Amid all the voices directed against comic books during the Forties and Fifties, one of the strongest in their defense was that of Lev Gleason.
Gleason had instituted an editorial code of ethics in his own successful line of comics and was president of the first industry-wide group that hoped to self-regulate content, the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP), formed in 1947. Gleason publicly addressed the comics controversy in the September 1952 issue of Today’s Health magazine, where he penned one of the most intelligent and well-argued defenses of the medium ever written.
Even though this article was cited during the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency hearings of 1954, Gleason’s personal request to appear before that committee was denied and his voice was left unheard.
Gleason’s article defending comic books follows in it’s entirety.
Introduction and scans of Gleason’s article from Today’s Health courtesy of Ken Quattro.