Diagram for Delinquents Update #17: Testimony

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1.) This week's Diagram for Delinquents promo card is greatly inspired. I like its eeriness, and I plan to use the handwritten font in at least one more promo.

2.) I'm no different than anyone that is trying to make something of value. I struggle along in the process, striving for authenticity, sincerity, originality, trying to create something that will make some kind of contribution... to history, society, humanity.

As I make Diagram for Delinquents I am constantly trying to set it apart. Apart from the books written about comics of the era and Dr. Fredric Wertham; apart from the documentaries that have mentioned Wertham, the Comics Code Authority, and their impact on the medium.

What I hope to do is present a varied set of perspectives on Wertham and the era. Perspectives that haven't been presented in the past in one place. In Diagram for Delinquents you will hear/see arguments that both criticize and praise Fredric Wertham. You will be presented with stories that come from inside the history as well as frame the history from the outside with that advantageous tool known as hindsight.

I want to present what happened in those early days of comics and I want to show how those events shaped the comics we read today.

Finally, I want to use comics as an example to present the complicated relationship between media and its audience.

And then, the history is yours, and you will make sense of it in your own way. You will have to make decisions. You will be responsible to interpret the material, as we all are in this way with history and art.

One of my oldest friends, James Clark, who writes an excellent Dungeons and Dragons blog called A Dungeon Master's Tale, sums up what I hope to achieve in the film. He writes:

"The sneak peaks via the blog have me very interested in the film and what looks to be shaping up to be a rather complex and nuanced take on Wertham's work specifically and more broadly the idea that our media shapes us in ways we don't anticipate and may not want to admit."

3.) Al Feldstein, Bill Gaines, and all those at EC Comics, they also labored to create new and innovative art. And they did... for a time.

But as Mr. Feldstein recounts, the moment arrived when the wind stopped moving their creative sails, and it came time to find a new direction, a new source.

I'll let Mr. Feldstein tell us about that:



VIEW HD VERSION ON RAEMMONSJR'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

MINICONCEPTDOC #54: SPECIAL EDITION: TRAVELOGUE

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This is the second MCD SPECIAL EDITION. The last one came back in February and was a holiday edition. If you haven't seen it, please check it out: MINICONCEPTDOC #53: SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITION: (HEART EMOTICON) 

I have just a few notes on today's MINICONCEPTDOC.

I get so sentimental with these MCD's... They're like little chicks hopping around at my feet. Or goslings, staying close in tow.

This new MCD is special in a few ways:

1. It marks my first time to the true west. I look forward to returning. It had a profound impact on me.

2. It showcases some very special music.

3. It commemorates the storm that is currently baring down on my home state of New Jersey.

1.) My travels to the West included stops in Billings, Gardiner, and Livingston, Montana. The latter half of this MCD places us in Yellowstone from Gardiner to Old Faithful in the Wyoming portion of the country's first National Park.

In Livingston I quickly became enamored with the "Americaness" of the town. I mean, portions of the classic cinematic homage to Montana, A River Runs Through It, were filmed there.

But even more so, I was captured by the beauty of its "places". "Places" that are marked in the tradition of hand-painted, bulbed and neon signs. These signs, for me, mark another time. To see layers of former paintings fighting through years of updated advertisements and businesses is like witnessing history overcome itself.

2.) The music in this MCD is special in a couple of ways. The first selection was created by British musician William Yates under the name memotone. I discovered his work on http://freemusicarchive.org/. It's an excellent site that musicians use to allow their work to be downloaded at no expense. The site allows the artist to set the usage rights for each song and many songs allow Creative Commons usage, which is a great thing for filmmakers, DJ's and other artists interested in remixing and mashing.

The second track, Irene, comes from the American icon in folk/blues music Huddie William Ledbetter, also known as Leadbelly or Lead Belly. I've always had a special connection to Lead Belly as we share a birthday: January 20th. Though, there is some confusion as to his actual birthday (it could be the 23rd), I like to think we share the day.

I think the choice for the song is obvious. I suppose I am caught up in hurricane fever just like everyone else!

There are several recordings of the song, with various listings as well: Irene; Goodnight Irene; Irene, Goodnight, Irene. This particular version, Irene, has a quicker tempo than most and comes with accompaniment. It was recorded in 1944.

Before we move on to the show, let me leave you with the words that Norman Maclean sends us off with at the end of his novella which lends its name to the film mentioned above. They are at once inspiring, thoughtful, philosophic, and spiritual; and the images and songs I put together in this piece try to aspire to those words, full well knowing I could never match them:

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.  The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time.  On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops.  Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters."



LARGER VERSION AVAILABLE AT MINICONCEPTDOCS CHANNEL, HERE.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #16: All Factors

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I apologize for my anemic entries of late. Filming on the picture has been in full swing and the Fall semester is starting very soon and I have been preparing for that (Teaching an exciting new course on the Creative Economy!). Also, please extend this apology to this week's update, for it will be lean as well.

