Catwoman Vs. The Red Fox: Fox Affiliate Calls DC Comics “Playboy For Kids”

So it’s 56 years after Dr. Fredric Wertham dumped Seduction of the Innocent on us, driving EC Comics all but out of business and forcing the Comic Code Authority on us, guaranteeing that I would reach adolescence without having to see an awesome zombie eat some whiny teenager’s face, and now we have this shit:

Most people think of comic books for kids, but many of today’s comics are anything but that. Turn the pages of DC Comics now and you will find plenty of blood, sex and violence.

Ah, from Fox! The network that brought us Married With Children, 24 and Temptation Island! What else do you have for us, Washington DC Fox Washington DC affiliate WTTG General Assignment Reporter reporter Sherri Ly?

“It’s sort of like a fictionalized Playboy for kids at its worst,” said Neil Bernstein, Ph.D., a child psychologist and author of “How to Keep Your Teenager Out of Trouble.”

Critics worry the once family friendly genre has gone too far. Psychologists point out the overexposure to sex and violence for young children can encourage aggression.

“I think too many kids would be put in harm’s way or at risk,” Bernstein said.

Ah, where to begin… since I’m a dick, how’s about that first sentence (And I won’t even spend too much time pointing out the vile structure of that compound sentence, since I am one classy motherfucker)? “Most people,” huh? What’s your source? Some study? A survey? Your mom? No, I’m guessing your editor, and considering he let that first sentence through, I wouldn’t trust his judgment. Seriously, if you tried to submit that sentence to my journalism professors, they’d recommend you switch to a psych major just to save the red ink.

No, you pulled that statement, which is pure speculation at best and wouldn’t have even been accurate in 1990, out of your ass. How can I know? If only there was a way…

So it turns out we’re talking about a form of entertainment meant for and consumed by adults 93 percent of the time. That is predominently sold in specialty stores that you have to go out of your way to find. That features age-appropriate ratings on the cover so parents can have an idea whether the book is appropriate for their child. Such as the Teen + rating on Catwoman, which means that it shouldn’t be read by anyone under the age of 16. Yup, right there on the cover. And surely any responsible adult obtaining a comic book for someone under 16 would see that and keep that comic away, correct?

Middle schoolers who saw the comics had mixed reaction on the age appropriateness of the images.

“There’s a lot of sexual activity,” Diego Meneses said immediately after looking at an edition of Catwoman.

Oh well, maybe the reporter just missed the rating. Or maybe didn’t understand what it meant.

Sorry, what’s that, Ms. Ly?

Under the guidelines, Catwoman’s rating is T+. Meneses said you should be at least 16 years old to read it.

So you took a book that you believed to be dangerous to children… that is clearly marked that it should not be read by children… and you fucking showed it to children? Based on that logic, comics are not a danger to children. Reporters are. Maybe you can show some kids a Goddamned Hustler and see if they feel the same way as they do about the comics.

Look, I could whip myself into a frenzy of about another thousand words about this story, but I have shit to do. Let’s leave it at this: some people might think that comics are just for kids. Just as I’m sure that there are some people who think that “movies” are just for kids. But if some reporter tried to gin up a story that movies are dangerous for kids based on Ass Blasters Part 12 (Not as good as 11, by the way), a reasonable editor transfer them to Alaska to cover the surfing beat.

This story is bullshit. It’s a blatant attempt to gin up outrage heading into a sweeps month to crank up ratings. It’s beneath contempt for the average comics fan… but it should be loudly denounced before we’re back to seeing The Joker demonstrate his madness by putting Batman back in the old shark tank.

You can go ahead to the story and comment, but I’m not gonna bother. After all, I have a comics Web site. And a better fucking editor than Sherri Ly.