What would've happened if this never existed?
People of all ages could've continued to read comics instead of a decade of marketing them exclusively to children
>>81843826
Fun.
It was the alternative to government censorship, so that, presumably.
>>81843826
Comics would have continued from their pulp-serial legacies and there would be a lot less science fiction comics today. A lot of the changes that the Silver Age brought were owed in large part to the CCA.
Also people like Ross and Morrison would have a lot less to masturbate to.
>>81843826
probably no direct market
Robert Crumb would be obscure/desensitized instead of a relic
>and Transmet
>and Hathor
>>81843826
Maybe the industry wouldn't be so fucked.
>>81844292
And comic creators would tell sjws to fuck off.
>>81844343
How'd you come to that conclusion exactly?
Batman would kill people all the time.
>>81844368
With my thoughts.
We'd probably be like Japan's comic industry.
The medium would have died an ignoble death at the hands of soccer moms
The government would likely have stepped in to censor comics directly, which the CCA was created to avoid.
Assuming that too wouldn't have happened, public outcry and market pressure would have forced comic publishers to self-censor anyway.
>>81845107
Get rid of one censor and another takes its place
>>81843826
Comics wouldn't have been as repressed and the darker comics of the 80s wouldn't have happened leading to classics like Watchmen and Swamp thing never being made.
>>81843826
Comics would still exist as a medium with mass appeal across many genres instead of just capeshit.
the joker wouldn't be batman's nemesis
>>81845225
what if we just...kill the public?
Wider appeal. Probably more relevance like manga but not as much since America. All kids reading comics because they're sold in grocery stores and the like.
>>81843826
Not as much as you'd hope, but probably more than you'd expect.
The entire Silver Age, along with the decline of horror comics, can be directly attributed to the Comics Code. However, somewhere in the late 60s, it became apparent that the Code had no actual bite to it. Kind of funny actually; it was like finding out after years that there were no actual legal or censorship repercussions to printing something outside the Code.
But anyway; comics without the Code. All that can be said for certain is that horror comics would have lasted a little longer, and Silver Age conventions might never have been put into place. For all we know, Batman probably would have stayed the Bat Punisher. Personally, I'm more interested in the horror comics aspect of it; would horror comics have actually stayed relevant into the 50s and 60s, or would they still have been outdone by sci-fi comics in a Cold War America?
EC Comics would be still be one of the major publishers.
>>81847129
Probably would have continued on with a stable market and merged with sci-fi as well.
The comics code was a good thing to happen. On the one side, it reassured parents that the product was safe and that they didn't have to stick their noses into things. On the other side, it made comic creators keep their work swearing free and mostly kid-safe. It was never a 100% success, but it didn't need to be. I like to think of the CC like a kid's "blasting cap pistol"- It'll annoy someone, somehow, but it's actually harmless, and childhoods would have actually been _less_ fun without it.
>>81847194
This is probably bait, but whatever, stifling creativity for the sake of "safety" is never a good thing.
>>81844141
government censorship would have had a LOT more pushback and wouldn't have lasted as long.
>>81847129
>For all we know, Batman probably would have stayed the Bat Punisher.
Did you even read Batman comics from the 40's and the 50's? He already had a no-kill rule by the early 40's. Maybe the only thing Seduction of the Innocent did was have someone at DC decide that Batwoman needed to be created to avoid gay undertones between Bruce and Dick, but the CCA wouldn't have affected jack shit for Batman comics.
>>81847129
>All that can be said for certain is that horror comics would have lasted a little longer,
It might've but from the way comics jumped from superhero to crime and romance to horror and sci-fi, most companies would've still just been trend-chasing. Maybe a few might've stuck around by the time the trend died down. But let's be real here, for every decent EC comic there was like a bunch of half-assed knock-offs. Same thing happened when superheroes were prominent during the 40's, too.
Archie would still be publishing Archie stuff, Dell would still be publishing the licensed cartoon animal stuff (which by the way, actually completely outsold crime and horror comics by a wide margin). DC would still be publishing Superman (since the George Reeves show was a hit) and maybe Batman and Wonder Woman, but they'd still have their non-superhero titles like the war comics by Kubert, Heath, and the like, and also their sci-fi titles and other things.
>>81849229
And here's another thing to think about:
http://www.ladiesmakingcomics.com/post/88219469739/heroines-of-the-comics-for-drew-friedmans-perusal
>Whenever comics history discusses Dr. Frederic Wertham and the Kefauver hearings on “juvenile delinquency”, EC publisher Bill Gaines is lionized as the only person in the comics industry who stood up to and demanded to be heard. That, my friends, is what we call a damn lie. Helen Meyer was the publisher of Dell Publications and was instrumental in securing the Disney, Warner Brothers, Little Lulu, and Popeye licenses for Dell’s comics line. What follows is from Meyer’s testimony:
>"We must give our American children proper credit for their good taste in their support of good comics. What better evidence can we give than facts and figures…Dell’s average comic sale is 800,000 copies per issue. Most crime and horror comic sales are under 250,000 copies. Of the first 25 largest selling magazines on newsstands - this includes Ladies Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, Life, and so forth ─ 11 titles are Dell comics…With the least amount of titles, or 15 percent of all titles published by the entire industry; Dell can account for a sale of approximately 32 percent, and we don’t publish a crime or horror comic.
