were forced into a corner and eventually, they gave in to the panic. They created The Comics Magazine Association of America which appointed the Comics Code, a censorship list of standards that kept comics appropriate. It made sure comics were censored by adding the seal "Approved By The Comics Code Authority" on the covers of all comics. Comic books were not let past pre-publishing without the seal.
"Comics were investigated after a certain Doctor Fredric Wertham brought out a book called Seduction of the Innocent in 1954, calling for the introduction of a self-regulating body known as the Comic Code Authority, that had such ridiculous rules as, you could not use the word 'flick' in a comic for fear that the 'L' would run into the 'I' and Spider-Man would be saying, 'Look, he's got a f**king knife!'"
~ Jonathan Ross, TV Tropes
Newspaper clipping reporting on the censorship of comics.
(Comic Books Getting Face-Lifting, 1950s, CBLDF)
The Code's Seal.
(Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval, CBLDF)