We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Major Spoilers Podcast #1054: The DC Implosion - The Explosion (Part 1)

Major Spoilers Podcast #1054: The DC Implosion - The Explosion (Part 1)

2023/12/13
logo of podcast Major Spoilers Comic Book Podcast

Major Spoilers Comic Book Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

In November 1977, DC Comics made a proclamation that would change the entire comic book publishing industry. Only, it didn't happen. Instead of an explosion of comics, DC Comics suffered a massive implosion. But does this make DC Comics a loser, or was it just ahead of its time?

Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at http://patreon.com/MajorSpoilers). It will help ensure* the Major Spoilers Podcast* continues far into the future!

Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF))

This series was produced for those wanting to learn more about the comics they consume. The below list includes the sources we used to gather information. All quotes, and clips used in this production are used under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.

RESOURCES

Senator Joseph McCarthy, 1953 statement retrieved from The Miller Center

https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in 1953 for espionage clip, retrieved from the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1341583.html

Have you no sense of decency, sir? Retrieved from YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7x8RkdG6I0

Seduction of the Innocent by Frederic Wrtham (2021 Edition)

https://amzn.to/41iL7NA

Frederic Wertham and William Gaines's testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency were retrieved from WNYC.org and the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

https://www.wnyc.org/story/215975-senate-subcommittee-juvenile-delinquency-ii/

The Ten Cent Plague by David Hajdu

https://amzn.to/3TfhURL

 

The 1954 Comic Code Authority Rules

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority

Comic Book Sales Data via Comichron

https://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales.html

"So Much Moralizing" Stan's Soapbox, March 1970

)

New York Times, February 04, 1971

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/04/archives/a-comics-magazine-defies-code-ban-on-drug-stories-comics-magazine.html?_r=0

Comic Code Authority Shuts Down

https://majorspoilers.com/2011/01/21/last-nail-in-the-coffin-for-comics-code-authority-archie-says-good-bye/

Tom Brevoort reflections on Rolling Stone's article about Marvel Comics

https://tombrevoort.com/2021/02/14/blah-blah-blog-rolling-stone/

(referenced as: https://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/comic_sales.html)

The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino by Carmine Infantino and J. David Spurlock (2001)

https://amzn.to/3RAUox3

Jenette Kahn Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenette_Kahn

Sequential Tart Interview with Jenette Kahn by Jennifer M. Contino, retrieved from the Internet Archive

https://web.archive.org/web/20031026213108/http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/may01/kahn.shtml)

DC Comics Publishorial, "Onward and Upward"

)

DC Comics Logos Over the Years

)

 

*The Comics Journal #40 Kim Thompson, “An Interview with Marvel’s Head-Honcho: Jim Shooter” *(p. 38)

**

https://www.tcj.com/tcj-archive/the-comics-journal-no-40-june-1978/

Quotes from The Comic Reader, Comic Media News, and others were sourced from:

**Comic Book Implosion: The Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 by Keith Dallas and John Wells **

https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1374

Other resources

Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle Between Marvel and DC by Reed Tucker

https://amzn.to/3RkGfTB

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe

https://amzn.to/3RfGbUX

MUSIC AND SFX

Unspoken - licensed via Premiumbeat.com)

Break Through - licensed via Premiumbeat.com)

Patriotic Epic - licensed via Premiumbeat.com)

OMnis - Music by DSTechnician) from Pixabay)

Big Day Out - Music by Geoff Harvey) from Pixabay)

Defenders of the Truth - Music by Zakhar Valaha) from Pixabay)

Inspiring Cinematic Ambient - Music by Aleksey Chistilin) from Pixabay)

Superhero Hollywood Trailer - Licensed via PremiumBeat.com)

Documentary Background - Music by Aleksey Chistilin) from Pixabay)

Out of Time - Music by Zakhar Valaha) from Pixabay)

Summer Adventures - Music by Sergii Pavkin) from Pixabay)

This Minimal Technology (Pure) - Music by Yrii Semchyshyn) from Pixabay)

Sound Effects from Pixabay)

CLOSE Contact us at [email protected])

Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939.

A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends!