Editing Comics Code Authority (section)

== 1960s–1970s ==
==="Wolfman" and credits===
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 (DC Comics)|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". The CCA rejected the story and flagged the "wolfman" reference as a violation. Fellow writer [[Gerry Conway]] explained to the CCA that the term referred to Marv Wolfman. The CCA agreed that it would not be a violation, as long as Wolfman received a writer's credit on the first page of the story; that led to DC beginning to credit creators in its supernatural-mystery anthologies.<ref name=cbr>{{cite web|url=http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/09/06/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-119/ |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |date=September 6, 2007 |title=Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed |number=119 |first=Brian |last=Cronin |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719015214/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/09/06/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-119/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Updating the Code ===
The Code was revised a number of times during 1971, initially on January 28, 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") as well as permitting some criminal activities to kill law-enforcement officers and the "suggestion but not portrayal of seduction."<ref name="Newfangles"/> The clause "suggestive posture is unacceptable" was removed. 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]], [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world".<!--quote corrected to match the source as linked – I can't tell whether someone's "corrected" the grammar along the way...--> 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 "[[zuvembie]]s".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Aushenker|first=Michael |title=Disposable Heroes|magazine=[[Back Issue!]]|issue=71|pages=36|publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |date=April 2014|location=Raleigh, North Carolina}}</ref> This practice carried over to Marvel's superhero line: in ''[[Avengers (comics)|The Avengers]]'', when the reanimated superhero [[Wonder Man]] returns from the dead, he is referred to as a "zuvembie".<ref>Conway, Gerry (writer). "At Last: The Decision!” ''Avengers'' #151 (September 1976).</ref> 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.<ref name="Newfangles" /> 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". The CCA had approved at least one previous story involving drugs, the premiere of [[Deadman (character)|Deadman]] in ''[[Strange Adventures]]'' #205 (Oct. 1967), which clearly depicted the title character fighting [[opium]] smugglers (as well as the name "Deadman" being classed as a violation that was eventually allowed).<ref name=cronin>Cronin, Brian. [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/24/comic-book-legends-revealed-226/ "Comic Legend: ''Green Lantern/Green Arrow'' #85 was the first Comics Code approved story involving drugs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818054751/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/24/comic-book-legends-revealed-226/ |date=2010-08-18 }}, ''[[Comic Book Resources]]'', "Comic Book Legends Revealed" #226 (column), September 24, 2009</ref> However, Code administrator Leonard Darvin "was ill" at the time of the Spider-Man story,<ref name="Newfangles"/> 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,<ref name="Newfangles"/> whereas the ''Deadman'' story had depicted only a wholesale business transaction.<ref name=cronin />

Confident that the original government request would give him credibility, and with the approval of his publisher [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]], Lee ran the story in ''[[The Amazing Spider-Man]]'' #96–98 (May–July 1971), without CCA approval.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sacks |first1=Jason |last2=Dallas |first2=Keith |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490564 |pages=45–47}}</ref> 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" <!--do not change someone's verbatim quote, which is "That was the only big issue that we had." See the cited, linked interview--> with the Code, Lee recalled in a 1998 interview:

{{blockquote|text=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.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/02stanroy.html |title=Stan the Man & Roy the Boy: A Conversation Between Stan Lee and Roy Thomas |magazine=[[Comic Book Artist]] |publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |issue=2 |date=Summer 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218033757/http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/02stanroy.html |archive-date=February 18, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

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".<ref name="Newfangles"/> 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 [[Dennis O'Neil]] and artist [[Neal Adams]] beginning a story arc involving Green Arrow's teen sidekick [[Roy Harper (character)|Speedy]] as a [[heroin]] addict. A cover line read, "DC attacks youth's greatest problem... Drugs!"<ref name=cronin/>