Comics Code Authority

Some publishers thrived under these restrictions, while others adapted by cancelling titles and focusing on code-approved content; still others went out of business. In practice, the negative effect of not having CCA approval was lack of distribution by the comic book wholesalers, who, as one historian observed, "served as the enforcement arm of the Comics Code Authority by agreeing to handle only those comics with the seal."[8]

Publisher William Gaines believed that clauses forbidding the words "crime", "horror", and "terror" in comic book titles had been deliberately aimed at his own best-selling titles Crime SuspenStories, The Vault of Horror, and Tales from the Crypt.[9][10] These restrictions, as well as those banning vampires, werewolves and zombies, helped make EC Comics unprofitable; all of its titles except Mad were cancelled in the year following the code's introduction, and attempts by EC to launch code-friendly replacement titles were unsuccessful. Mad itself survived only because Gaines had converted the publication to a magazine format, to which the code did not apply.

Wertham dismissed the code as an inadequate half-measure.[11] Comics analyst Scott McCloud, on the other hand, later commented that it was as if, in drawing up the code, "the list of requirements a film needs to receive a G rating was doubled, and there were no other acceptable ratings!"[12]

In one early confrontation between a comic-book publisher and the code authorities, EC Comics' William Gaines reprinted the story "Judgment Day", from the pre-code Weird Fantasy #18 (April 1953), in Incredible Science Fiction #33 (February 1956).[13] The reprint was a replacement for a Code-disapproved story – "An Eye for an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres[14] – but was itself also objected to because of the central character being black.[13] The story, by writer Al Feldstein and artist Joe Orlando,[14] was an allegory against racial prejudice, a point which was necessarily nullified if the lead character was not black.[13] Following an order by code administrator Judge Charles Murphy to change the final panel, which depicted a black astronaut, Gaines engaged in a heated dispute with Murphy.[15] He threatened to inform the press of Murphy's objection to the story if they did not give the issue the Code Seal, causing Murphy to reverse his initial decision and allow the story to run.[13] Soon after, however, facing the severe restrictions placed upon his comics by the CCA, and with his "New Direction" titles foundering, Gaines quit comic book publishing to concentrate on Mad.[13]

In the late 1960s, the underground comics scene arose, with artists such as Robert Crumb creating comics that delved into graphic subject matter banned by the Code. Since these comics were distributed largely through unconventional channels, such as head shops, they were able to skirt the problem of mainstream distributors who were wary of carrying non-CCA-approved comics. This allowed underground comics to achieve moderate success without CCA approval.

The code was not mandatory; there was no law requiring its use. Warren Publishing published horror stories as magazines and never submitted its stories to the Comics Code Authority. Marvel published its first magazine edition of the Spectacular Spider-Man (July 1968) without submitting it to the code. However, the second issue (November 1968) was submitted to the code and displayed its logo on the cover.

Writer Marv Wolfman's name was briefly a point of contention between DC Comics and the CCA. In the supernatural-mystery anthology House of Secrets #83 (Jan. 1970), the book's host introduces the story "The Stuff that Dreams are Made of" as one told to him by "a wandering wolfman". (All-capitals comics lettering made no distinction between "wolfman" and "Wolfman".) The CCA rejected the story and flagged the "wolfman" reference as a violation. Fellow writer Gerry Conway explained to the CCA that the story's author was in fact named Wolfman, and asked whether it would still be in violation if that were 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.[17]

The Code was revised a number of times during 1971, initially on January 28, 1971, to allow for, among other things, the sometimes "sympathetic depiction of criminal behavior... [and] corruption among public officials" ("as long as it is portrayed as exceptional and the culprit is punished"[13]) as well as permitting some criminal activities to kill law-enforcement officers and the "suggestion but not portrayal of seduction."[13] Also newly allowed were "vampires, ghouls and werewolves... when handled in the classic tradition such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high calibre literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world". Zombies, lacking the requisite "literary" background, remained taboo. To get around this restriction, Marvel in the mid-1970s called the apparently deceased, mind-controlled followers of various Haitian supervillains "zuvembies".[18] This practice carried over to Marvel's superhero line: in The Avengers, when the reanimated superhero Wonder Man returns from the dead, he is referred to as a "zuvembie".[19] DC comics published their own zombie story in Swamp Thing #16 (May 1975), where the deceased rise from their graves, while a soul-devouring demon appears in Swamp Thing #15 (April 1975).

