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    Comics Code Authority

    Concept » Comics Code Authority appears in 1483 issues.

    Created in 1954 amidst controversy subsequent to the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent", publishers established the code to curb potential governmental regulation. The fall of the Code is most often attributed to Alan Moore and his work on the Swamp Thing in the 80's.

    Comic Book History: Comics Code Authority

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    Final Arrow

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    #51  Edited By Final Arrow

    Great Article

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    Meteorite

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    #52  Edited By Meteorite

    Little known fact about the CCA: Some of the rules were changed slightly after Stan Lee created the classic Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 story arc, which had Harry Osborn becoming addicted to drugs, without the approval of the CCA.

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    Donovan Montgomery

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    #53  Edited By Donovan Montgomery

    I had no problem with the code.  Company's doing their own ratings?  Why should I trust the company's choice for ratings?   (I do read the comics I buy for my kids, true, they are ones I want to read and watched when I was a kid......come to think of it, I don't let them watch most of the stuff I did, lol)  Any way, Max is garbage, I understand I'm in the minority on this subject, but I tried reading a couple and put them down.  ANYWAY......ratings are subjective to the company so a "PG" rating from DC can be totally different from a Marvel "PG" rating.  ~I choose "PG" because any "G" books would/should/probably have the kid imprint on them.~  Anyway, if I pick up a "PG" book from DC and it's ok, so I pick one up from Marvel and it has a totaly different level of material.  We all know if one or two "PG" movies are good, then they all are. <<sarcasm  
    My point, "PG" is generally assumed to be "safe" material for everyone and parents don't always bother to check it all, ------rambling------- 
    Comic Code had flaws, and a bit of "bad" got thru, but I can let my kids read my old DD's without worring to much about content, that and I have read them all. 
    And I can see how they held the creative process back, but if they were still widely used, I would still be reading more comics.   
    Call me old fashioned but I just don't like Bendis.
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    Jotham

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    #54  Edited By Jotham

    "...excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay..." Okay, the first two stabs were fine, but three? That's just excessive and unnecessary.

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    cbishop

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    #55  Edited By cbishop
    @Donovan Montgomery:
    @Illuminarch said:

    "I don't see how you can call this censorship, which implies actual coercion, when the Comics Code Authority was entirely self-inflicted. If they "had" to do it in order to sell the comics because their distributors wouldn't carry books without the seal, then there's not much to complain about. They're responding to consumer demand, and their re-sellers have every right to hold them to whatever standards they deem appropriate. "


    Oh no, the CCA is some of the worst censorship ever perpetrated.  Archie, DC and Marvel chose the Code, but they specifically crafted the Code to put EC Comics out of business, which Inferiorego only touched on.  All those words not allowed on the covers were specifically targeting titles by EC.  All the forbidden story points included in the Code made the types of stories EC told impossible.  They regulated themselves, but they censored EC out of existence, with the help of retailers that wouldn't buy EC's non-Code-carrying material.
     
    Why do I call it "some of the worst censorship ever perpetrated?"  Because they voluntarilygave up their Freedom of Speech.  The CCA is not like the MPAA.  You can make any kind of movie you want.  The MPAA puts a rating on it according to what age range they feel it's suitable for.  They don't censor content, they categorize it.  The CCA actually dictates content to the entire medium of American comics. 
     
    This isn't even like Disney, which strives for its content to be family/ kid-friendly.  They're not censoring themselves.  They don't write a movie, then hand it over to be whittled down to something suitable for kids.  They make something suitable for kids to begin with.  Family and kid-friendly is what the Disney brand is for. 
     
    Besides their recent aquisition of Marvel (which isn't subject to Disney's content mandates), Disney also owns the ABC network, which has never been subject to the Disney guidelines.  See the difference?  They're not buying stuff up and censoring it all to a specific format.  They're creating brand names recognized for certain types of material. 
     
    The CCA held the entire comic industry under an iron thumb for three-and-a-half decades, and still exists today, apparently out of some twisted sense of tradition, sterilizing where it's asked to.  You're talkng about six decades of voluntary whitewashing.  I'd call it criminal, but obviously, insanity was involved here.
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