I was wrong about the era, apparently the height of the comic book scare was the late 1950s, but it continued to the end of the century as far as I remember.

It's all based on this book Seduction of the Innocent: https://www.amazon.com/Seduction-Innocent-Frederic-Wertham/d...

Here's an article about it: https://slate.com/culture/2008/04/the-campaign-against-comic...

The scare went all the way to Congress.

Here's a book about the history of the comic book scare: https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Cent-Plague-Comic-Book-Changed-Am...