>>81849343
>"Dr. Wertham, for some strange reason, is intent on condemning the entire industry. He refuses to acknowledge that other types of comics are not only published, but are better supported by children than crime and horror comics. I hope that his motivation is not a selfish one in his crusade against comics. Yet, in the extensive research he tells us he has made on comics, why does he ignore the good comics? Dell isn’t alone in publishing good comics. There are numerous outstanding titles published by other publishers, such as Blondie, Archie, Dennis the Menace, and so forth. Why does he feel that he must condemn the entire industry? Could it be that he feels he has a better case against comics by recognizing the bad and ignoring the good?"
People keep mythologizing the 1950's comics as this time when horror and sci-fi dominated and oh how it's so tragic the CCA came around and caused superheroes to dominate. The truth is, the licensed funny animal and cartoon stuff dominated the market at that time.
>>81849376
The Jack Thomspson of comics won at that time. We truly live in the darkest timeline.
>>81845107
>The government would likely have stepped in to censor comics directly
Which i imagine would be challenged and stuck down by the supreme court
>>81852013
Not back then.
Hard to say. You've got government possibly leaning in themselves, and a whole lotta other problems, like the fact that getting rid of the CCA probably doesn't do shit to stop the 70s market crash that nearly destroys the industry, thank you very much, Martin Goodman.
>>81852123
Was that the thing where marvel tricked DC into raising the price of their comics?
>>81852169
Yes.
Today, however, Marvel has the most expensive floppy prices among the major publishers.
>>81847129
>However, somewhere in the late 60s, it became apparent that the Code had no actual bite to it.
It was an industry code, so yeah, any effect it had, it only attained because it helped the parts of the industry who adapted it to form quasi-monopolies.
>>81844368
>we didn't get fucked by censorship before
>develop with more FREEDOMS than ever
>some dipshit twitter teen tries to annoy you till you self censor
>laugh at him
>comics are more hardcore and liberals don't even touch em
>>81855693
>art form
>liberals don't touch them
Not all comics are capes you cuck
>>81855693
>>81843826
We would have history to learn from when fighting Wertham's modern equivalent, the SJWs.
>>81843826
Probably a lot more buldge.
>>81843826
American comics turn out like Japan's.
>>81843826
Horror comics would have superseded Capes.
>>81855693
>liberal arts
>liberals don't even touch em
Were you born stupid, or did you have to work at it?
>>81843826
I always use this as proof to some people that angry parent's organizations fucking things up is definitely not a new thing by any means.
Probably a lot more variation in the storytelling and a lot less Capes in general.
The industry is not dominated by Marvel and DC fighting over top spot and absorbing everyone else.
>>81844141
The government commity the CCA was supposed to prempt decided the whole comics panic was bullshit
>>81843826
/co/ wouldn't exist because the market wouldn't be so dominated by manchildren.
The industry wouldn't be dying.
>>81844405
Batman stopped killing more than a decade before CCA
>>81857268
The market crash happened well after CCA ended
>>81857447
After the damage it had done
It would've been the same as if Christianity hadn't existed. There would've been no dark ages.
>>81844068
This. Also, less geek culture oriented comis (capeshit/sci-fi/fantasy) and the good stuff wouldnt be called "alternative" cause they wouldnt be an alternative to anything.
>>81843826
EC comics would never have died. There would be a lot more police, crime and horror comics, and a lot less Cape comics.
William Gaines would never have been forced out of the comics business, and he would never have started MAD Magazine.
![eccomics[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/AIVXhfx.jpg "eccomics[1].jpg")
>>81865615
Pic related
>>81865715
>>81865615
Pic related again
![ec_comics[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/EyBsX40.jpg "ec_comics[1].jpg")
>>81865715
>>81865745
again and again
![Crime-SuspenStories[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/sgpJsTO.jpg "Crime-SuspenStories[1].jpg")
>>81865762
>>81865745
>>81865715
Also crime, not just horror
![crimesuspenstories23[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/XTxJ8zl.jpg "crimesuspenstories23[1].jpg")
>>81865779
>>81865762
A lot of the crime ones had covers where serial killer pervs strangle leggy women.
Sexy stuff.
![crime-patrol-16-ec-comics[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/XyBiMUN.jpg "crime-patrol-16-ec-comics[1].jpg")
>>81865811
>>81865779
Sometimes crime comics were also horror comics and look you can see her underwear and shes doing a satanic ritual.
>>81843826
I don't know if it's a relevant comparison, but there was no comic code equivalent in Europe, and authors/editors still heavily censored their stuff. Maybe it was something linked to a particular period. I still don't get how the US got to a 90% cape comic industry.
![$_1[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/VVyQB7b.jpg "$_1[1].jpg")
>>81865839
Okay, I'm done now.
Point is, the industry people *claim* that they made their own code to avoid government censorship. Partially true.
The other part of the story is that the publishers that put the code together were all competitors to EC comics, and designed it specifically to put William Gaines out of business.
90% of the output of EC comics was publishable after the comics code came into effect.
The only profitable thing that EC has left afterwards was comedy and satire comics like MAD, which evolved into Mad Magazine.
>>81865993
typo
*nonpunishable*
90% of their comics wer NONpublishable
>>81847335
Still, a lot of creativity does come from working around and even responding to boundaries and rules.
>>81865779
>it's a Peter kills women in above Aunt May's apartment issue
![03[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/ivAPNfN.jpg "03[1].jpg")