Frederic Wertham is often painted as the biggest villain in comics history, as his tome, Seduction of the Innocent, is responsible for the creation of the Comics Code Authority and the death of several genres of comics (horror comics particularly!)

But is he actually a villain as he's painted, or is the truth more complicated? Comicstorians Kelly Guentner and Hollis Thompson dive into the true story behind the Seduction of the Innocent and the man who wrote it.

Bonus Episode Time: This panel is from the Multiverse FunRaiser in 2023 and predates the creation of ComicStory, but certainly helped lay the groundwork for our podcast.

Comicstorians Kelly Guentner and Hollis Thompson, along with John B. Pyka, discuss the role that comic books played in World War II.

Notes:

WWII & the Changing Role of Women in Comics: https://rosietheriveter.net/wow-wwii-the-changing-role-of-women-in-comics/

The Political Influence of Comics During WWII: https://www.nelson.edu/thoughthub/history/the-political-influence-of-comics-in-america-during-wwii/

Comicstorians Hollis Thompson and Kelly Guentner dive into the Women in Refrigerators trope and discuss where it started, theorize about why it got so popular and why we've seen less of it in the current age of comics.

Notes:

Women in Refrigerators website: https://lby3.com/wir/index.html

Bearing Witness to Female Trauma in Comics: An Analysis of Women in Refrigerators: https://digital.library.txst.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f6be12af-c993-41d3-8ea5-f30167ddeb03/content

The F-Word Magazine: https://upennfword.com/

Captain America joined WWII 9 months before the US did. If you don't think comics were political back in the Golden Age, ComicStorians Hollis Thompson and Kelly Guentner are about to change your mind and show you how Captain America has always been used for political statements.

Hedy Lamarr was once known as 'the most beautiful woman in the world.' She was one of the greats of Hollywood's Golden Age, but most people didn't know that she also had a great scientific mind and invented several things, including the technology that became the foundation for Wi-Fi and password encryption. Many people also don't realize that she and Jean Harlow were the inspiration for Selina Kyle/Catwoman.

Comicstorians Kelly Guentner and Hollis Thompson discuss Hedy and Catwoman and the connections (both intentional and unintentional) between the two.

Sources: DC Villains-Catwoman: The Feline Fatale (Documentary)

American Masters: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (PBS)

Special Guest Shannon Farnon drops in to talk about voicing Wonder Woman on Hanna Barbara's Super Friends, Wonder Woman becoming the face of new wave feminism in the 1970s, and why the character has lasting importance today.

Additional Reading:

https://psmag.com/social-justice/ms-magazine-helped-make-wonder-woman-a-feminist-icon/

ComicStorians Hollis Thompson and Kelly Guentner discuss the pivotal Spider-Man storyline, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" and how it heralded the end of the Silver Age and the beginning of the Bronze Age of comics and set the tone for darker stories.

In 1946, human rights activist Stetson Kennedy teamed up with the producers of the Adventures of Superman radio show to strike a powerful blow against the KKK. This is the shockingly true story of how Superman helped combat organized racism in the post-WWII USA.

Comicstorians Hollis Thompson and Kelly Guentner, along with special guest Anthony Vernon aka Pally Kashra, continue the conversation about X-Men and the Civil Rights movement as well as the allegory for other oppressed groups as part of the Multiverse FunRaiser.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men as an allegory for the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, and your ComicStorians Hollis Thompson and Kelly Guentner are here to discuss all the ways that X-Men have embodied this movement and even had an impact on it through the decades.

ComicStory is part of the Phoenix Sisters Entertainment Network. For more about our shows, visit us at www.phoenixsistersentertainment.com