http://www.collectortimes.com/~comichistory/Platinum.html

The Platinum Age Of Comics

The Adventures of Mickey Mouse is considered to be the first "true" Mickey Mouse comic book. It came out in 1931, is 32 pages long and 5 -1/2" x 8 1/2". It was published by David McKay Co. with a print run of 50,000 copies. There were both hardcover and softcover versions of this book. A second book came out after the Mickey Mouse cartoons and the characters within were made similar to the cartoons.

Not all comics were squeaky clean and sold on newsstands. From about the 1930's to the 1950's small dirty comics were sold through underground means. These were called Tijuana Bibles, despite the name they were made in America. While much of their origins or artists are not known it's believed they were made by members of organized crime. This is partialy because the bibles were illegally using trademarked characters. Well known comic strips, movies stars, sport celeberties and more had their likeness used to tell dirty stories with. The book shown here is a collection of Tijuana Bibles.

as u can see comic started off innnocent but there has always been
adlut themes in comics. but still this was underground and
illegal so it doesnt really count as real comic books but it shows what
they would become in the furture

In March 1937, Detective Comics #1 came out. This comic was the first true DC comic book. This issue was the first production of two companies that formed the DC company. Comic producer Major Malcolm Wheeler wasn't making much money with his comic books (New Fun being one of them) and owed money to his printer and just about everybody else. Wheeler was forced to collaborated with his printer/distributor Harry Donenfeld to produce this book. Most of the stories in this issue are racist towards Chineese people and they are the villains in the majority of the tales. One such story titled "Claws of the Red Dragon" writen by Major Malcolm Wheeler. Another story of note in here is called Slam Bradley done by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The character looks very similar to another they created. That being Superman. From the opening splash page to the different layouts to the tough guy hero saves the girls it's easy to see how there style paved the way for the typical comic hero story.

In June 1938, Action Comics #1 came out, featuring a man in a red and blue costume lifting a car over his head! This was Superman, the very first comic character to have powers far beyond a normal human being. Sure, Flash Gordon and The Shadow were neat, but they couldn't lift a car over their heads and throw it at someone! Nor could they let bullets bounce off their chests, or run faster than a train, or leap over tall buildings in a single bound. To say the least, Superman was a fitting name.

Detective Comics #27 hit the stands in In May, 1939. In it we saw the first appearance of Batman. While Superman was pure and clean, Batman was grim and gritty. In this comic, the villain fell into a vat of acid, which killed him. Not showing any remorse for causing the death, Batman observed "A fitting end for his kind."

The 'arrival' of Dr. Fredric Werthham was the scariest thing to ever happen to comic books. He was a highly distinguished psychologist who thought comic books were bad for kids, and his efforts to have them censored had a horrible and lasting impact that still affect comic books to this day.

A few weeks later Dr. Wertham attended a symposium in New York City called "The Psychopathology of Comic Books". The reaction to Dr. Wertham's views was immediate. One month later, in the April issue of Time magazine, a story appeared about Detroit Police Commissioner Harry S. Toy, who examined all the comic books available in his community, and then stated they were; "Loaded with communist teachings, sex, and racial discrimination." In May of 1948 he also presented his views in an article for the Saturday Review of Literature.

The mass burning of comic books did happen. On December 20th, in 1948, Time magazine reported and printed pictures of Binghamton, New York residents, after a house to house collection of comic books, having a mass public comic book burning (with a bunch of kids in the background watching).

In 1948, some of the comic publishers formed the Association of Comic Magazine Publishers (ACMP). It's goal was to set out guidelines under which comic books would be published. They did this hoping that it would reduce the amount of criticism they were under. The ACMP set up a board of people that had to approve a comic before it would see print. But because some big companies like DC and Dell comics had their own internal approval boards, they didn't join the ACMP. As well, some of the partners involved had disagreements over parts of the approval guidelines, which caused them to quit the ACMP.

Even though there were a number of people in the media who were critical of comic books, Dr. Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954, had the most devastating effects. In this book Dr. Wertham stated that in his studies with children, he found comic books to be a major cause of juvenile delinquency. This assertion was based mostly on guilt by association. The vast majority of kids in those days read comic books, including the ones who became delinquents. But according to Dr. Wertham, comic books caused the children to become delinquents.

But comics went much further than just turning kids into juvenile delinquents. According to Wertham, comic books were giving kids wrong ideas about the laws of physics, because Superman could fly! He also charged that comic books were implementing and re-enforcing homosexual thoughts because Robin was drawn with bare legs, that were often wide open, and that Robin seemed devoted and attached to only Batman. Dr. Wertham also stated that Wonder Woman was giving little girls the "wrong ideas" about a woman's place in society.

At the time, there were a lot of horror comic books on the market showing some pretty gruesome things. But what Dr. Wertham wouldn't admit was that kids were not reading those books, adults were. While fighting in WWII, many soldiers read comic books for morale and entertainment. Upon coming back, these men continued reading comic books. It was mainly for this audience that horror comics were written. Even today, those comic books are being redone into Tales of the Crypt shows, being aired late at night for adult audiences.