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The article discusses the use readership studies in the development of comic books for children. The author notes that at the time of publication, the stories and illustrations contained in comic books have remained the same for 30 or 40 years. The case of the periodical "Eagle," a weekly magazine for boys published by Hulton Press, is discussed. Because the publisher ran a risk by breaking the mold of the traditional comic formula, Hulton conducted a study to reduce the risk of the periodical failing.

This article discusses of regulation of comic books in the U.S. The author is of the views that perhaps the most direct method of taking action against objectionable comic books would be the statutory establishment of a state or local board to review each issue before distribution. Anyone distributing without the board's approval would be subject to criminal liability. But traditionally such censorship of the content of literature in advance of publication has been considered a violation of the freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment and imposed on states by the Fourteenth.

The article informs that the poor parents perturbed by the profound proclamations of psychiatrists and psychologists concerning the menace to their children from reading the "Comics." They cannot see the harm themselves, in fact the daily comic book session comes as a welcome relief from the children's usual turbulence. There is no need to prove that the comics are popular. This fact is already known. How popular they are is little short of amazing. There is no question but that they are big business today. It is difficult at first to grasp the fact that a reliable source indicates that in 1946 the monthly circulation was 40,000,000. This is especially remarkable when we realize that the first of the modern comic books was published in 1933. It is further estimated that each comic book is read by several people and that 75 per cent of all comic books are purchased by children out of their own funds, an outlay of $300,000 a month or $3,600,000 per year.

Presents an update on issues and events related to the problem of crime and criminal in the U.S. as of May 1955. Changes made in the name of the American Prison Association; Actions taken by several states to ban the sale of objectionable comic books and magazines; Highlights of the 11th Annual Arson Investigators' Seminar held in Lafayette, Indiana.

Discusses the problem of comic magazine reading among children. Highlights of a study aimed to determine to what extent the comic magazines are read by boys and girls of upper elementary and junior high school age; Reasons why children like comic magazines; Danger in the reading of comics for the nervous child.

This article analyzes the grammatical structures created by comic-strip writers. It has focused on the use of slang, onomatopoeia, and misspellings by the writers. Attention here is limited to the words used and is not turned toward the way in which they have been used. Sixteen comic strips appearing in daily papers were sampled by selecting one full week of each comic at regular intervals for a total of four weeks.

This article addresses some issues concerning elementary education in the U.S. as of May 1943. There is an increased interest in the improvement of reading programs in elementary schools. Writers have conferred on occasions to the trend toward the closer correlation of the language arts in the curriculum. Comic strips and magazines continue to hold the attention of educators.

The article discusses the findings of a study of the reading of comic-books by children. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of reading comics. The study showed that the specific comic-book preference varies somewhat with the age of the child. It cites several reasons why children and adolescents like comics.

The article examines several literature on the rapid increase in the popularity of comic books in the U.S. The different literature cites opposing views on the extent to which children's interest in comic books should be used to improve their reading habits and the effects of the wide circulation of comic books on children.

As a measure of acceptance of the ideas, attitudes, and values expressed in crime comics and related media, items for a Likert type attitude scale were derived directly from the ideological content of comic books. The resultant sale (Children's F scale or CF scale) was found to satisfy conventional requirements of reliability, internal consistency, and relative absence of response bias. In two separate studies, scores on the scale were related to measures of exposure to (a) mass media stressing crime and violence, and (b) constructive moral influences. It was concluded from the results that (a) exposure to the media studied influences children in the direction of acceptance of the ideology measured by the CF scale, and (b) exposure to constructive moral influences subtracts from the effects of the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis to determine the nature and extent to which a measurable, social, political and economic ideology was contained in "Little Orphan Annie," a nationally syndicated comic strip. "Little Orphan Annie" was launched on August 5, 1924. Meeting with rapid success, the strip was soon syndicated and ranks sixth among the nation's most popular comic strips. The hypothesis is that in this comic strip in which one of the major figures is an industrial colossus there is an inadequate and unfavorable presentation of the working class as compared with the portrayal of the middle class. Two methods of analysis were employed to test this hypothesis. In addition to the customary thematic analysis, a symbol analysis was utilized in order to compare the frequency, whether thematic or not, with which middle class and working class figures appeared in the strip. Although examined separately, the sections are closely linked to each other, for together they reflect the social structure as it may appear to the cartoonist and imply a kind of ideal society.

Examines the illusory effect known as eye dialect as shown in the comic strip 'Li'l Abner,' by Al Capp. Spelling deviations employed by Capp; Views on the vocalized results of the eye-dialect usages; Colloquial usages of the dialect.

