©2020 Ken Quattro PROLOGUE: Comic book history has mostly been viewed from the perspective of the male reader. As a consequence, male comic fans, (and I include myself) have a blind spot. If a comic or a genre falls outside our realm of interest, we discount it. Romance comics rank at the top of that ignoble list. The artists who…
©2020 Ken Quattro Jerry Siegel’s letter to Josette Frank was cordial, friendly and personal. “Hope Stanley was pleasantly surprised by the acceptance of his synopsis. The check which I sent to DC to be forwarded to him has probably already reached him.” [Jerry Siegel letter to Josette Frank, June 1, 1942] Although Siegel had gotten the name of…
©2020 Ken Quattro Cincinnati is one of those cities pollsters love to cite as representative of America as a whole. It sits at the bottom end of Ohio, perhaps the most mid-American of all states. While nominally a northern town, it is separated from Kentucky only by the Ohio River, and shares not only its southern weather, but many of…
©2020 Ken Quattro In times past, before comic shops and conventions, comic book fans had over means of finding back issues. Often it was a kid-to-kid transaction brokered over a soda or outside a candy store. Other times, though, when a specific issue was desired, someone with a larger inventory was required and that’s where magazine exchanges came in. …
©2020 Ken Quattro Even before the United States entered the fighting during World War II, it was abundantly clear to those paying attention that the country lagged behind its potential adversaries in one crucial aspect of the coming conflict. The enemy had leading this effort, a man with a doctorate in philosophy and a reputation as a failed novelist, who…
©2020 Ken Quattro In previous posts I covered Gabriel Lynn and his contributions to the comic book controversy in the 1940s with his writings for the Catechetical Guild. Some of his background was included in the post entitled Wertham’s Forebearers. His first pamphlet THE CASE AGAINST THE COMICS in its entirety can be found elsewhere on this blog. Here then…
©2020 Ken Quattro Virtually every comic fan with even a cursory interest in the history of the medium, knows the name of Dr. Fredric Wertham, psychiatrist, author and comic book critic. Just the mention of his name is enough to evoke some slanderous remark, a dismissive eye roll, a curse. But he wasn’t the first to criticize comics. Not by…
Welcome to the first in a series of what of what I call, CURATED COMICS. The purpose of these articles will be the presentation of underappreciated, little seen or overlooked comic characters, titles, series or even stories, along with background information to help give a reason for their significance and to explain why they were chosen. ©2019 Ken Quattro Consider…
Several years back, I discovered this short piece in a 1940 issue of VARIETY concerning a a lawsuit filed by Victor S. Fox and Fox Publications, against Timely Publications, et. al. The article below gives some background to this suit, but unfortunately, at this time I haven’t found out whether this even went trial. I welcome any further information anyone…
©2019 Ken Quattro The vast majority of people reading the Oct. 25, 1940, issue of FAMILY CIRCLE magazine had no way of knowing that it was a setup. The featured interview with Dr. William M. Marston, conducted by “Olive Richard,” was in reality, an interview between a husband and one of his two co-habiting wives. “Olive Richard” was the pseudonym…