Editing Comics Code Authority

{{short description|Voluntary code to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2022}}
[[File:Approved by the Comics Code Authority.gif|thumb|The Comics Code seal]]
The '''Comics Code Authority''' ('''CCA''') was formed in 1954 by the [[Comics Magazine Association of America]] as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA enabled comic publishers to self-regulate the content of [[American comic book|comic books in the United States]]. The code was voluntary, as there was no law requiring its use, although some advertisers and retailers looked to it for reassurance. Some publishers including [[Dell Comics|Dell]], [[Western Publishing|Western]], and [[Gilberton (publisher)|Gilberton]] ([[Classics Illustrated]]), never used it.<ref name="TMB2">(Golden, Christopher; Stephen Bissette, Thomas E. Sniegoski (2000) ''The Monster Book'' Simon & Schuster)</ref> Its code, commonly called "the Comics Code", lasted until the early 21st century. The CC formation followed a [[moral panic]]<ref>Public concern over the effect of comic books on children had become so intense that it was discussed at length in the 1954 edition of the [[Childcraft]] series, which did not typically cover topical subjects.</ref> centered around a series of Senate hearings and the publication of psychiatrist [[Fredric Wertham]]'s book ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]''.

Members submitted comics to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to its code, then authorized the use of their seal on the cover if the book was found to be in compliance. At the height of its influence, it was a ''[[de facto]]'' [[censorship|censor]] for the entire U.S. comic book industry, with most comics requiring a seal to be published.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cbldf.org/comics-code-history-the-seal-of-approval/ |title=Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval  |last=Nyberg |first=Amy Kite |date=n.d. |website=[[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]] |access-date=February 13, 2024 |quote=The Seal of Approval, once prominently displayed on comic book covers, quietly disappeared in 2011. For nearly 60 years, however, censors funded by the comic book industry enforced rules about acceptable content. Only comics that passed a pre-publication review carried the seal.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/01/27/133253953/censors-and-sensibility-rip-comics-code-authority-seal-of-approval-1954-2011 |title=Censors and Sensibility: RIP, Comics Code Authority Seal Of Approval, 1954 - 2011|last=Weldon |first=Glen |date=January 27, 2011 |website=[[National Public Radio]] |access-date=February 13, 2024 |quote=So much for The Comics Magazine Association of America, which for over 50 years served as the comics industry's self-regulating (read: self-censoring) arm.}}</ref>

By the early 2000s, publishers bypassed the CC. [[Marvel Comics]] abandoned it in 2001. By 2010, only three major publishers still adhered to it: [[DC Comics]], [[Archie Comics]], and [[Bongo Comics]]. Bongo broke with the CCA in 2010. DC and Archie followed in January 2011, rendering the code [[wikt:defunct|defunct]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/archie-drops-the-code-wertham-dead-forever/ |title=Archie drops the Comics Code…Wertham dead forever|last=MacDonald |first=Heidi |date=January 21, 2011 |website=[[Heidi MacDonald|The Beat]] |access-date=February 13, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://techland.time.com/2011/01/24/r-i-p-the-comics-code-authority/|title=R.I.P.: The Comics Code Authority|last=Wolk |first=Douglas |date=January 24, 2011 |magazine=Time|access-date=February 13, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/01/27/133253953/censors-and-sensibility-rip-comics-code-authority-seal-of-approval-1954-2011 |title=Censors and Sensibility: RIP, Comics Code Authority Seal Of Approval, 1954 - 2011 |last=Weldon |first=Glen |date= January 27, 2011 |website=[[National Public Radio]]|access-date=February 13, 2024}}</ref>

