History of Comics

Nuggets from the Gutters

I’m slowly working my way back into researching and writing my non-fiction book. As I work I’m coming across little nuggets of information, or images, that are interesting but relevant to my project.

I’ve started sharing these gems on social media and thought it would be nice to round them up on the blog every so often…

From Girl Annual 2 (1954):

This article seems to be promising a lot if it can tell you the secret of ‘How to make a cat your friend and companion’
From Karrini’s Charm written by Rosemary Garland and illustrated by H. Tamblyn-Watts. Vampire Easter Island type heads?!

From Girl Annual 3 (1955):

These were mainly to amuse my sister who works for Swim England.
Fun?

Children’s Comics – A Guide for Parents & Teachers by George H. Pumphrey

Pumphrey considered many comics to be harmful for children, as can be seen by the further images below.
As can be seen he was a proponent of Dr Fedric Wertham’s (now disputed) work in America that contributed to getting comics banned & the creation of the comics code. See: Seduction of the Innocent.

Pumphrey wasn’t the only person who saw comics as being harmful to British children and the 1950s saw comics brought to the attention of the British Government and some being banned.

Thanks to writer Stephen Gallagher for letting me know on Twitter that Pumphrey features in the comics history book – Haunt of Fears by Martin Barker that explores the banning of horror comics in the UK and how the British Communist Party were involved!