How Comics Changed America

Steve Scher
04/17/2008 at 9:00 a.m.

By the 1950s, they were outlawed in some states. Students burned them in bonfires, and Congress chastised their makers in TV hearings. The culprit? The comic book. David Hadju joins us to talk about his new book, The Ten–Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America. Why were comic books seen as dangerous? Why did the New York City police raid one comic book office? And why did more than 800 people lose their jobs in comics? Do you have stories from your 10–cent days? Find out the secret history of comics and how it sparked postwar pop culture today on Weekday.

Also today, Willie Weir, Weekday's bicycling correspondent, calls us from Merida in Venezuela. He is bicycling across the highlands and lowlands of Venezuela and Columbia with his wife, Kat Marriner. Willie reports on the differences they have encountered between the two nations. Willie says that gas is really cheap in Venezuela and the air quality reflects this. The cheap gas hasn't made for a prettier countryside. Join us for Willie's report from the road.

Guests:
David Hajdu is the author of Lush Life and Positively 4th Street. He is a music and pop culture critic for the New Republic and a professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. His new book is The Ten–Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America.
Willie Weir is Weekday's longtime bicycling correspondent. He is author of Spokesongs: Bicycle Adventures on Three Continents.

Related Program:
Hear Larry Reid, the curator for Fantagraphics, shares his perspective on why comics took such a strong foothold in Seattle, this afternoon on Sound Focus at 2:00 p.m.