It does, however, come with another video teaser. So at least there is a multimedia aspect.

This week's video teaser contains some excellent footage from our interview with James Reibman as well as a selection from a curious episode of Confidential File. CF was a documentary/news tabloid style television program that ran from 1953 to 1958.  If you haven't seen this and aren't already a "fan", I'm sure you will like its depiction of what reading horror and crime comics may lead to. Doesn't it harken back to your own childhood days with the fellas?

I am hoping to, in forthcoming updates, start teasing out other types of media that are going to be used in the film much like this episode of Confidential File.

But back to this week's video teaser.

My purpose for posting this clip is to motivate you to do one thing: Read Seduction of the Innocent.

If you are a comics fan, if you are interested in history, media or cultural studies it is a must read.

The argument against Wertham and the book have become so simplified over the years. The book's thesis, to those that haven't read it, has become a hand-me-down diluted hate message.  Even if you just examine the complexity of the relationship between message and era, the contextual value of that alone is rich enough to sustain a reading.


But more than that, to argue against the book, you should read the book. If you do, you will, I can almost guarantee, come away with conflicted thoughts about what is being written between the cover. What those thoughts are... I will leave for you to discover.

There are a few ways you can read Seduction of the Innocent these days. For a long time, it wasn't so easy to get your hands on this controversial book. In the past your were lucky if a library near you had a copy. Now you have four readily available options.

1. You can buy yourself an original copy with the dust jacket at a not so modest price on EBAY here. It's BUYNOW for $1,062.50!

2. You can buy a handsome hardbound copy with a forward by today's guest star Dr. James Reibman here. The forward is loaded with excellent and insightful biographical information on Wertham.

3. If you are web savvy... And I know you are... You can download a PDF of the entire book online.

4. You can read Seduction of the Innocent online. This online version is peppered with illustrations not used in the print version but inserted by the online editor/host. The online version can be found at http://www.dreadfuldays.net/soti.html. It's great for doing fast searches to locate topics to cross reference in the printed version!

The crew leaves to interview Al Feldstein on Monday. Needless to say we are excited beyond words!

Now... on to the show. Please watch All Factors:

Diagram for Delinquents Update #15: Collective Nightmare to Collector's Dream

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1.) Here is a strange, but intriguing Diagram for Delinquent promo inspired by and ripped from a classic ad YOU may have seen in those old comic books. Dangerous stuff, kiddies! Dangerous! Twelve years dungeon!

2.) We have another clip this week. This comes from Jim Trombetta, author of The Horror! The Horror! It was a lot of fun interviewing Jim. He has a great, and unique, perspective on things and when you give him the ball, he runs with it! I know it was fun for me and the crew to listen to Jim and to really just follow wherever he wanted to take us in the conversation.



3.) Also, don't forgot... We have a big week coming up. On Tuesday we will be interviewing James Reibman and on Wednesday we will be with David Hajdu. Big ideas, and big days for the picture.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #14: Amounting to No(Some)thing

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1.) I have another entry to present this week for the Diagram for Delinquents promo card contest. This entry harkens back to an earlier blog update wherein I discussed the use of psychiatric tests by Wertham on children. In that post I embedded an actual Rorschach blot test that we found in Wertham's papers at the Library of Congress. Check out that post here: Diagram for Delinquents Update #5: Drag Me to Hell, Baby.

It's a long post, and one of my favorites for its winding but connected (at least I think so) narrative.

2.) Alas... we have returned. The crew has returned from our L.A. adventure where we interviewed five great subjects that will certainly make compelling contributions to the documentary.

We began with Broadcast Thought at Meltdown Comics, followed them with Jim Trombetta, and cleaned up with Mark Evanier, then headed to the UCLA Film and Television Archive to view footage that we will acquire for the picture. I must say, my socks have been knocked off by what I saw there!

This week's update teaser is a little excerpt from comics writer, journalist, and historian Mark Evanier.

The inspiration for this clip is Wertham's thoughts on the life and legacy of comics. In Seduction of the Innocent Wertham makes this particularly erroneous prediction:

"I have known many adults who have treasured throughout their lives some of the books they read as children. I have never come across any adult or adolescent who had outgrown comic-book reading who would ever dream of keeping any of these 'books' for any sentimental or other reason."

Again, I have responded to this particular statement in an earlier blog post. It's another of my favorites. The title comes from what is perhaps my favorite "Werthism". Check out: Diagram for Delinquents Update #6: Kafka for the Kiddies.

Mark has a simple, but elegant response to Wertham's above remarks:



3.) Next on the crew's agenda:

In ten days we will be sitting down for two important interviews.

First up is James E. Reibman in Philadelphia. That will be followed on the next day with the David Hajdu interview. These two men both play an important role in chronicling Wertham and the period of comics that our film begins in. I am excited for these interviews as I am looking forward to exploring and capturing the thoughts and perspectives of each!