Sequart Organization is proud to announce that the Fredric Wertham documentary Diagram for Delinquents, directed by Robert A. Emmons, Jr., is now available for download purchase and DVD preorder.

In 1950, America was in a state of panic. Juvenile delinquency was destroying the very fabric of society. Ninety percent of all children were reading comic books. In 1954, psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham wrote a scathing indictment of comics called Seduction of the Innocent. Its central premise: Comic books were the leading contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. That same year, Dr. Wertham testified at special hearings on comic books at the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in the United States. Comic books were on trial!

Diagram for Delinquents captures the zeitgeist of late 1940s and early 1950s America and investigates how the funny books found themselves on the fire. Using expert and comic book insider interviews, never seen before historical photographs and films, and animation, Diagram goes further than any previous comic book documentary to explore and understand the controversial figure at the center of this American tale: Fredric Wertham.

The movie is currently available for purchase as a download from the Sequart store, including a version with over an hour of bonus material. Also at the Sequart store, you can preorder the DVD version, which is expected to ship in August. For more information on Diagram for Delinquents, and to see its official trailer, please visit the film’s page on Sequart.org.

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About the Publisher: Sequart Organization is devoted to the study of popular culture and the promotion of comic books as a legitimate artform. Sequart has released twenty books, five films, and thousands of online articles. Its documentaries include The Image Revolution, and its books include Grant Morrison: The Early Years. Later this year, Sequart will release the documentary She Makes Comics (about the history of women in the comics medium), and next year will see the release of a documentary on Neil Gaiman.

About the Director: Robert A. Emmons, Jr. is a documentary filmmaker focusing on American popular culture and history. His films include Enthusiast: The 9th Art, Wolf at the Door, Yardsale!, Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza, and De Luxe: The Tale of Blue Comet. Goodwill was screened as part of the Smithsonian exhibition "Our Journeys / Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement." It also won Best Homegrown Documentary Feature at the 2008 Garden State Film Festival, and it led to him receiving Mexico's Lindbergh-Carranza International Goodwill Award as a "Messenger of Peace."