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Narrative
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Comics were investigated after a certain Doctor Fredric Wertham brought out a book called Seduction of the Innocent in 1954, calling for the introduction of a self-regulating body known as the Comic Code Authority, that had such ridiculous rules as, you could not use the word "flick" in a comic for fear that the "l" would run into the "i"  ◊ and Spider-Man would be saying, “Look, he’s got a fuck knife!”
— Jonathan Ross on QI
One of the premier Censorship Bureaus (to the point where the article used to be named after it). Back in the 1950s, a moral panic about the corrupting influence of crime and horror comics swept North America, leading to calls for government regulation. To head it off, the Comics Code Authority was formed by the comic book companies as a self-censoring body so that the government wouldn't step in.
Among other things, it prohibited public authority figures from ever being questioned, clothing from being too revealing, and the depiction of narcotics at all, even when the context is completely negative — something that ultimately leads to its undoing.
This code killed adult interest in comic books and stereotyped the medium as fit only for children. Many publishing houses folded, which almost included William Gaines' company, EC Comics (publisher of Tales From The Crypt), until it hit the jackpot by focusing solely on Mad Magazine.
DC Comics found a way to manage by focusing on a modernized take on the Super Hero, and Marvel Comics took it further with more compelling characters that skirted the Code line a bit. For instance, the Incredible Hulk had the U.S. military as an enemy, but only because there was a tragic misunderstanding about the monster's character.
The Code began to lose power in the 1970s. The big event was when Stan Lee wrote a Spider-Man story involving narcotics. Despite the fact that it portrayed the drugs in an extremely negative light, and that it was written on the recommendation of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, he was told that the Code would not allow it simply because of the mere presence of narcotics. Lee, realizing the utter stupidity of this ban, simply defied them, leaving the Code seal off for the issues that involved that story and publishing it anyway, to considerable public appreciation. The Comics Code was soon changed to allow negative portrayals of drug abuse, but the damage to its reputation had already been done.
That proved the beginning of the end for the Comics Code. The final nail in the coffin was in the 1980s, with the rise of "direct market" comic book specialty stores that weren't covered by the Code, replacing the newsstands that were. It was at this point that the comics companies began publishing comics without the code seal regularly. Of the major companies, only Archie Comics and DC's "all-ages" Johnny DC line still seek Code approval.
If you want to read a bunch of history about the CCA, head over to Wikipedia . Here is the bottom line: If it would offend your aged Aunt Martha, it was not on. Your aged Aunt Martha not being a major market for comics, the publishers just said, "Uhm, yeah," and ran the presses anyway.
Also note that Fredric Wertham didn't actually want the Comics Code in the first place. He simply wanted comics to have ratings, so that children wouldn't read a gore/sex fest until they were older, but it unfortunately got way out of hand.
Those who are interested in the Comics Code and how it came about should look for The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the page quote refers to something that was never a part of the Comics code
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