Wertham is now remembered mainly for nearly killing the comics industry by creating a moral panic in the 1950s, but that was only one part of an otherwise illustrious career: He ran a clinic for disadvantaged Black children in Harlem, and his research played an important part in the legal fight to eliminate school segregation. He also believed that criminal violence could be prevented by rooting out its causes, and he took a humane approach toward murderers. In the 1930s, he was one of several psychiatrists who examined Fish, and he testified at Fish’s trial that he believed the defendant was insane. In the end, however, Fish was sentenced to the electric chair.
“When Harold and I were discussing possible topics for another collaboration to follow Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?, the minute Harold said, ‘What about Fredric Wertham?’, I knew we had something,” said Powell in a statement accompanying the announcement. “The history of comics, civil rights and some of the most shocking murder cases in America. And a polarizing, complex individual at the center of it all. I think this book will be fascinating to anyone who is a fan of true crime, American history, psychology or comics.”
Powell’s Albatross Funnybooks has been an imprint of Dark Horse since 2022 (see “Exclusive: Eric Powell’s Albatross Funnybooks Moves to Dark Horse”).
