Comic Book Censorship - Was The Comics' Code That Bad?

Florida is literally doing a huge book banning and it is spreading. It is mainly books about characters of color or the LGBTQ. Librarians are being sued for putting out books.

Much of the code I can sort of "get" what they were going for. But it's not like the comics where showing characters fucking. It really sounds like they were trying to avoid the sort of "outlaw worship" of the 20s and 30s, from happening in comics.

who really cared what Dell comics produced in the 1950's...?...

Many of their titles... were changed over to "Gold Key"... comics. .later anyway..... such as all of their Disney stuff... and Looney Toons stuff... what ever other genres they were into... other than the cartoons... were Not that thrilling anyway....

when I was young... I would have rather bought a "Classic's Illustrated"... comic...even if it meant learning the classics.... over a Dell comic... due to the narrative and art work being SO MUCH better in the "Classics Illustrated".. than in the Dell comics... Harvey comics escaped... by maintaining their cartoon characters... and continually adding to them.. such as Richie Rich in 1961 and Sad Sack.....and Beetle Bailey... .. and I believe over the years... this evolved into Whitman comics...

Atlas comics... escaped it by basically phasing out their horror.. and switching more into a fantasy genre... and then introduced new superheroes some with borrowed powers from golden age superheroes... beginning in 1961 as well and becoming Marvel comics... I cant think of a single sci-fi or horror comic produced by Marvel comics.. between 1961-1971 ... other than the fantasy stories... at the end of their flagship superhero titles... which were about...gone by around 1964... when Marvel produced.. solely superheroes... westerns.. romance and cartoon titles..no more Horror.. or Sci-fi from them for a while ..or crime either..

D.C. comics never had much to worry about anyway.. they were always more on the tame side than their competitors... In fact I wouldn't doubt.. that they were cheering as the comics code.. took some of their competitions... out for the count....I imagine Charleston comics felt the same also...

At the end of the Creepshow 2 credits they say this quote: “Juvenile delinquency is the product of pent up frustrations, stored-up resentments and bottled-up fears. It is not the product of cartoons and captions. But the comics are a handy, obvious, uncomplicated scapegoat. If the adults who crusade against them would only get as steamed up over such basic causes of delinquency as parental ignorance, indifference, and cruelty, they might discover that comic books are no more a menace than Treasure Island or Jack the Giant Killer” and that single quote still holds true over 35 years later

Depending on subjects:
Race was the biggest censorship.

PowerGirl close second!!

Wonder how they felt about power girl?

I wonder how they felt about Betty and Veronica 😮

Let's blame Lois lane 😊

Personal responsibility for LANGUAGE!!! This is a good thing. This issue exists to replace one thing; “FIGHTING WORDS”! In print❗️‼️. Why is a period placed after the 3 exclamation points-IS SOMEBODY TRYING TO START SOMETHING^#%][}{?!*¥£€=•=<^>

Never liked the idea of this code. Just like with films. We managed to get some great films and comics despite these codes, not because of them. And just like with films, as time went on you could see them getting more lax in regards to following the codes until they were finally scrapped and the floodgates opened. Amazing the kind of iconic movies we got in the late 60s and into the 70s that would never have been made under all these strict rules. The Batman we know now wouldn't exist. And any funny stuff that came about it as a result of trying to get around the rules makes it a neat moment in history, but not something I'd want in place forever just for that.

One rule I never got is the one that says crime should be depicted as a sordid and unglamourous activity. Did any comic or movie ever really show crime as a good thing, seriously? I watch more old movies than read old comics, but I have read a few and read about them, and I've never heard of a comic book or movie that says "hey everybody, look how cool it is to be a criminal!", I mean, they show the reality that it has its upsides, but they always show the downsides... no one is like "Hello readers, let me interest you in the life of crime! Look how well it pays! No minimum education required! You'll live a long and healthy life!".

The censorship of yesteryear is no different than the "political correctness" or "cancel culture" of modern times! You will always find the government involved in it at some level!

No way across the spider-verse follows the comics code No way

You talk way too fast.

I notice that a lot of those rules just helped the corrupt society at the time

I think a rating system is better than the one-size fits all code.

Daaang, did the Spectre make this list?

I think the "violent sax" prohibition was probably more for BDSM than for the R word.

They was also drinking Real Coke a Cola (Ant nuttin like the real Thing!) while they were written these rules down

Violent love scenes is SM.

Its so obvious the code was made to respond to a particular set of complaints and to harm specific publishers. They're so specific and detailed at the start with crime and horror - even the words themselves, but by the end its 'No offensive stuff'. If you had no context its impossible to understand why these particular rules.

Suggestion: The Twelve. I read this 12 part series in the form of two graphic novels. I'd love to see your take on this

A couple of comments. Although most everyone thinks these rules are silly, but if you think that comics are targeted to only (or mostly) to young children, banning torture porn makes sense. I remember one comic I read as a young child, somewhere around 10 years old, that had very explicit images of cannibalism- basically, identifiable human body parts in cooking pots, with the protagonist having the knowledge that he was next to go in the oven. It gave me nightmares and I can still remember the traumatized feelings I had. But other restrictions would make it almost impossible to tell a good story. Also, the part where publishers were supposed to monitor the advertisements has me baffled. How many kids sent in money to get X-Ray glasses, for instance? Spoiler alert- they didn't work. My colony of sea monkeys never built their underwater civilization, either. If advertisements were ever monitored to stop the sale of "snake oil" products, I sure couldn't tell.

