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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
The Comics Code seal of approval no longer appears on the covers of US comics, having finally disappeared in the early 21st century. It was instituted in 1954 and was an entirely voluntary, self-regulating 'authority' with no law requiring its use. Designed mainly to assure parents, advertisers, and retailers that comics with the Code seal were wholesome reading material and unlikely to corrupt impressionable young readers, it served the purpose for which it was created in the wake of Fredric Wertham's controversial book 'Seduction Of The Innocent'.
For an example of how the code affected the content of some comics, consider one of the back-up stories included in the iconic Journey Into Mystery #83 (none other than Thor The Mighty's debut issue) - 'The Perfect Crime!' In the page shown at the top of this post, some speech balloons have obviously been re-lettered in places so that the criminal's 'off-panel' death doesn't happen. However, it's clear from the caption which says 'And in those last nightmarish seconds of Mike Morgan's life...' that the fate intended for him was his demise.
Whether the Code specifically intervened in this instance or it was a last-moment editorial amendment to avoid their potential objections is a moot point, as it wouldn't have been changed if not for their existence. The speech balloons in the last two panels appear to have been partially (at least) rewritten to indicate Mr. Bad-guy's survival as a reformed character, but consider the floating Mercurian's 'I guess I might as well glide down and save him...' Why? He's surely been splattered all over the terrain below by this point, so it's too late for a rescue.
Interestingly, that last panel looks like it's been redrawn to complement the amended dialogue - it would be interesting to see what it was like originally. So, Crivs - any thoughts, theories, or observations? Then fire away in our scintillating comments section.
10 comments:
I hadn't seen this one before, but post-code Marvel has a lot of these rewritings, and not only for horror tales. FF ANNUAL #5 includes a scene where the evil Psycho-Man infects a flunky with uncontrollable fear, so that the guy crashes through a window to escape imaginary terrors. I'd bet Kirby meant to imply the guy died, but Lee threw in a line of dialogue with the villain claiming that the flunky merely landed on the roof of the neighboring building. There's even some caption where Stan clarifies that some character didn't die or suffer and he signs the caption "Soft Hearted Stan." More like "Bottom Line Stan," maybe.
The usual one was to have someone say, when an entire neighbourhood was demolished while two superpowered characters battled it out, "Lucky these buildings were condemned and therefore uninhabited", or some such thing. Can't have anyone actually die in comics, GP - that's why so many 'dead' baddies always turn up again.
Kid, I think the Mercury man works for NHS England. "I need to save him, whoops! I'm too late". Also enjoyed the discussion, he was having with him on the way down, time must of frozen? 'Comical, literally!'
No, AAW, 'time must've frozen', not 'must of'. You've just mangled the English language. (No charge for the lesson.)
Nice one, 'must have'.
You'll soon be an English major under my tutelage, AAW. And mind and have your homework back by 9am tomorrow.
'Colloquial construction', you've got to dispise it. They're so easily lazy and I dropped the ball. Teacher gets an apple.
Accepted. Just so long as it doesn't have a worm in it.
No, fresh and fruity Kid, fresh and fruity! Just like your babes.
As long as it's a red one.
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