==Beginning==
[[File:Councilman Ernest Debs with comic books (LA Daily News 1954).jpg|thumb|upright|Los Angeles councilman [[Ernest E. Debs|Ernest Debs]] holding horror and crime comics purchased in his district (''[[Los Angeles Daily News]]'', 1954)]]
The [[Comics Magazine Association of America]] (CMAA) was formed in September 1954 in response to a widespread public concern over graphic violence and [[horror fiction|horror imagery]] in comic books.<ref name=time/> It named New York magistrate Charles F. Murphy (1920–1992), a specialist in [[juvenile delinquency]], to head the organization and devise a self-policing "code of ethics and standards" for the industry.<ref name=time/> He established the Comics Code Authority (CCA), basing its code upon the largely unenforced code drafted by the [[Association of Comics Magazine Publishers]] in 1948, which in turn had been modeled loosely after the 1940 Hollywood [[Production Code]], also known as the "Hays Code".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hajdu|first=David|title=The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America|url=https://archive.org/details/tencentplaguegre00hajd|url-access=registration|year=2008|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tencentplaguegre00hajd/page/128 128–130]|isbn=9780374187675 }}</ref>

Before the CCA was adopted, some cities had already organized public [[Book burning|burnings]] and bans on comic books.<ref>Costello, Matthew J. ''Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America'' (Continuum, 2009), {{ISBN|978-0-8264-2998-8}}, p. 32</ref> The city councils of [[Oklahoma City]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]], passed ordinances banning crime and horror comics, although an attempt by [[Los Angeles County]], [[California]], was deemed [[Constitutionality|unconstitutional]] by the courts.<ref name=time>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071023075655/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820350,00.html "The Press: Horror on the Newsstands"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', September 27, 1954. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090620022905/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820350-1,00.html WebCitation archive].</ref> In his introduction to ''[[Archie Americana Series]] Best of the Fifties'', editor [[Victor Gorelick]] reminisced about the code, writing, "My first assignment, as a new art assistant, was to remove cleavages and lift up low cut blouses on [[Katy Keene]]."<ref name="americanap">{{cite book|title=Archie Americana Series Best of the Fifties Volume 2 | year=1992 | page = 4 | publisher=Archie Comic Publications | chapter = Introduction | first = Victor | last =  Gorelick}}</ref> He also wrote of Archie artist [[Harry Lucey]] that, "His sometimes suggestive storytelling–and he was one of the best–almost cost him his job. When his pencilled stories came in, the characters were dressed on one page only. A woman who was an inker, a woman, Terry Szenics, later had to draw clothes on the characters on the remaining pages."<ref>Gorelick, page ?</ref>

Although the CCA had no official control over the comics publishers, most distributors refused to carry comics that did not carry the seal.<ref>Silberkeilt, Michael, cited in Costello, page ?</ref> However, two major publishers of comics–[[Dell Comics]] and [[Gold Key Comics]]–did not display the seal, because their output was subject to a higher authority: their licensors, which included [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]] and the producers of many TV shows aimed at children.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Arndt |first= Richard J |date=October 23, 2016 |title=From Dell to Gold Key to King - with the New York Times in Between |url=https://issuu.com/twomorrows/docs/alterego144preview|magazine=Alter Ego #141 |publisher= TwoMorrows|access-date=December 21, 2016 }}</ref>

=== Criticism and enforcement ===
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."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://cbldf.org/comics-code-history-the-seal-of-approval/ | title = Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval | first = Dr. Amy Kiste | last = Nyberg | publisher = [[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]] | date = n.d. | access-date = January 17, 2013 | archive-date = October 1, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111001032230/http://cbldf.org/comics-code-history-the-seal-of-approval/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>

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 (comics)|The Vault of Horror]]'', and ''[[Tales from the Crypt (comics)|Tales from the Crypt]]''.<ref>Jacobs, F: "The Mad World of William M. Gaines", pages 112–114, Lyle Stuart, Inc, 1972</ref><ref>"An Interview With William M. Gaines", Comics Journal #83 pages 76–78, Fantagraphics, Inc, 1983</ref>

