Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Crimes by Women, Fox Feature, golden age, victor fox

Wertham and the Witch from Witchita, Crimes by Women #10, at Auction

Published Sat, 11 Jun 2022 19:17:11 -0500

Crimes by Women was an infamous Fox Feature Syndicate title even by the standards of its notorious publisher Victor Fox. Two different issues of the title were mentioned by Fredric Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent, while various other issues, described as "openly sensational" and beyond, were singled out in newspapers of the era. Crimes by Women #10 with its mention in Seduction of the Innocent has been highly sought-after by collectors for decades. While its stand-out cover with its Western outlaw theme seems generally reflective of the feature story "The Knife Woman," it's the next tale, "Witch from Witchita," which is of the greatest interest here as a discussion point for Fredric Wertham. A historically significant issue of an infamous Fox Feature Syndicate, there's a Crimes by Women #10 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1949) Condition: VG/FN and several other issues of the series up for auction in the 2022 June 12-13 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122224 from Heritage Auctions.

Crimes by Women #10 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1949)

Crimes by Women #10 comes up in Seduction of the Innocent by way of its discussion by Wertham's "Hookey Club." The Hookey Club was a weekly group therapy session for delinquent children overseen by Wertham at the Mental Hygiene Clinic of Queens General Hospital beginning in the early 1940s. In the sessions, children would have a sort of roundtable discussion on topics relevant to their situations. In one session, according to Wertham, "A girl of fourteen who had been stealing had a comic book with her at one session:"

Thirteen-year-old chairman: Which comic books do you read mostly?
A: Girls read mostly Crimes by Women.
Q: Which crimes do women commit?
A: Murder. They marry a man for his life insurance and then kill him, then marry another man and then just go on like that until they finally get caught. Or they will be a dancer and meet the wrong kind of guy and get involved in a bank robbery.
Q: What's the fun for you in reading that?
A: It shows you other people's stupid mistakes.

The serial killer insurance scam story is "Witch from Witchita," which is more or less what that fourteen-year-old reader of Crimes by Women #10 describes. While Wertham relates this incident as an example of comics teaching children to avoid making mistakes while committing crime, it's unclear how "Witch from Witchita" taught that young reader that it was possible to get away with murder. That aside, the issue is a historically fascinating comic book, and there's a Crimes by Women #10 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1949) Condition: VG/FN and several other issues of the series up for auction in the 2022 June 12-13 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122224 from Heritage Auctions.

Crimes by Women #10 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1949) Condition: VG/FN. Cat-fight cover. Used in Seduction of the Innocent. This copy was miscut. Overstreet 2021 VG 4.0 value = $180; FN 6.0 value = $270.