I think the "violent sexual acts" provisions was talking about bdsm. Actually an interesting and nuance distinction they made, you would think they would just blanket ban everything but they wanted to emphasize the separation of the two.

I think the slang rule was not a bad call, though that could be the years of english teachers and age talking. I can kind of see not detailing the assembly of a bomb or something like that being banned, though i hope that would be common sense...

The only other rule I would entertain is the religion one, mainly because of how tired I am of the same edgy, repetitive, anti-religious stories. Like, the vastly different and systemic problems of each church needs critique and accountability not a half coherent ramble about religious people being stupid or mentally ill. The rest of the code is bad

yes. boobas. we have the internet now i can guarentee any kid could find porn if they want, if they are aware of it good going for it.

One last thing. Speaking of ads and rip offs, there used to be these ads for some guy’s fitness magic, something like Joe Atlas that promised you instant muscles. Me and my friends pooled our meager allowance money to buy it and it was such a rip off. We wrote him a profanity laced letter (well as much profanity as we knew which wasn’t much). I still remember we started the letter with”Hey you turd” which we thought was the most profane and hysterical thing ever. Looking back, it was probably worth the money for all the fun we had writing our letter.

It’s funny how my favorite American fiction authors: Dashell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson, fail so completely on most of the code. The cops were usually corrupt, gangsters seemed cool, and authority in general was as or more corrupt than the criminals. Also, lots of what at the time at least was considered lurid sex.

I think honestly I'm super glad it isn't followed any more, however there are some extremely charming things that are a product of this code. Very charming things in comics and film. It's unfortunate because there simply isn't a middle ground where some stuff could remain charming and under the code while still being for adults as well as children and good American morals and values while at the same time having some operating without it. I just feel as though that what made them charming in the first place is because of the fact that they where sort of forced to follow the code with no other options so they had to get a bit more creative. I just don't feel like that is doable to achieve without that force or as many options as we have today. It would be really cool however if they where able to start selling new comics and stories with art, story, and subject that is lead into seamlessly from the days of the CCA and done well. IF it was done well and believable it would be oh so fun and amazing.

Now the advertisement clauses in the code do have merit, no more snake oil panaceas or cure all pills etc. But the rest of the code pretty much cemented comics as being "for kids" or a children's media, despite the fact that the boom in horror and crime works towards the end of '45 and the early 50s was as a result of the original readership now being in adulthood and wanting to read more age appropriate content. Were this not implimented as a moral crusade it could have just resulted in an age rating system being implimented (horror and crime shifted towards the top shelves), however even as we see today this would still result in moral complains resulting from parents purchasing their 8 year olds clearly M-rated media and then complaining about it, because gosh darn it "won't somebody PLEASE think of the children!!!"

So removing "Crime" from covers huh? Must explain why Boy Comics staring Crimebuster changed to Boy Comics starring Chuck Chandler, where Crimebuster went off to adventure at a technical college.

One thing I didn't understand and thought silly was, married couples having separate beds. My parents were church going and my paternal grandmother (who died before my parents married) was raised in the Quaker tradition and she had uber influence over my father. Pretty strict guy.

As usual, theye were useless, but at least harmful. Creators of the code were just corrupted morons.

Stan Lee really broke the mold in 1971 when he struck an important blow against censorship he blended 'fantastic stories' with 'authentic struggles.' Marvel published The Amazing Spider-Man issues #96 through #98 without the CCA’s seal, thereby ignoring the Comics Code altogether in order to tell what it thought was a good story that would click with modern readers.

The code tells me that the government did not trust an adult's ability to parent.

Actually, the restrictions on advertising, specifically the limits on ads selling 'snake oil' kinds of 'cures', are things I wouldn't mind seeing brought back. Far too many ads these days are selling stuff that's just plain useless.

the intensity of her delivery is exhausting.
SPACE YOUR EDITS!

what POSSIBLE reason would bruce wayne and dick grayson be sleeping in the same bed, or even the same room??? Mansion?

Wonderfully done! Very entertaining! Thank you!

What's Dextrose? And, could it be the next diet fad?

I feel for all the comic book artists and writers who had to deal with the comic codes when they first came out. That had to be like a anti creativity nuke going off. With the comic book companies scrambling to minimize casualties.

So meta...

Looking back I find myself wishing Gaines at EC had took a stand and fought against the implementation of the Comics Code as a violation of First Amendment rights. I get why, in that era, that he didn't, he must have been scared to death at that time and felt like the whole world was against him. I feel like the Comics Code set back comics as an art form by at least 20 years.

Well, the comics I knew in the 70s and 80s were mostly published under it, and they included vast amounts of good art and storytelling covering a wide array of subjects including social themes, as well as just, well, storytelling, so it didn't seem to hinder much value.

Interesting that drug use did not get a ton of attention.

I'm so glad I watched this to the end. You noticed the TOS of today is the new Comics code of yesterday.

The old E.C. comics were pretty out there.