Dr. Werthless (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

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.

Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? (2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

On a cold November evening in 1957, at a decrepit farmstead in Wisconsin, sheriff's deputies will make a horrifying discovery that will fracture the American psyche. 

Thus begins the legacy and legend of Ed Gein. A murderer and body-snatcher, Ed was raised by an over-bearing mother and a cuckolded alcoholic father. After the death of his father and mysterious death of his brother Henry, it was just mother and son. And Ed was in heaven. But that paradise was fleeting. 

No less than a year after Henry's passing, mother Gein died too. And an already mentally fragile Ed snapped. Ed first tried to dig up his mother. But she was encased in a concrete underground vault. So Gein began to dig up the bodies of recently deceased women of similar age and built to mother and he got creative. 

When the sheriff deputies raided Gein's home in 1957, they found the body of hardware store owner Bernice Worden. She had been shot and mutilated. But on top of that, the authorities found the remains of what would be estimated 40 more women. Roughly trained in taxidermy, Gein used the bodies to make a demonic assortment of arts and crafts. And he had made masks and suits in a bizarre attempt to resurrect his mother.

If this story sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Gein's handiwork went on to inspire writer Robert Bloch in the creation of his 1959 novel Psycho. It would later become an Alfred Hitchcock feature film and all-time classic of horror and film studies. Texas filmmaker Tobe Hooper would play on the Ed Gein family dynamic and desire to dress in human skins in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie series. Gein's influence would later pop up in the 80s as the godfather of slasher films culminating in 1991 with the main baddie Buffalo Bill in the Oscar willing Silence of the Lambs.

Jump forward to 2021 and the story of Ed Gein is still terrifying millions. Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? is a graphic novel account of the story of Ed Gein. Written by horror writer and Gein biographer Harold Schechter, this book takes an all-encompassing look at the horrors committed by Ed. It dives into the family history, the cause and effects of an over-bearing mother, the fact and legends surrounding Gein's crimes. 

There's considerable time spent exploring Gein's questioning by authorities, including psychologists and criminologists. Readers spent time jury stands during Gein's numerous court appearances. And we visit him during his final days in a state run facility for the criminally insane. All around this story, Schechter reveals how the horrors of Ed Gein changes American family norms, our sense of security, and thelurid desires of entertainment. 

Helping Harold Schechter on art is Eric Powell. The creator of the black comedy Dark Horse series, The Goon, Powell's resume is one of noir, freakish crime and macabre humor. I've seen a couple of documentaries on Ed Gein prior. So I have a fairly good idea what Ed Gein looked like. Eric Powell does an amazing job making Gein and the other major players look like they did in real life. Maybe even better. 

This graphic novel looks like a crime dossier. The black and white art embellished with this moldy green hued cover and chapter breaks gives everything a slightly spoiled look to it. I think it symbolizes the rotting of Gein's victims as well as the decay of the American dream. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But, the palette elicits an unsettling affect. 

For those who enjoy tales of the bizarre and macabre, Did You Hear With Eddie Gein Done? is the graphic novel tale of true crime you have been looking for. Definitely not a graphic novel that is safe for work, the horrors contained inside literally was the stuff nightmares are made of. I could only read this book on weekends because I didn't want to be in a dark mood during the work week. But I would not trade this book for anything- except for maybe an autographed copy!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. 

Completing this review completes Task #38 (That Is A Murder Mystery) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.