In this article, the author reports the results of a content analysis of comic strips. In particular he describes the social milieu of the strips, the personality traits of the major characters, their goals in life, and the reflection in the cartoons of the conflict between real and ideal marriage relationships. In recent times, the study of the content of the mass media of communications has been used to an increasing extent to obtain information concerning cultural differences. Changes in cultural emphasis in the selection of popular figures for the writing of biographies have been studied by L. Lowenthal. The study of the content of the mass media of communications is often predicated on the assumption that they exert influence on their public. To achieve their objectives, to appeal, they must to some degree at least, reflect the culture, of which they are a part, reflect its reality or its needs. While the American ideal does not condone the all-powerful male figure of the more authoritarian European father, men are expected to enjoy at least equality in family decisions.

This article is based on the content analysis of a cartoon strip. The author describes the techniques used in analyzing comics and outlines the social idealism expressed in a strip which is apparently as popular with adults as it is with children. Public speculation and a number of earlier articles on the effect of reading comic cartoon strips directed the author's attention to the problem of determining the social idealism expressed in such cartoon strip as Little Orphan Annie. Social workers have objected to Annie's neat plan to evade the child-labor law, and the National Lawyers Guild has charged that the conspiracy of a judge, prosecuting attorney, and jury during Annie's trial for murder, strikes at the roots of American faith in the judicial system. An earlier analysis of this cartoon strip for the period from January 1, 1946, through December 1947, concluded that Little Orphan Annie and her friends support the status quo and in some respects would prefer to go back to the good old days. Orphan Annie approves the symbols which have traditionally represented good in society and she condemns some of the well known sins.

The article discusses the popular myth of the newsboy. In the first half of the twentieth century, news was largely publicized and sold by young, economically-disadvantaged individuals, who risked traffic accidents constantly in order to support their paltry existences. The newsboy has been represented in many forms in popular culture, including the comic book "Captain Marvel," which featured a handicapped newsboy who could turn into a superhero. The article discusses the career of Jimmy Brown the newsboy and his use in constructing the myth of the newsboy.

The article presents a study to find the effect of comic reading on the development in junior high school childrens. The subjects for the study consisted of seventh grade children from two public junior high schools from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Three questionnaires, each marked as "Junior High Interest Questionnaire" were developed for the study. A question regarding the reading of comic books was placed between other questions regarding different activities and interests in an effort to abstain the feasibility opposition by the responding child.

This article presents information related to the use of comics as instructional material for children. There should be harmony between the child's on-going life activities and his experiences in the school. New learning always is a continuation or expansion of learning already possessed by the learner. The normal activities of children involve the same subject material that constitutes the school curriculum. At the conclusion of an experiment participants received a questionnaire asking their evaluation of their experience. It is not known how many of the 2,027 teachers who received the materials made use of them during the thirteen weeks of the experiment. A wide variety of instructional methods as applied in different subject areas were reported by the participants. The largest number was in the subjects reading, and oral and written language. The participants generally agreed that based on the comics in which the children already had interest, reading and language activities had greater zest and were entered on with increased interest. Many teachers discovered comic strips to be particularly useful in special classes and for slow learning pupils in regular classes.

This article presents information related to the violent controversy over the suitability of comics as reading for children. While both newspaper comics and comic magazines draw criticism on both scores, apprehension over their possible danger to character and mental health outweighs that over their imputed cultural undesirability by three to one. Preponderance of concern with the possible dangers of comics reading, as opposed to concern with its cultural undesirability, is particularly characteristic of those who hold a qualified attitude toward the comics. Moreover concern over the moral threat, and over the danger of the comics was held by very different segments of the population. The possible moral influence of the comics was primarily the concern of the older segment, the older the deeper the concern; the possible dangers of the comics were primarily the concern of parents, the younger their children the deeper their concern. Comics thought of as drawn for children, such as Donald Duck, and Prince Valiant, and comics about families, such as Blondie and Gasoline Alley, are overwhelmingly approved for children. Education, age and parental status have, however, interesting and significant relationships to attitudes toward children's reading. Education and age influence the nature of criticism.

This article presents information related to the effect of comics on children. The comics are both accused and defended on various counts by various specialists. Some librarians maintain that they debauch children's literary tastes and encourage low and lazy reading habits. Without the seduction of the comics, they believe, children would read more and better books. Some teachers are convinced that the current deplorable figures on children's reading ability can be blamed, at least in part, on the effortless picture reading of the comics. There are those who see in the comics only ugliness in the form of bad drawing, garish color and no artistic merit. There are others, equally discerning and concerned with aesthetics, who view comics as a valid art form with values of its own. According to some ophthalmologists many children suffer from eyestrain, which is attributable, they feel sure, to the reading of comics. Others counter that the print in the classic books with which most of us spent many hours in our childhood was much worse and that comics, because of their shorter lines and smaller blocks of reading matter.

