Comics Code Authority

The Comics Code Authority (CCA) is an organization founded in 1954 to act as a de facto censor for American comic books.

Related Topics:
1954 - De facto - Censor - Comic books

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In the 1950s there was a public outcry against crime and horror comics, as well as the sexual innuendos of Good Girl Art. To placate their critics, most of America's major comic book publishers joined together to create an organization that would censor their own comics. While the CCA never had any legal authority over other publishers, magazine distributors often refused to carry comics without the CCA's seal of approval.

Related Topics:
1950s - Crime - Horror comics - Good Girl Art

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The CCA's strict code prohibited depictions of gore, sexuality, and excessive violence; it required that authority figures were never to be ridiculed or presented disrespectfully, and that good must always win; it prohibited any scenes with vampires, werewolves, ghouls or zombies. The code also prohibited advertisements of liquor, tobacco, knives, fireworks, nude pin-ups and postcards, and "toiletry products of questionable nature".

Related Topics:
Sexuality - Violence - Vampire - Werewolves - Ghoul - Zombie - Liquor - Tobacco - Knives - Fireworks - Pin-up - Postcard

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There were critics. Dr. Frederic Wertham, whose book Seduction of the Innocent helped enflame public antipathy against comics, dismissed the code as an inadequate half measure. William Gaines, head of EC Comics among whose best selling titles were Crime SuspenStories, The Vault of Horror and The Crypt of Terror, complained that clauses prohibiting titles with the words "Terror", "Horror", or "Crime", as well as the clause banning vampires, werewolves and zombies, all seemed targeted to put EC out of business.

Related Topics:
Frederic Wertham - Seduction of the Innocent - William Gaines - EC Comics - Crime SuspenStories - The Vault of Horror - The Crypt of Terror

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Most comics historians believe the CCA had a damaging effect on the medium, with artists allowed to create only simplistic morality tales. This drove away much of the adult readership and stigmatized the medium (in North America) as fit only for children. The code held sway for years, with mainstream publishers like Marvel Comics managing to devise idioms that allowed for some relevant expression. In the late 1960s, the underground comic book scene arose with artists creating comics (sans code) that delved into formerly unthinkable subject matter.

Related Topics:
Marvel Comics - 1960s - Underground comic book

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In 1971, Marvel Comics editor in chief Stan Lee was approached by the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to do a comic book story about drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote an appropriate Spider-Man story. The CCA refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming the context of the story irrelevant. Lee, with the approval of his boss Martin Goodman, published the story anyway in Amazing Spider-Man #96. The story was so well received that the CCA's influence was undercut.

Related Topics:
1971 - Stan Lee - United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare - Spider-Man - Martin Goodman

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This wasn't actually the first time narcotics were mentioned in a post-Code mainstream comic. An earlier Strange Adventures story featured Deadman fighting criminals who used a travelling circus they worked for to smuggle "snow", a euphemism for either heroin or cocaine that the CCA appears to have overlooked.

Related Topics:
Narcotics - Strange Adventures - Deadman - Heroin - Cocaine

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Following the embarrassment of Marvel's Spider-Man drug story, the code was revised in 1971 to permit the depiction of "Narcotics or Drug addiction" if presented "as a vicious habit." Also newly allowed were vampires, ghouls and werewolves, "when handled in the classic tradition of Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high caliber literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world." Perhaps because no such respected authors depicted the walking dead, zombies remained forbidden. However, Marvel Comics skirted the zombie restriction in the mid-1970s by calling the apparently deceased mind-controlled followers of various Haitian super-villains "zuvembies."

Related Topics:
1971 - Frankenstein - Dracula - Edgar Allan Poe - Saki - Conan Doyle - 1970s

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Despite the CCA revising the code to keep up with fashion over the years, its influence on the medium has diminished. DC Comics, Marvel, and other CCA sponsors have published lines of comics intended for adult audiences, without the CCA's seal, and there is no indication that the presence of the seal has any bearing on whether a comic is placed on sale or not.

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In 2001, Marvel Comics withdrew from the CCA in favor of its own ratings system which was seen as yet another step in the CCA's decline into irrelevance. As of 2005, the CCA's stamp-shaped insignia is rarely seen on covers and is barely visible on those which it does appear. DC Comics and Archie Comics are the only major companies with some titles still sporting the CCA insignia. Even then it seems to have very relaxed standards in many cases. The Batman titles often show copious amounts of blood or even rooms full of dismembered bodies.

Related Topics:
2001 - Its own ratings system - As of 2005 - Archie Comics

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