[pigsty]

I’m really not sure if he should be given all the credit.

Comics thrived in other countries, so even if American comics were seen as right behind porn, it was only a matter of time until they eventually made their way into mainstream popularity in the US. Which, as far as I know, comics were already popular—they were just a kids’ thing. Same as how video games were just kids’ things for a solid 2-3 decades until kids who grew up on games became adults and the industry started pivoting towards their adult tastes.

Kind of like how kids who grew up on 1940s and 50s comics and their mainstream media influence started to grow a couple decades after they grew up. Batman was a pretty popular TV show roughly 25 years after being a notably popular comic book. Then 25 years after that, we started getting popular movies and more mature cartoons based on the series.

[ghaff]

>Which, as far as I know, comics were already popular—they were just a kids’ thing

That was certainly true in the early to mid-60s in the US. (And in the UK.)