Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 28 of 42  Photo of a 'comic book burning' in Nebraska in 1954, the sort of scene one associates with Nazi Germany. In this way, the public on both sides of the Atlantic were suddenly spurred into taking a stance on comics in a way they had not before. Parents had not taken much notice when Junior was reading other kinds of action or humour titles (or if they did, they were mildly disapproving), but this new horror and crime material was a different kettle of rotting fish altogether. Again, the stereotype of a comic was being challenged (note those inverted commas in the Picture Post piece), and there could only be one outcome: censorship. In America, there were hearings in the Senate, at which both Fredric Wertham and William Gaines testified, after which publishers were compelled to band together into a self-regulatory group, the Comics Magazine Association of America (established in 1954). This association thereafter administered a code of conduct, overseen by a review body called "The Comics Code Authority'. This 'code' consisted of a list of prohibitions. There were to be no references to sex, no excessive violence, no challenges to authority, and so on. It was enforced by an arrangement whereby every new title thereafter was submitted for approval. If it passed, it ran with a cover stamp 'Approved by the Comics Code Authority'; if it failed, it did not get distributed.26 In Britain, Parliament passed a law, "The Children's and Young Persons Harmful Publications Act' (1955), which effectively banned the offending comics from entering the country, or from being reprinted.  Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics. 1968). Script: Stan Lee/Jack Kirby. Art: Jack Kirby. The title that revived superhero comics in America. Stories exhibited a new level of psychological depth: the 'Four' bickered among themselves like any family, and always found time to agonize ever issues of brain versus brawn.  Fantastic Four |