Tintin Forums

A little something I'm curious about.

How was it that Tintin came to the U.S. during a time when comics were genealy hated, what with the whole craze that comics are harmful to kids and the propaganda for that,(i.e. Dr. Fredric Wertham and his book "Seduction or the Innocent" what did he think of Tintin.

I wouldn't say that comics were hated, but the Comics Code did arrive and with that the decline of EC Comics and other small publishers. I never heard that comic books like Archie and Disney were hated and the silver age saw a prosperous time for Marvel and DC. I believe it was mostly horror and crime comics that was the target of the anti-comics campaign. Of course even the titles that someway glorified drug use was also under fire. Can't really see that Tintin have any similarity to the comics that were debated.

Though I'm not sure exactly when Tintin premiered in USA.

You can read more about Tintin's arrival in America in the article Tintin crosses the Atlantic: The Golden Press affair.

The American publishers hoped that Tintin wouldn't resemble a standard 'comic-book' and therefore escape the anti-comic movement. The critics liked the books but people weren't used to paying $2 for one when an ordinary comic cost just 25 cents.