Wertham dismissed the code as an inadequate half-measure.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|date= February 5, 1955|title=Whip, Knife, Shown as 'Comics' Lures|first= Emma |last=Harrison|page= 17}}</ref> 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!"<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCloud |first1=Scott |author-link1=Scott McCloud | title=Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form |year=2000 |publisher=Perennial |location=New York |isbn=0-06-095350-0 |oclc=44654496}}</ref>

=== "Judgment Day" ===
In one early confrontation between a comic-book publisher and the code authorities, [[EC Comics]]' [[William Gaines]] reprinted the story "[[EC Comics#"Judgment Day"|Judgment Day]]", from the pre-code ''[[Weird Fantasy]]'' #18 (April 1953), in ''[[Incredible Science Fiction]]'' #33 (February 1956).<ref name="Newfangles">[[Maggie Thompson|Thompson, Don & Maggie]], "Crack in the Code", ''Newfangles'' #44, February 1971</ref> The reprint was a replacement for the Code-rejected story "An Eye for an Eye", drawn by [[Angelo Torres]],<ref name=gcdisf>{{cite web|url=http://www.comics.org/issue/12592/#106097|title=GCD :: Issue :: Incredible Science Fiction #33|work=comics.org}}</ref> though "Judgment Day" was itself also objected to because of the central character being [[Black people|black]], despite there being nothing in the Code prohibiting a black protagonist.<ref name="Newfangles"/> The story, by writer [[Al Feldstein]] and artist [[Joe Orlando]],<ref name=gcdisf/> was an allegory against [[racism|racial prejudice]], a point that was necessarily nullified if the lead character was not black.<ref name="Newfangles"/> After an order by code administrator Charles Murphy to change the final panel, which depicted a black astronaut, Gaines engaged in a heated dispute with Murphy.<ref>Diehl, Digby (1996). ''Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives'', St. Martin's Press (New York) p.85</ref> 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. Soon after, however, facing the severe restrictions placed upon his comics by the CCA, and with his "[[List of EC Comics publications#New Direction|New Direction]]" titles floundering, Gaines quit publishing comic books to concentrate on ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]''.<ref name="Newfangles"/>

== 1954 Code criteria ==
The following shows the complete Code as it stood in 1954:<ref name=CodeText>[[s:Comic book code of 1954|Code for Editorial Matter: General standards – Part A, Code of the Comics Magazine Association of America, Inc."]]</ref>
<blockquote style="background: #fff8f8; border: 1px solid #000; padding: 2px">
* Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
* Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay, physical agony, the gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.
* Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation.
* Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.
* All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.
* No comic magazine shall use the words "horror" or "terror" in its title.
* All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.
* Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.
* In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.
* If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.
* Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.
* Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden.
* Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.
* Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable.
* Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals.
* Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure.
* Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Rape scenes, as well as sexual abnormalities, are unacceptable.
* Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden.
* Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested.
</blockquote>

== 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/>

== 1980s–1990s ==
Throughout the 80s and 90s, there was a break away from the Comics Code Authority. In 1984, the Comics Code Authority denied ''[[Swamp Thing (comic book)|Swamp Thing]]'' issue #29 the seal of approval; however, DC decided to continue publishing the title without the approval. Some subsequent DC series, including  ''[[Watchmen]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' (1986), launched without ever receiving the CCA Seal of approval. For example, the [[Adult comics|adult content-geared]] 1993 [[DC Vertigo]] imprint did not launch with CCA approval.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/blogs/post/sandman-and-the-world-of-classic-vertigo-comics/ |title= Sandman and the world of classic Vertigo comics |author=<!--Not stated-->|date=August 17, 2022 |website=Christchurch City Council Libraries |access-date=February 13, 2024|quote=One of the key new elements for Vertigo was DC’s willingness to ditch the Comics Code Authority (CCA) for the new imprint, freeing its writers and artists from the voluntary 1950s-era moral restrictions on content. In the 2000s the CCA was effectively abandoned by all comic book publishers, but in the early 90s this put Vertigo ahead of the pack.}}</ref>

