Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry)

From the creative team behind the award-winning “Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?” comes an examination of one of the most polarizing figures in pop culture, Dr. Fredric Wertham.

Reviled by comic book fans as a witch-hunting zealot who stirred up a panic among the parents of America for his own self-promoting purposes, he was also a renowned psychiatrists who, among other accomplishments, opened a clinic in Harlem for disadvantaged African-American patients and played an important role in the desegregation of the nation's schools.  Believing that murder could be abolished through a proper understanding of the mental and social roots of criminal violence, he took a genuinely humane approach to some of the most notorious homicidal maniacs of his time, while simultaneously exploiting their stories for his own commercial ends. 

Acclaimed true crime author, Harold Schechter, and multiple Eisner award winning cartoonist, Eric Powell, present a graphic novel that takes an unbiased look at this flawed and enormously and complex man—whose obsessive dream of freeing the world from violence nearly murdered the comics industry.

Harold Schechter is Professor Emeritus at Queens College, where he taught classes in American literature and myth criticism for forty-two year. His essays have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and the International Herald Tribune.

A true crime historian, he has written extensively about some of our country’s most infamous serial and mass murderers. Using primary sources such as newspaper clippings and court records, he supplies thorough documentation of every case he profiles, while still managing to create compelling narratives and fully fleshed-out characters. He is the editor of the Library of America volume, True Crime: An American Anthology.

His 2014 book, The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Crime that Shook the Nation, was nominated for an Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category. In addition to his work in narrative nonfiction, Schechter is the author of an acclaimed series of detective novels based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Under the pseudonym H. C. Chester, he has also co-written the middle-grade trilogy, Curiosity House, with his daughter, bestselling YA novelist Lauren Oliver. The first book in the series, Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head (2016), was nominated for an Edgar Award in the "Best Juvenile Mystery" category.

Schechter has also written extensively on American popular culture. In The Bosom Serpent: Folklore and Popular Art, he explores the relationship between contemporary commercial entertainment and the narrative archetypes of traditional folklore. Savage Pastimes: A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment places the current controversy over media violence in a broad historical context. Examining everything from Victorian murder ballads to the productions of the nineteenth-century Grand Guignol, the book makes the somewhat contrarian argument that today's popular entertainment is actually less violent than the gruesome diversions of the supposedly halcyon past.

In his 1973 article, "Kali on Main Street: The Rise of the Terrible Mother in America", Schechter uses the phrase "horror-porn," which is cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as the first printed appearance of the word "porn" in its now-common figurative meaning: "As the second element in compounds: denoting written or visual material that emphasizes the sensuous or sensational aspects of a non-sexual subject, appealing to its audience in a manner likened to the titillating effect of pornography.

With David Black, Schechter also co-wrote the teleplay for the Season 8 Law & Order episode, “Castoff.”


Eric Powell is a writer and artist from Nashville Tennessee who has contributed work for every major publisher in the comics industry. In 1999 Eric launched his critically acclaimed creator owned series THE GOON. In 2002 Eric Launched ALBATROSS EXPLODING FUNNYBOOKS in an effort to keep the Goon alive when no other publisher wanted it because it was too 'different'. But the readers spoke and the Goon quickly became an indy hit and picked up a diehard cult following. The Goon found a home and a wider audience with DARK HORSE COMICS, but Eric continued to publish creator owned comics through Albatross such as his all ages comic CHIMICHANGA and Rebecca Sugar’s PUG DAVIS. Eric has spent his career creating and promoting the validity and importance of creator owned comics through Albatross and other publishers such as Dark Horse and Image Comics.

In 2016 Eric rededicated himself in earnest to his publishing company, ALBATROSS FUNNYBOOKS, and launched his new fantasy series HILLBILLY, his kid's horror anthology SPOOK HOUSE, as well as other creator owned titles.

Eric has been working in collaboration with acclaimed director David Fincher, Tim Miller, and Blur Studios to bring the Goon to life on the big screen as an animated feature film.

Awards:

• International Horror Guild: 2004 Best Illustrated Narrative

• Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2004 Best Single Issue (Goon #1)

• Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2005 Best Humor Publication

• Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2005 Best Continuing Series

• Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2008 Best Writer/Artist-Humor

• Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2008 Best Painter or Multimedia Artist