The article presents information about the development of basic concepts of atomic energy by a cartoon sequence of comic strip "Blondie." During the first two meetings of the over-all Committee on Atomic Energy of the Golden Anniversary Jubilee Committee, Lieutenant General Leslie Groves suggested that the basic concepts of atomic energy might be developed by a cartoon sequence. Because of General Groves's fondness for Dagwood and Blondie, he also suggested that these characters be considered as playing the principal roles. In a planning meeting, by a subcommittee on the basic science aspect of the Atomic Energy Exhibit, General Groves's suggestions were considered and steps were taken to evolve such a sequence. It became necessary, of course, to decide on certain principles regarding how such a comic strip should be developed. One of the major principles agreed upon was that the comic characters should participate in the exploration of the atom and that the characters should not be used to exemplify any part of the atom themselves. In the early meetings of the basic-science subcommittee, suggestions also were made concerning specific pictures to appear in the sequence. Many of these differences were due, as was revealed later, to a lack of knowledge concerning how to present ideas in comic form.

Presents a bibliography of several comic books.

This article focuses on the Children's Book Committee of the Child Study Association of America that examines a sampling of current comic magazines. About a hundred magazines were examined with the intention, first, of analyzing their contents and the nature of their appeal to children, and, second, of arriving at some criteria by which parents and others may evaluate the comics and reach a modus vivendi regarding the juvenile preoccupation with them. It became apparent at once that not all comic books are alike. There are wide differences not only in their content, but also in their editorial standards regarding selection of material, style, art work, and printing. They contain some very good and some very bad writing, some really excellent and some execrable drawing, some fine and some poor color work, some legible and some very illegible lettering. It was impossible, therefore, to classify comic magazines as either good or bad. Like other publications, each must be judged on its own merits, and criteria will have to be based upon the nature of the medium itself, which can and must have standards of its own.

This article focuses on the newspaper and comics which are produced for the purpose of popular entertainment. Other publishers have developed comic magazines that are designed to be entertainingly instructive. Two of these publications are the magazines, "True Comics" and "Real Life Comics," in which biographical and adventure stories are taken from real life and presented in pictorial form. Another publisher has abbreviated and pictorialized various pieces of classical literature which are published in the magazine, "Classic Comics." History, geography, and science have been prepared in comic-strip form and presented in "Junior Scholastic," a current-events magazine for school children. Perhaps the widest current educational use of the picture or cartoon continuity is in military instruction. The comic character "Li'l Abner" is instructing new soldiers in military courtesy, safety, and other elements of basic training. "Joe Palooka," syndicated also in service newspapers, is said to be effective in influencing behavior and morale.

The article reports that the most frequent criticism of the comics is directed at the crudeness of their drawings and drama, at the relatively immature level of their language, humor, sentiments. In short, the comics are deficient in subtlety, delicacy, sophistication. As art, many of the comics are crude. As literature, they are extremely elementary. They deal with ideas and sentiments in the simplest terms. Like their pictures, they are flat, they show chiefly right and wrong, African Americans and whites, clear reds and greens for stop and go signals; they make little attempt at grays, to say nothing of subtler tones and tints. To attain mass distribution, comics or newspapers or machine products generally tend to address themselves to the smallest common denominator. For the comics, as for motion pictures and the radio, this means an effort to supply entertainment. Without regard to his private motives, the producer has to reach the largest possible public. At how high or how low a level of intellectual, aesthetic, social, or emotional maturity the comics should be pitched, nobody can tell in advance.

The article reports that comic books have emerged as an American institution, a major medium of communication and influence. Statistics on the reading of comics, particularly on the reading of comic books, are staggering to those who believe that there are only 100 books worth reading. Surveys by Gallup and others show the comics to be far and away America's favorite form of literature. Comic strips daily and Sunday are read by well over half the nation's adults. Four out of five who buy newspapers read the comic page. It is a truism in the newspaper business that the comics, next to the news, sell the papers. Among sizable papers, only "The New York Times," has been able to manage without a comic page. The daily strips are read by two thirds of all children over six. Sunday mornings forty million children pore over the colored comic supplements. The comic strips-daily and Sunday have a public of between sixty and seventy million. Comic strips are read by all sorts of people from the illiterate to the intelligentsia.

The article presents marketing abstracts pertaining to foreign marketing. They include "Exporting U.S. Public Relations: A View from France," by Barney Emmart, "One-Stop Shopping Makes Progress in Paris," by Brian Moore, and "No Laughing Matter?."

The article presents information about the impact of reading comic books upon children's mind. It has been noted that since 1945 more than 250 articles and essays on comics have been published in periodicals in the U.S. Seeing the growing impact of comic books upon children, teachers have shown concern and concluded that one of the main reasons behind the popularity of such literature lies in the ease with which they can be read. Another basic attraction of the comic books is that they appeal immediately to senses than straight reading.