Around this time, the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee to do a story about drug abuse.[13] Lee agreed and wrote a three-part Spider-Man story, portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. While the Code did not specifically forbid depictions of drugs, a general clause prohibited "All elements or techniques not specifically mentioned herein, but which are contrary to the spirit and intent of the code, and are considered violations of good taste or decency".[20] The CCA had approved at least one previous story involving drugs, the premiere of Deadman in Strange Adventures #205 (Oct. 1967), which clearly depicted the title character fighting opium smugglers.[20] However, Code administrator Leonard Darvin "was ill" at the time of the Spider-Man story,[13] and acting administrator John L. Goldwater (publisher of Archie Comics) refused to grant Code approval because of the depiction of narcotics being used, regardless of the context,[13] whereas the Deadman story had depicted only a wholesale business transaction.[20]

Confident that the original government request would give him credibility, and with the approval of his publisher Martin Goodman, Lee ran the story in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971), without CCA approval.[21] The storyline was well received, and the CCA's argument for denying approval was deemed counterproductive. "That was the only big issue that we had" with the Code, Lee recalled in a 1998 interview:

I could understand them; they were like lawyers, people who take things literally and technically. The Code mentioned that you mustn't mention drugs and, according to their rules, they were right. So I didn't even get mad at them then. I said, 'Screw it' and just took the Code seal off for those three issues. Then we went back to the Code again. I never thought about the Code when I was writing a story, because basically I never wanted to do anything that was to my mind too violent or too sexy. I was aware that young people were reading these books, and had there not been a Code, I don't think that I would have done the stories any differently.[22]

Lee and Marvel drew criticism from DC head Carmine Infantino "for defying the code", stating that DC will not "do any drug stories unless the code is changed".[13] As a result of publicity surrounding the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's sanctioning of the storyline, however, the CCA revised the Code to permit the depiction of "narcotics or drug addiction" if presented "as a vicious habit". DC itself then broached the topic in the Code-approved Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 (Sept. 1971), with writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams beginning a story arc involving Green Arrow's teen sidekick Speedy as a heroin addict. A cover line read, "DC attacks youth's greatest problem... Drugs!"[20]

By the 2000s, advertisers no longer made decisions to advertise based on the appearance of the stamp.[24] Most new publishers to emerge during this time did not join the CCA, regardless of whether their content conformed to its standards.[24] DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and other CCA sponsors began publishing comics intended for adult audiences, without the CCA seal, and comics labeled for "mature readers" under imprints such as DC's Vertigo and Marvel's Epic Comics, and the DC imprints Helix and WildStorm were not submitted to the CCA.

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,[25] and implemented its own rating system designating appropriate age groups.

In 2010, Bongo Comics discontinued using the Code without any announcements regarding its abandonment.[26]

The CMAA, at some point in the 2000s, was managed by the trade-organization management firm the Kellen Company, which ceased its involvement in 2009. In 2010, some publishers, including Archie, placed the seal on their comics without submitting them to the CMAA. Archie Comics President Mike Pellerito stated that the code did not affect his company the way that it did others as "we aren't about to start stuffing bodies into refrigerators".[24]

On January 20, 2011, DC Comics announced that it would discontinue participation, adopting a rating system similar to Marvel's.[27] The company noted that it submitted comics for approval through December 2010, but would not say to whom they were submitted.[24] A day later, Archie Comics, the only other publisher still participating in the Code, announced it also was discontinuing it,[28] rendering the Code defunct.

On September 29, 2011, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund announced that it would acquire the intellectual property rights to the Comics Code seal from the defunct CMAA.[29]

The Comics Code seal can be seen at the beginning of the 2018 superhero film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as part of the production logos.[30][31]