There has been no natural progression or actual improvement in the actual structure , art , quality, style etc. since marxists have taken over. It has been stagnant for a long time similar to western art and music in general. What do you think the american comic book industry could improve(outside of the obvious getting rid of woke stuff)?
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What's the CCA? The Comics Code? Hell, even when it was a thing, there were horror and war comics, sci-fi/UFO stuff, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, Scamp; westerns, and even the occasional Weird West tales (not to mention Weird War Tales itself ... speaking of which, I find it kind of gross that they mashed Sgt Rock in with the Monstrous Regiment; those were two VERY different comics, with Rock always leaning heavily towards, you know, historical realism and weight.) Dark Shadows, Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery, Cain and Abel's comics, etc. Basically, "Gold Key" was my childhood.
I read all kinds of comics as a kid, and the superhero ones were my least favourite.
Kind of a shame to hear that the superhero shit is all that's left.
The Comic Code Authority and Hays Code weren't the inherent evil that people make it to be. Movies and comics were almost entirely dedicated to porn at the time they were created.
Not true and also CCA stifled artistic freedom and creativity and banned literally everything adult. That's why everything turned in to "just for kids" (including decimating the horror genre and making one dimensional heroes and villains)
I'm not saying they were inherently good, but there is a tendency to downplay the very real concerns people had. Cuties is a return to form for the film industry.
Cuties cannot be compared , Cuties hurt actual minors and is already illegal (but you know how it is with the corrupt politicians and Netflix). . But when it comes to actual artistic freedom hurting nobody its ridiculous to support CCA, unless you want to go back to the days, where everything has to be for kids.
BUT the point stands, that there were still multiple genres available under the Code. The horror ones often doubled as crime comics, where a ne'er-do-well would get some horrible supernatural come-uppance.
And you are forgetting one major thing - up until my generation, comics WERE considered "for kids". Exclusively. But my generation never fucking grew the fuck up, because we're a bunch of fucking slackers. :P
Also, the Hayes and Comics Codes weren't meant to make everything "for kids" (in the sense of, say, Sesame Street or Saturday Morning Cartoons, it was meant to make everything "one size fits all", that is, appealing to adults as well as safe for kids. Which actually forced writers to be clever and use their brains a bit, rather than just spewing out blatant sex, gore, and fart jokes, because it's easy.
Hell, one of the funniest moments in FAMILY television is one of the dirtiest jokes ever - the "Finger Prints" joke in original Animaniacs ... TOTALLY flew over the heads of my own children as I sat there laughing my butt off ... after a beat or two while I processed what they had just said.
You can have interesting things and multiple genres under the code (though it STILL did decimate many genres and is the reason why the "safe genre" of Superheros ended up monopolizing things ) but the point still stands that it still stifled artistic creativity and i can never agree to that. For example you look at many anime and manga that are timeless masterpieces and cult classics and a lot could not have been made under the CCA . Also i dont know why you think adults liking comics is "not growing up". Comics is an art form like anything else there is literally no reason why it should be "only be for kids"
Hey, you want a "for kids" story, told under the Comics Code? It was a story of the OSS in one of the World War 2 anthologies I mentioned, can't remember which one now, or the title of the story, but it went like this (more or less, it's been at least 40 years, you see):
It wasn't even about an OSS agent, it was about Hitler's own favourite spy, whom funny mustache man himself dispatches to spy on the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. During his (the spy's) tenure, he winds up getting close to some family, and "goes native", converting to Judaism as he is sent to Auschwitz. While he's there, he's given a chance to get out - by, yes, Hitler himself, who found out about the spy's treachery. The last time you see the spy is when he gets on his knees and prays in Yiddish.
The final scene shows Hitler reading in his study, a little wry smile on his face, by the light of a lamp, the shade of which is kinda pinkish and has a number tattooed on it ....
That just sounds like old traditional fairy tales plot twist ending for kids when kids were tougher. Similar to The Brothers Grimm stories. Also these things were made despite of the code, not because of. And many genres were destroyed and many things got dumbed down because the code stifled creativity so much. And if you look at many anime and manga that are timeless masterpieces and cult classics a lot could not have been made under the CCA .
I don't think they really censored ANYTHING. Heavy Metal came to North American shores in 1977, and it was sold up with the Playboys and Penthouses, while the "regular" Comics Code comics were available on the bottom row right below, literally everywhere magazines were sold, you could find comics. Adult comics were harder to find, but they existed, even though, as I said, comics weren't really aimed at adults in North America .. until the aforementioned Heavy Metal, anyway. You could find Tintin and Asterix at the book stores. But non-Comics code stuff couldn't be full-colour (which is why the original Turtles comics are black and white).
Now? I don't think I've noticed comics for sale anywhere except for the occasional Archie at the checkout stand. And if I owned one of the last mom and pop corner stores, I probably wouldn't carry comics any more either, if I knew that they might slip in Superman buttfucking Batman or something like that. I would also expect something like Happy! to be sold at the more adult-oriented shops or general bookstores (Coles/Chapters.)
And the censorship the left is about to introduce is going to make the Code look downright tame and lenient.