No one asked me to appear in this documentary when they shot it. 60-odd years later, I think I would draw the same conclusions. Not many children read comic books anymore. They are intended for adults, often stereotyped as maladjusted. Horror and crime comics were effectively banned in the 1950s and a Silver Age of Comic Books came about. An age that contained stories that may have been hackneyed but still taught principles. A Bronze Age followed and then a Dark Age. I think we are in a Decadent Age now. I read an occasional comic book. I wouldn't gift one to a child. The violence is careless toward death and repercussions, the relationships between male and female characters represent arrested development on the writers' parts, the artwork is fetishistic. I read them because I have a fondness for the Silver Age. I don't read many. If I did, I would stop reading altogether.
I'm a fan of pulp fiction, a devotee of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. I am not a prude, but I am an adult. There is nothing adult about today's comic books. They are written with adolescent shorthand. Grown men should be ashamed to produce them for anything but a paycheck. This includes material published by the two main distributors, Marvel and DC, and also independent firms who truck in shock value. There is no shock when you expect to be at the bottom of the barrel. There is only resignation.
Thanks to Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep! for providing this link.
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