A late adopter of the code was [[Now Comics]], which began displaying the Code seal on titles released in early 1989.<ref>For example, Now's ''[[Speed Buggy]]'' title began displaying the seal as of its 20th issue, cover-dated May 1989: [http://www.comics.org/issue/277245 Grand Comics Database entry], accessed Nov. 27, 2011.</ref>

== Abandonment and legacy ==
The CCA rejected an issue of the Marvel Comics series ''[[X-Force]]'', requiring changes to be made in 2001. Instead, Marvel stopped submitting its comics to the CCA and subsequently established its own rating system.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Darowski |editor-first=Joseph J. |last1=Capitanio |first1=Adam |title=The Ages of the X-Men: Essays on the Children of the Atom in Changing Times |chapter=Race and Violence from the "Clear Line School": Bodies and the Celebrity Satire of ''X-Statix'' |date=13 August 2014 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=9780786472192 |page=158 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKHyAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA158}}</ref>

[[Bongo Comics]] discontinued using the Code without any announcements regarding its abandonment in 2010.<ref>Johnston, Rich. [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/01/21/bongo-dropped-comics-code-a-year-ago-and-no-one-noticed/ "Bongo Dropped Comics Code A Year Ago – And No One Noticed"]. [[Bleeding Cool]]. January 21, 2011.</ref>

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 said that the code did not affect his company the way that it did others as "we aren't about to start stuffing [[Women in refrigerators|bodies into refrigerators]]."<ref name=defunct/> DC Comics announced on January 20, 2011, that it would discontinue participation, adopting a rating system similar to Marvel's.<ref>[[Lee, Jim]]. [http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/01/20/from-the-co-publishers/ "From the Co-Publishers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122220026/http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/01/20/from-the-co-publishers/ |date=2011-01-22 }}, "The Source" (column), [[DC Comics]], January 20, 2011.</ref> The company noted that it submitted comics for approval through December 2010, but would not say to whom they were submitted.<ref name="defunct" /> A day later, [[Archie Comics]], the only other publisher still participating in the Code, announced it also was discontinuing it,<ref>{{cite web |last=Rogers |first=Vaneta |url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/archie-drops-CCA-in-february-110121.html |title=Archie Dropping Comics Code Authority Seal in February |publisher=[[Newsarama.com]] |date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125024419/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/archie-drops-CCA-in-february-110121.html |archive-date=January 25, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> rendering the Code defunct.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gocomics.typepad.com/rcharvey/2011/02/comics-code-goes-defunct.html|author=[[Harvey, R.C.]]|publisher=Rants & Raves|via=GoComics|title=Comics Code Goes Defunct|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=February 23, 2011|access-date=August 29, 2022|archivedate=September 29, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929072506/http://gocomics.typepad.com/rcharvey/2011/02/comics-code-goes-defunct.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://techland.time.com/2011/01/24/r-i-p-the-comics-code-authority/|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=R.I.P.: The Comics Code Authority|author=Wolk, Douglas|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=January 24, 2011|access-date=August 29, 2022|archivedate=March 18, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318151152/https://techland.time.com/2011/01/24/r-i-p-the-comics-code-authority/}}</ref>

