Kids Read Comics 2015: The Secret History of Comics Readers

Mon, 05/18/2015 - 11:42am

When: June 19, 2015 at University of Michigan Duderstadt Center (2281 Bonisteel Boulevard)

In November 1953, Ople Noble sent a letter to forensic psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. Noble, who was secretary of her eighth grade class in Bisbee, Arizona, and her classmates had read and discussed Wertham’s article in Ladies’ Home Journal, “What Parents Don’t Know about Comic Books.” She wrote to share her and her classmates’ insights on juvenile delinquency and comics with the psychiatrist, as they disagreed with many of his conclusions. Encouraged by Wertham’s reply, which was accompanied by a box of chocolates from Macy’s Department Store, Noble wrote at least two more letters to Wertham, one of which outlined the results of a class discussion on the comic character Green Arrow. In this talk, Professor Carol Tilley shares more about Ople, as well as young fanzine creators, letter writers, amateur cartoonists, and more, who read, wrote, and played with comics during the mid-20th century. Don’t miss these secret and seldom-told stories of some of the kids who helped make comics the most important print media of the 20th century and remind us why comics matter.