Seduction of the Innocent (Hard Case Crime) - Softcover

Collins, Max Allan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857687484 ISBN 13: 9780857687487

Publisher: Hard Case Crime, 2013

Synopsis

It's 1954, and a rabble-rousing social critic has declared war on comic books - especially the scary, gory, bloody sort published by the bad boys of the industry, EF Comics. But on the way to a Senate hearing on whether these depraved publications should be banned, the would-be censor meets a violent end of his own - leaving his opponents in hot water.  

Can Jack Starr, private eye to the funny-book industry, and his beautiful boss Maggie unravel the secret of Dr. Frederick's gruesome demise?  Or will the crackdown come, falling like an executioner's axe...?

About this title

About the Author

Max Allan Collins is the bestselling, award-winning author of Road to Perdition, the graphic novel that inspired the Oscar-winning movie starring Paul Newman and Tom Hanks, and of the acclaimed Nathan Heller series of historical hardboiled mysteries. Also a filmmaker himself, Collins' films include the documentary Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane.

Terry Beatty is the popular comic book and newspaper comic strip illustrator who, together with Max Allan Collins, created Ms. Tree, the longest-running private eye comic series in comics history. Beatty's work has also graced numerous other comics, including Batman, and has appeared in magazines such as Scary Monsters. Most recently he was named the newest illustrator of the long-running comic strip The Phantom, and collaborated with Max Allan Collins on the graphic novel Return to Perdition, sequel to Road to Perdition.

Reviews

Comics fans will recall Dr. Fredric Wertham’s sensational Seduction of the Innocent, which alleged a deleterious influence of comic books on young readers. The resulting brouhaha involved Congress and virtually destroyed the comic-book business in the 1950s. Collins has now re-created those circumstances in his roman á clef. This time, though, the controversial author is named Dr. Werner Frederick, and his book is titled Ravage of the Lambs. When a related murder occurs, Jack Starr, vice president of the Starr Syndicate and part-time private investigator, is on a case about which there is nothing comical. The smoothly written, hard-boiled mystery follows Starr as he attempts to determine whodunit, sometimes at his personal peril. Collins, author of the classic graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998), certainly knows his way around the comics world and includes many sly references to it and to pop culture in general as his tale unfolds. In an afterword, he writes about the comics culture of the fifties and identifies the real people who inspired their fictional counterparts. It’s all great fun for comics and mystery buffs alike. --Michael Cart

Edition details

• Publisher: Hard Case Crime
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857687484
• ISBN 13: 9780857687487
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Beatty Terry
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272