The vast majority of advertisers had ceased making decisions on the basis of the CCA stamp over the past few years, according to a January 24, 2011 [[Newsarama]] report. Most new publishers to emerge during this time did not join the CCA, regardless of whether their content conformed to its standards.<ref name="defunct">{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=Vaneta |url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/comics-code-authority-defunct-since-2009-110124.html |title=The Comics Code Authority – Defunct Since 2009?|work=[[Newsarama]]|date=January 24, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127190250/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/comics-code-authority-defunct-since-2009-110124.html |archive-date=January 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=January 25, 2011 }}</ref> The [[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]] announced that it would acquire the  [[intellectual property right]]s to the Comics Code seal from the defunct CMAA on September 29, 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cbldf.org/homepage/cbldf-receives-comics-code-authority-seal-of-approval/ |title=CBLDF Receives Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval|date=September 29, 2011|publisher=[[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]] [[press release]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111115183646/http://cbldf.org/homepage/cbldf-receives-comics-code-authority-seal-of-approval/ | archive-date=November 15, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Comics Code seal can be seen among the [[production logo]]s in the opening shots of the 2018 superhero film ''[[Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/all-spider-man-spider-verse-easter-eggs-revealed-1169124|title=A Definitive List of 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Easter Eggs|magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|last=Gvozden|first=Dan|date=December 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807035827/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/all-spider-man-spider-verse-easter-eggs-revealed-1169124|archive-date=August 7, 2019|url-status=live|access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.devastudios.com/work/titles/spider-man-into-the-spider-verse/|title=Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse|date=20 December 2018 |publisher=Deva Studios|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> and its 2023 sequel, ''[[Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed |url=https://collider.com/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-easter-eggs/|website=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=June 1, 2023|access-date=June 4, 2023|archive-date=June 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601202229/https://collider.com/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-easter-eggs/}}</ref> Binge Books announced that it had used the seal on the one-shot comic ''Heroes Union'', produced by [[Roger Stern]], [[Ron Frenz]], and [[Sal Buscema]] in May 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Terror|first=Jude|date=2021-05-18|title=Comics Code Authority Returns for New Comic by Stern, Frenz, Buscema|url=https://bleedingcool.com/comics/comics-code-authority-returns-for-new-comic-by-stern-frenz-buescema/|access-date=2021-05-18|website=Bleeding Cool News And Rumors|language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|United States|Comics}}
* [[Children's comics]]
* [[Censorship in the United States]]
* [[Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955]]
* [[LGBT themes in comics]]
* [[Motion Picture Production Code]]
* [[Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths]]

== References ==
{{Reflist | 2}}

== Bibliography ==
* Dean, M. (2001) Marvel drops Comics Code, changes book distributor. ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' #234, p.&nbsp;19.
* Gilbert, James. ''A Cycle of Outrage: America’s Reaction to the Juvenile Delinquent in the 1950s''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
* [[David Hajdu|Hajdu, David]]. ''The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.
* Lent, John, ed. ''Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign''. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 1999.
* Nyberg, Amy Kiste. ''Seal of Approval: History of the Comics Code''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998.
* [[s:Comic book code of 1954|Original Comics Code]]
* [http://cbldf.org/comics-code-revision-of-1971/ 1971 Revision]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100709063557/http://www.reocities.com/Athens/8580/cca3.html 1989 Revision]


== External links ==
{{Wikisource|Comic book code of 1954}}
* [http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/05/08/comic.books Leopold, Todd. "The Pictures that Horrified America"], May 8, 2008
* Vassallo, Michael J. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080828180033/http://www.ess.comics.org/ess/docvstan.html "A Look at the Atlas Pre-Code Crime and Horror Work of Stan Lee"]. ''The Buyer's Guide'' #1258 (December 26, 1997), via Live ForEverett..
* [https://archive.org/details/ComicsMagazineAssociationOfAmerica1960 FBI, "Comics Magazine Association of America, 1960"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180810025739/https://www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart10/cmbk4cca.html "Seduction of the Innocents and the Attack on Comic Books"]
* [https://www.lambiek.net/comics/code.htm Comics Code Authority] – on [[Lambiek]] Comiclopedia
{{eccontribs}}

[[Category:1954 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:2011 disestablishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1954]]
[[Category:Censorship in the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:Comics-related organizations]]
[[Category:Comics controversies]]
[[Category:Comics censorship]]
[[Category:History of American comics]]
[[Category:Media content ratings systems]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 2011]]
[[Category:1954 in comics]]
[[Category:Moral panic]]