Carol Tilley featured on Big Ten Network

Carol Tilley
Carol Tilley, Associate Professor

GSLIS Assistant Professor Carol Tilley was the focus of a recent feature on the Big Ten Network. The documentary, titled "Carol Tilley, Comic Book Crusader," took a look at the comic book industry, its truths, and its myths. It aired on July 19. The documentary also will be featured in the Iowa Independent Film Festival.

Tilley has received national attention for her research on Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist and anti-comics critic whose 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent inspired federal hearings that decimated the comic book industry. Tilley's research is based on a review of Wertham’s personal archives, which were made available to researchers in 2010. During her review, she found numerous inconsistencies between the case notes of children treated by Wertham and the content in his book. Wertham’s personal archives showed that the doctor revised children’s ages, distorted their quotes, omitted other causal factors and in general “played fast and loose with the data he gathered on comics.”