| This article is written from the Real World perspective |  |
| Comics Code Authority | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Comics Code seal of approval at the beginning of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | |||||||
| Current Name | Comics Code Authority | ||||||
| Role | Self censorship organization for American comics | ||||||
| Founded | 1954 | ||||||
| Fate | Abandoned (2011) | ||||||
| Key Figure(s) | Charles Francis Murphy (Head of the CCA) | ||||||
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The Comics Code Authority was a censorship organization for American comic book publishers that was active from 1954 to 2011. As an Easter egg the seal of the Comics Code Authority appeared at the beginning of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse along with the logos of the production companies that worked on the movie.
History[]
Founding[]
In the 1950s a psychiatrist named Fredrick Wertham talked to several juvenile delinquents. While talking to these children Fredrick Wertham learned that they all read comic book and deduced that the violent images in comic books were causing them to become juvenile delinquents.
In April 1954 Fredrick Wortham published a book called Seduction of the Innocent. In this book Fredrick Wortham talked about the negative effects that comic books were having on children. Some of the claims that Worthem made in his book were that the images in horror comics were too gruesome, Batman and Robin were in a gay relationship (which at the time was still seen as a mental disorder), and Wonder Woman had bondage subtext; however, Wonder Woman's creator William Moulton Marston had already openly admitted this. Wertham also claimed that Superman was un-American and fascist.
Seduction of the Innocent caught the attention of Senator Estes Kefauver. Kefauver was known as a mob hunter and knew that the mob had strong connections to the distribution of comic books. He saw Wertham's agenda as a tool he could use against the organized crime within the industry. Fredrick Wertham then testified before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency about the effects comic books had on children. Some comic book creators such as William Gaines of EC Comics testified before the committee. The horror comics published by EC Comics were a major topic during the hearings.
Although the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency's final report did not blame comics for crime, it recommended that the comics industry tone down its content voluntarily. Publishers then developed the self-censorship body the Comics Code Authority. All comic books had to be submitted to the Comics Code Authority for review. If a comic did not receive the CCA's seal of approval the comic could not be published and distributed.
1954 Code criteria[]
- Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
- If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.
- Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.
- Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation.
- In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.
- Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay, physical agony, the gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.
- No comic magazine shall use the words "horror" or "terror" in its title.
- All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.
- All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.
- Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.
- Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.
- Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden.
- Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure.
- Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable.
- Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.
- Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Rape scenes, as well as sexual abnormalities, are unacceptable.
- Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested.
- Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden.
- Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals.
Changes to the industry[]
Several changes were made to comic book characters and the comic industry because of Fredric Wertham's allegations.
- Batman and Robin were given two female sidekicks due to Wertham's allegation of Batman and Robin's gay subtext: Batwoman (Kathy Kane) and Bat-Girl (Bette Kane).
- Wonder Woman's bondage subtext was toned down.
- Characters romantic relationships such as Superman and Lois Lane and Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor never went beyond a school grade crush.
- Because of the allegation that Superman represented fascism Superman began to work closer with law enforcement after the Comics Code was enacted.
- Because of the Comics Code's rule against publishing horror comics, comic book companies that specialized in horror comics such as EC Comics were forced to shut down.
Wolfman[]
In 1970 Marv Wolfman got into trouble with the Comics Code Authority over his credit in House of Secrets #83. The Comics Code Authority did not realize that Wolfman was the authors last name and thought it was talking about an actual wolfman which the Comics Code Authority forbade. Gerry Conway explained to the Comics Code Authority that the authors name was in fact Wolfman and asked if it would still be in violation if clearly stated. The CCA agreed that it would not be, as long as Wolfman received a writer's credit on the first page of the story; this led to DC beginning to credit creators in its supernatural-mystery anthologies.
Fighting the code[]
Stan Lee was perhaps one of the first people to fight the Comics Code Authority. In 1971 Stan Lee was approached by a branch of the U.S. government and they asked him to write a comic warning children about the dangers of drugs. Stan Lee agreed and wrote a three issue story where Spider-Man fought the Green Goblin and Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn, got addicted to drugs. When Stan submitted the comics for approval the Comics Code Authority informed him that his comics would not receive the seal of approval because of its depiction of drug abuse. Stan attempted to explain that he was trying to warn children about drugs, not telling them to take them, and that he was asked to write these comics by the federal government. Despite this the CCA refused to give Stan the seal of approval.
After the Comics Code Authority refused to give Stan Lee's comics the seal of approval he went to his publisher Martin Goodman. Stan told Goodman that he was proud of the comics he had written about that dangers of drug abuse and that they needed to be published. Goodman agreed and for the next three months (May, June and July 1971) The Amazing Spider-Man was published without the Comics Code Authority's seal of approval.
Abandonment[]
Eventually the Comics Code Authority began to loosen up on its regulations. Sympathetic depiction of criminal behavior and monsters were starting to show up in comics. By the 1980s, greater depiction of violence had become acceptable. With the codes restrictions being loosened this led to the publication of more adult oriented comics such as V for Vendetta, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen.
In 2001, the CCA rejected an issue of the Marvel Comics series X-Force, requiring that changes be made. Instead, Marvel stopped submitting its comics to the CCA, and implemented its own rating system designating appropriate age groups.
On January 20, 2011, DC Comics announced that it would discontinue participation, adopting a rating system similar to Marvel's. The company noted that it submitted comics for approval through December 2010, but would not say to whom they were submitted. A day later, Archie Comics, the only other publisher still participating in the Code, announced it also was discontinuing it, rendering the Code defunct.