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The back cover to this graphic novel biography of the controversial psychiatrist, Dr. Fredric Wertham promises 'an unbiased look.' However, that claim is a little hard to believe based on the title, Dr. Werthless (sic). And yet true crime author Harold Schechter and artist Eric Powell managed to give Wertham both praise and criticism whenever it was due.
The German born Jewish M.D. was known to be bullish and divisive with his medical colleagues. Yet, when it came to his patients, he was very compassionate and non-judgmental. Prior to the 1950s, Wertham treated some of the most depraved serial killers and re-offenders of the time, including the pedophile torturer Albert Fish, and the troubled struggling artist Robert Irwin. Wertham would testify at these men's trails that the psychiatric system failed them and that if these murderers had been committed to a qualified mental institution and not institutionalized as part of the revolving-door prison system of 'common murderers', they would not have gone on to later commit the atrocities that Dr. Wertham would be called in to testify on their behalf.
As much as Wertham would decry the influence of violence from magazines, books and movies had on these men, the doctor had very little qualms with making a little bit of money recounting the perverse exploits of Albert Fish and others in a number of books. Meant to be scientific studies on the inner workings of the criminally insane mind, Wertham 's works read more like the pulp fiction 'garbage' that he was preaching against. He also didn't have any misgivings about selling the rights to his books to the producers of Broadway and Hollywood, as long as they didn't change the facts too much.
It is for this reason that Frederic Wertham is considered by some as the grandfather of true crime. His Dark Legend: A Study in Murder, an account of a preteen boy who slaughtered his mother in front of his siblings predates Truman Capote's 1959 opus, In Cold Blood by almost 2 full decades. Dark Legend was optioned to become an Off-Broadway play in 1952, to which Dr. Wertham gained a low level celebrity status. Enthralled by the notoriety, the doctor begin a crusade against comic books and sealed his legacy in the annuals of modern American history and pop culture.
In the 1940s, Wertham was made aware of the plight of black youths and how they became lost in the psychiatric system because of inequitable conditions of black hospitals and sanitariums. Often a mental health crisis for a black American would result in their becoming institutionalized, perhaps for life, whereas an white American might be prescribed medication and some out-patient therapy. After meeting writer and activist Richard Wright, Wertham would open a low-cost mental health clinic in the basement of St. Philip's church in Harlem. From his work at the LaFargue Clinic beginning in March, 1948, Wertham treated black youths, particularly males ,who would claim to be depressed and oppressed because of their treatment in society. One young boy said that it was how comic books portrayed blacks that made him feel the most stereotyped. Intrigued by this session, Wertham went to a nearby newsstand and perused the selection of comics. What he found shocked him and it would lead him on a crusade against sequential art for the rest of his life.
One of the biggest complaints I would have about this book is the time jumps. Just when you think Schechter is about to explore Wertham's assault on comic books, the narrative goes back to the 1940s or earlier. This happens at least thrice. If you've read a lot of accounts of the comics scare of the 1950s, you would have a fairly good idea of Wertham's work with youths that led to him publishing Seduction of the Innocent and becoming the expert witness in 1954 during Senate subcommittee hearings on juvenile delinquency. Dr. Werthless provides a fascinating look at the early case history of the infamous psychiatrist. It is interesting to note that Wertham, while being an expert witness in the landmark Brown V. Board of Education lawsuit, the doctor's fixation on the dangers of comic books almost derailed the NAACP's case. Even when he was attempting to do good, he let his own prejudices overtake common sense!
After reading this book, I have no doubt that Fredric Wertham had care and compassion for his patients and the more impoverished they were, the more empathy the doctor had for them. However, I also believe that Wertham saw dollar signs with every case he was presented with. Because of his intolerable nature with his colleagues, Wertham stunted his professional growth. Passed over for promotions and fellowships because of how he put patients in front of peers, Wertham turned to print media as a way of boosting his stature. If Wertham couldn't become a celebrity amongst his colleagues, he would become one in the public eye. To do so meant elevating, and sometimes exaggerating the effect of society on America's highly suggestible youth and mentally ill from the pulps and comic books. 1950s America was already in a state of panic on hidden Communists thanks to Senator Joseph McCarthy; why not add to those fears by claiming that comic books were turning children into raving lunatics?
Harold Schechter is the type of crime author that could write the phone book and I would read it. However, the life and times of Fredric Wertham comes to a very odd abrupt end. The title of this book 'Doctor Werthless' was based on a parody ad Wally Wood created in the pages of MAD after the Senate hearings. It looks at how baseball could be considered the source of all juvenile delinquency if viewed using the methods of Wertham. Even the last chapter is titled 'Werthless and Woody'. With it, you'd expect some sort of final showdown between the psychiatrist and Wood. But it never happened. The Dr. Worthless parody was explored in the previous chapter, making the reader wonder just what was the connection between the two men that the writer was trying to achieve?
Regardless of my dissatisfaction at how this graphic novel biography ended, I very much would love for the author and illustrator Eric Powell to collaborate again with another shocking true crime exposé.
Completing this review completes Task #31 (A Biography) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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