Dark Horse Comics has announced a new true crime graphic novel by Harold Schechter and Eric Powell called Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry). Arriving July 30, 2024, in bookstores and July 31, in comic shops.
“When Harold and I were discussing possible topics for another collaboration to follow Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?, the minute Harold said, ‘What about Fredric Wertham?’, I knew we had something,” said Powell. “The history of comics, civil rights and some of the most shocking murder cases in America. And a polarizing, complex individual at the center of it all. I think this book will be fascinating to anyone who is a fan of true crime, American history, psychology or comics.”
So what’s Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry) about?
Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry) examines one of the most polarizing figures in pop culture: Dr. Frederic Wertham. Reviled by comic book fans as a witch-hunting zealot who stirred up panic among the parents of America for his own self-promoting purposes, he was also a renowned psychiatrist 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. Among these was the monstrous Albert Fish, whose relationship with Wertham forms a key section of Schechter and Powell’s book, epitomizing the renowned psychiatrist’s deep contradictions: his enlightened efforts to shed light on the most depraved aspects of human behavior and his willingness to exploit his subjects’ lurid cases histories for his own commercial ends.
MILWAUKIE, Ore., (January 10, 2024)— Acclaimed true crime author Harold Schechter, multiple- Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Eric Powell, and Dark Horse Books present a new true crime graphic novel, Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry), arriving Summer 2024.
Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry) examines one of the most polarizing figures in pop culture: Dr. Frederic Wertham. Reviled by comic book fans as a witch-hunting zealot who stirred up panic among the parents of America for his own self-promoting purposes, he was also a renowned psychiatrist 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. Among these was the monstrous Albert Fish, whose relationship with Wertham forms a key section of Schechter and Powell’s book, epitomizing the renowned psychiatrist’s deep contradictions: his enlightened efforts to shed light on the most depraved aspects of human behavior and his willingness to exploit his subjects’ lurid cases histories for his own commercial ends.
“When Harold and I were discussing possible topics for another collaboration to follow Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?, the minute Harold said, ‘What about Fredric Wertham?’,I knew we had something,” said Powell. “The history of comics, civil rights and some of the most shocking murder cases in America. And a polarizing, complex individual at the center of it all. I think this book will be fascinating to anyone who is a fan of true crime, American history, psychology or comics.”
Dr. Werthless: The Man Who Studied Murder (And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry), a 200-page 6×9 hardcover volume, will be released in bookstores on July 30, 2024 and in comic shops on July 31, 2024. It is now available to pre-order for $29.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local comic shop and bookstore.
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