Clinch 1
Sarah Clinch
ENG 380
Dr. Lan Dong
6 October 2009
Midterm 2
Modern Comics: Spawn of Codes?
The Golden Age of Comics, commonly accepted as 1938-1954 and encompassing the advent of Superman, Batman and many other popular superhero figures, ended abruptly with the adoption of the Comic Codes to regulate content of commercially published material. The Code effectively “gutted comics of edgy content, fright fests, realistic love and romance plots, and other adult matter, leaving the medium mostly to super-heroes and mild-mannered teen comedies like Archie” (Cornog par.1); however, the Codes also unintentionally fostered an age of Underground Comix, which led eventually to the Comic Codes collapse. These Comic Codes affected the history and development of comics through a three-pronged timeline: those comics which adhered to the Codes, those comics which rebelled from the Codes, and those comics which evolved from the struggle between the previous two and which have progressed out of the fated collapse of the Codes.
During this Golden Age of Comics, various publications began to raise alarm in the general public due to their graphic content. The argument of violence begets violence was raised, an idea expressed nearly forty years later by comic commentator Scott McCloud, who argued that “when reading violent comic books, individualsare not simply witnessing depictions of aggressive behavior, they are in factbecoming active participants in the creation of the aggression-laden storyline” (Kirsch 48). The Kefauver Comic Book Hearings were held in response to this argument that violent comics were contributing to the growing problem of juvenile delinquency (most represented by Frederic Wertham’s book Seduction of the Innocent); however, as posed by David Park in his article on the Hearings, they were in fact merely a “symbolic display, a show trial… [making] a self-censorship code an almost predeterminedoutcome” (Park 261, 259). Those comics which were published during the reign of the Comic Codes were censored in their content; this made them far less violent and more family friendly than before the Codes were established, thereby hoping to reduce the amount of active participation with violent activity, which theoretically would reduce juvenile delinquency within the United States. The publicly accepted published comics, adhering to the Comic Codes, provided stories to appease those with complaints, which allowed for the next, concurrent wave of comix to flood the underground society.
Just as Newton’s third law of motion applies to physics, his intuitive idea also identifies the relationship between the Comic Codes and Underground Comix: “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” (NASA). The rebellion of the Underground Comix movement proved more violent, sexual and satirical than any publications prior to the Codes. Artists such as Harvey Kurtzman, founder of MAD Magazine and “Little Annie Fanny” of Playboy magazine, pushed the boundaries of comedy and satire more than any other artists of his time, prompted by the restrictions of the Comic Codes (“Harvey Kurtzman”).Also, as the world changed and evolved (with the Vietnam War and the Sexual Revolution among the most influential), the Underground Comix were endowed with even more provocative content to explore. Groups such as Wimmen’s Comix explored women’s perspectives on sex and other issues (“Wimmen’s Comix”), something only the Underground Comix movement could have fostered.
Through the rebellion of the Underground Comix movement, the Comic Codes were revised in 1971 (Finkelstein “Code”), and then again in 1989 (Anonymous). While only minor revisions were made, the gradual loosening of the grip upon publishable material was the beginning of the unraveling of the Comic Codes. In 2001, an article was published in Newsweek detailing Marvel’s rejection of the so-called “obsolete” (Begun) Codes, allowing for more freedom of content within their publications. This new age of expressive liberty balanced the Codified Comics and Underground Comix into a healthy mix of moderation. Finally, modern comics have found a balance, after the decades of seesawing up and down the spectrum of extremes, in which audiences of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy published works. Truly, now more than ever, “there has never been a better time than the present to be a comics fan” (Raiteri par. 5).
While the Comic Codes limited the allowable content of published content for nearly three decades, and seemed to hinder the progress of the genre, they actually precipitated the advent our modern age of comics, perhaps the new Golden Age. By putting the restrictions in place, authorities spawned the Underground Comix movement, an extremist reaction to the seemingly counter-productive Comic Codes. By fully exploring the depths to which comics could go, with political and social commentaries, the Underground Comix movement served as the far-left end of the spectrum, giving modern comics a chance to balance between the two and find ground upon which all audiences can benefit.
Works Cited
Anonymous. "Comics Magazine Association of America Comics Code 1989." The History of Superhero Comic Books. 22 Jul 1998. Geocities, Web. 6 Oct 2009.
Begun, Bret, Susannah Meadows, Lucy Howard, and Katherine Stroup. "Bam! Kapow! Blasting the Code." Newsweek 137.22 (28 May 2001): n. pag. Web. 6 Oct 2009.
Cornog, Martha, and Steve Raiteri. "Creepy Comeback." Library Journal 132.15 (2007): p41. Web. 6 Oct 2009.
Finkelstein, Seth. “Code of the Comic Magazine Association of America, INC.” MIT SAFE Information about Labeling and Rating Systems. 29 Oct 2005. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Web. 6 Oct 2009.
Finkelstein, Seth. "Standards of the Comics Code Authority for Editorial Matter as Originally Adopted." MIT SAFE Information about Labeling and Rating Systems. 29 Oct 2005. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Web. 6 Oct 2009.
“Harvey Kurtzman.” Lambiek. 1 Feb 2009. Lambiek, Web. 6 Oct. 2009.
Kirsch, Steven J, and Paul V Olczak. "Violent Comic Books and Perceptions of Ambiguous Provocation Situations." Media Psychology 2.1 (2000): p47-62. Web. 6 Oct 2009.
"Newton's Laws of Motion." NASAGlennResearchCenter. 23 Apr 2009. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Web. 6 Oct 2009.
"Wimmen's Comix." Lambiek. 23 Jun 2005. Lambiek, Web. 6 Oct 2009.
Park, David. "The Kefauver Comic Book Hearings As Show Trial: Decency, Authority And The Dominated Expert." Cultural Studies 16.2 (2002): p259-288. Web. 6 Oct 2009.
Raiteri, Steve. "Graphic Novels." Library Journal. 131.1 (2006): p86. Web. 6 Oct 2009.