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Seduction Of The Innocent by Max Allan Collins
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Fantastic news!
I’ve always felt that the comic book industry would be a great background for a mystery novel, and there have been a couple, inclduing The Comic Book Killer by Richard Lupoff and Max Allan Collins’ A Killing In Comics.
Now Max is back with a new mystery from Hard Case Crime, one of my favorite mystery publishers. The book is called Seduction Of The Innocent and it’s no coincidence that it shares the title with good ol’ Fredric Wertham’s classic anti-comic screed.
Collins’ hero, Jack Starr (a comics syndicate troubleshooter - and isn’t that a great-sounding job?) investigates a murder set against the backdrop of Congressional hearings about the banning of violent crime and horror comics.
Click to continue reading Seduction Of The Innocent by Max Allan Collins
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McCaffery: Charles Gorham & Comic Books
How did you spend last weekend? Well, I didn’t make it to APE (wrong coast) so I spent some time in my local charity-based thrift shop looking for a Halloween costume. No wait, just kidding. I was there because they happen to have a really great used book section and since most used book stores are gone like yesterday’s VHS, a thrift shop remains a shining beacon of musty old paperbacks that smell of basements and cigarettes. That’s where I picked this up: McCaffery by Charles Gorham (Crest Books, 1962).
It’s one of those heavy-handed books that’s packed with stereotypes and talks about sex with the oddball euphemisms of the day, but also with shocking (for the time) language. And the reason I picked it up was because of the back cover copy, which I’ll get to in a little while.
On the pages inside, you get to find great paragraphs like this, as McCaffery enjoys the company of a woman: “I kissed her on the mouth and held it there. I was in charge. I was a man. I could feel it in my blood, the sense of my manhood. I was a man and there was no one in the whole world except me…” Issues much, Mr. Gorham?
Click to continue reading McCaffery: Charles Gorham & Comic Books