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The debate about the negative impact of comics on young people was started by the American psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham. He was convinced that comic magazines, more than anything else, inspired young people to commit acts of violence. Towards the end of the 1940s, Wertham started a lecture tour in the United States where he debated the harmful effects that he believed comics had on young people. Wertham collected his arguments in the book "The seduction of the innocent" and the book became the culmination of his accusations against the entire comic industry of that time.

Today, many probably think that his opinions were both strange and exaggerated, but Wertham's arguments had a great impact. In post-war America, many people were looking for security and a higher material standard. Those who could afford it moved out of the cities to a cleaner and safer suburban environment. There, children and young people were supposed to grow up in comfortable homes, protected from the dangers of the outside world. Comics were seen as an attack on all of this. After the popularity of superhero comics declined sharply at the end of the war, so-called horror magazines became popular. This contributed to the distrust and skepticism towards comics in general, and Wertham and "The Seduction of the Innocent" can be seen as a product of this.

The crime and horror titles of the publisher EC Comics were attacked by Wertham and he used the publisher's morbid comics and titles as examples of moral decay. Wertham called them an "injury to the eye", directly harmful to the mental health of children. Wertham also objected to what he considered to be hidden sexual innuendos, female nudity and hidden homosexuality.

For example, he believes that the comic characters Batman and Robin have an immoral relationship. Wertham bases his opinions on the fact that in some issues of Batman magazine it is clearly seen that they share a bedroom, albeit in separate beds. Wertham's interpretation of images and symbols in simple and banal comics can today be seen as a reflection of the view of that time on homosexuality and that it was actually still criminal.

But obviously patriotic comics like Superman and Wonder Woman do not escape Wertham either. Superman is accused of being fascist and Wonder Woman is seen as a lesbian. It is difficult to find any contemporary criticism of Wertham in the United States, except among the major comic book publishers. They desperately try to buy the publisher that publishes Wertham's book but fail. At the same time as Wertham's book and the growing criticism of comics comes, the US Senate chooses to act and Wertham ensures that he is called as an expert witness before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Although the committee's final report does not accuse comics of increasing crime, it recommends that comic book creators tone down the content voluntarily.

Publishers and publishers see this as a veiled threat of censorship and therefore choose to introduce their own recommendations on their own. The Comics Code Authority limits depictions of crime, violence, horror, terror and sexuality. More rules are set up and violent images and concepts such as "terror" and "zombies" are banned. The publisher hardest hit is EC Comics, which is forced to close down almost all of its publications within a couple of years. One of the few titles that survives, albeit in a different form, is the comic book magazine MAD. The effect of all this is that the comic book landscape in the United States has changed radically. What remains is a rather watered-down publication of superhero comics and romantic love stories.

In 2011, The Comics Code Authority is wound up when the last of the major publishers, Archie Comics, drops out. Today, comic book collectors consider all magazines associated with this debate to be sought-after collector's items. Wertham's debate book "The Seduction of the Innocent" is also a rarity today and one of the few non-illustrated works that is currently included in the American price guide for comics "Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide". A little irony of fate.

At the Stockholm Toy Museum, three rare issues of magazines that were then considered inappropriate are on display, of which one EC Comics, Crime Suspense Stories, was used as evidence in the Senate hearings.