Nights of Horror
Nights of Horror is an American series of
Background
Nights of Horror
Broke and slowly going blind, Shuster took a project from his neighbor, a writer for a publishing company called Malcla. His neighbor "Clancy" was the "Cla" in the name, and the "Mal" was Eugene Maletta, who ran a print shop out of a basement in
The Brooklyn Thrill Kill Gang
Nights of Horror would play a role in an infamous murder trial, and be a part of the arguments regarding
When Jack Koslow was being examined by psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham, to see if he was fit to stand for trial, Wertham discovered Koslow's fascination with violent comics. The whips the boys carried were obtained from ads in the back of either Uncanny Tales, or Journey into Mystery, Koslow couldn't remember which. He had discovered Nights of Horror, and this led him to explore his violent sexual fantasies, by engaging in the beatings and whippings around Brooklyn.[4] When Wertham brought a copy to Koslow's cell to ask him about his fascinations, Jack confirmed that was what he had read. He even admitted that he gained sexual pleasures from reading the booklets, and from enacting several of the scenes during their crime spree, by making some of the vagrants beg and kiss their feet while being beaten. This was used as part of the evidence to convict Koslow of his crimes.[3][4]
Obscenity trial
Dr. Wertham had previously spoken out about the dangers of comic books in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, specifically attacking some of Joe Shuster's previous work in Superman. He stated "We have established the basic ingredients of the most numerous and widely read comic books: violence, sadism, and cruelty".[3] Unbeknownst to him, Shuster also drew the book that Wertham would launch an obscenity attack against. Wertham presented to the court that Jack Koslow had "fancied himself a Superman...became steeped in horror comics, his mind becoming filled with all the thrill of violence, murder, and cruelty described in them".[4] Wertham presented a chart comparing the activities of the Thrill Killers to the scenes in Nights of Horror, and asked that the law ban all types of literature like Nights of Horror, for the sake of the safety of children. On September 10, 1954, the Corporation Council of New York, out of the mayor's office, filed a court motion asking for an injunction to ban the sale of Nights of Horror.[4] The police commissioner of the City of New York stated "It is the informed opinion of those police officials..that there is a definite relationship between the types of crime portrayed in Nights of Horror and similar works, and the crimes of sex and violence which beset the City of New York today".[3] The booklets were blamed for a series of juvenile violence crime going back to June 1954, when they were first published. Corporation Counsel Adrian P. Burke obtained a court order on September 11, 1954, to restrain five bookshops in Times Square from distributing or selling the books: Kingsley Books Inc, Metropolitan Books, Time Square Bookshop, Pelley Bookshop, and Publishers Outlet. All of the sellers had to surrender their copies of the books for disposal.[6] Kingsley Books and Time Square Bookshop appealed to the New York State Court in 1955, arguing that banning the book was a violation of their First Amendment rights. Judge Matthew M. Levy stated "The booklets in evidence offer naught but glorified concepts of lustful and vicious concupiscence, and by their tenor deride love and virtue, invite crime and voluptuousness, and excite lecherous desires", and that they were strictly pornography, which fell under current obscenity standards.[7] He argued "In short, the volumes of "Nights of Horror" in evidence before me are obscene and constitute pornography — "dirt for dirt's sake". Though he said it was not the court's job to become a censor or "book burner", he had to uphold the judicial responsibility of concern for safety, and upheld the ban of the publication, distribution, and sale of the book, as well as the seizure of all copies for destruction.[7]
Kingsley Books, Inc v. Brown
Kingsley Books appealed the case all the way to the
Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster
After the ban on Nights of Horror, some remaining stories and drawings were published under different titles such as Hollywood Detective and Rod Rule. Some of the remaining books were recovered under titles like Pink Chemise and Black Chemise. Shuster, not indicted or even named in the trials, continued to create art, even for other pornographic periodicals such as Continental.[3] A few rare copies of Nights of Horror remained in private collections. In his 2009 book Secret Identity, Craig Yoe recounts how he stumbled upon one of the copies in "a dusty old cardboard box in a used bookseller's stall" and immediately recognized it for being Shuster's work. Yoe's book features art and stories from all sixteen issues of Nights of Horror, and art from Hollywood Detective, Rod Rule, and Continental magazine. It also goes into detail on the story behind Nights of Horror, from Shuster's beginnings, to drawing the booklets, to the subsequent trials for the book and those involved. Gerard Jones had previously named Shuster as the illustrator in 2004.[9] The book also includes a foreword from Stan Lee, who was a friend of Jerry Siegel's, but never met Shuster, though he greatly admired his work.[3]
Historical significance
Nights of Horror is an example of the sweeping
References
- ISBN 0465036570. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- ^ a b c Paris, Sevan Michael. How to be a hero: A rhetorical analysis of Superman's first appearance in "Action Comics". Chattanooga: University of Tennessee Press, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8109-9634-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-1440833724.
- ^ "Thrill Killers". Time. 27 December 1954.
- ^ "Sale of a Crime Book Is Blocked As City Takes 5 Sellers to Court". The New York Times. 11 September 1954.
- ^ a b Levy, Matthew M. (31 October 1955). "Burke V. Kingsley Books".
- ^ a b c d e "Kingsley Books Inc V. Brown". Justia. 24 June 1957.
- ISBN 0465036570.
- ^ Cowan, James (15–28 Feb 2011). "COMICS CODE (1954-2011)". Canadian Business. 84. Proquest.