This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Xander77: Missing - a tiny reminder that comics have NEVER been more popular than during the stupid era of the comics code, and are unlikely to ever be so popular again. Speculation about issues of cause and effect, as well.
arromdee: Say what? They were probably most popular in the World War II era, which was pre-code.
Xander77: Maybe relatively speaking, but not in terms of absolute figures. Follow the links: http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics86.html
arromdee: That page is about sales during the Code era, but says nothing about sales in the pre-code WWII era. Googling gives me this page [1] . Most of them are combined sales figures, but there's a separate mention of Action Comics, which had 625000 sales for September 1939 (and was still going up). Superman #2 reached a million. It's at least the same and probably a lot higher.
Fast Eddie: Whoah! That has to be the over-stomp of all time! Kchishol's take is much more detailed and literate than mine. Still, I'm going to inject my sarcastic fan-boy thing int the mix... ;)
Ununnilium: Not sure it belongs in the entry, but still interesting:
"Writer-editor Marv Wolfman, on the panel "Marvel Comics: The Method and the Madness" at the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention, told the audience that when he first began working for DC, he was forbidden to use the name "Wolfman" in print due to the company's interpretation of the Comics Code Authority's ban on the mention of werewolves or wolfmen."
Seth: Id put it in, its relevant and pretty funny.
Egak: The first line implies that this entry is for any censorship code as strict and widespread as the Comics Code. In that case the page should also mention the Hayes Code and the censorship policy Nintendo of America forced upon it's licensees during the NES and early SNES eras.
Seth: I would agree that Hayes needs a mention, i dont know anything about the SNES bit though.
Tanto: Nintendo of America had what was essentially a monopoly on mainstream video games from the release of the NES to the release of the Genesis. They thought of video games as basically a kid's toy / family product at that point, so they leaned on game publishers to keep all references to religion and adult situations out of the localizations of Japanese games.
You could argue that this policy planted the seeds for Nintendo's collapse in the late nineties. Publishers were so frustrated with Nintendo's draconian publishing standards that they jumped to another company's consoles — the Playstation — once it became financially viable to do so.
Nintendo's policy annoys me to this day not just because I oppose censorship, but also because it triggered a wave of gratuitous religious symbolism by publishers once they got out from under Nintendo's thumb, and that kind of pretentious crap irritates me.
Seth: I love that trope :). I think that the comics code itself should take up the main body and each sucsessive example should be on other similar codes.
I'll get to writing up the Hayes Code then.
Tanto: Comics Code just a regular ol' trope? Seems like it goes in Script Speak or whatever they're calling it these days.
Incidentally, ActRaiser is one word. It's such an obscure game that I don't envision anyone writing an entry for it, so I don't see why it has to be Wiki-Worded...
Ununnilium: I wouldn't put it in Script Speak. Maybe Fan Speak? Hmmmmmmm.
And sure, but what if someone does? Game/show/etc. entries are created in an odd order here.
Looney Toons: The recent addition
- Note that the MPAA rating system has been criticized itself by many people (including film critic Roger Ebert and the movie "This Film is Not Yet Rated") for rating higher for sex (and, to a certain extent, obscenity) than violence, homosexuality or other "controversal" topics being rated irrationally high, and a general lack of transparency to exactly why certain films get the rating they do
seems just a bit garbled; maybe it could be clarified?
arromdee: The idea of Mad becoming a magazine to escape the comics code is an urban legend
. It did become a magazine, which happened to let it escape the Code, but that wasn't the reason for making it a magazine.
Kalle: Earthbound's hospital crosses were actually removed due to fear of getting sued by the Red Cross (who has filed lawsuits against unauthorized use of the cross in other such media before, I think.) Not quite the same as the religious crosses I'm assuming the Nintendo example refers to, but I felt like I should mention it since it's still fitting of the trope. :x
arromdee: The Marv Wolfman story someone mentioned above is false; the original story was distorted. See http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/09/06/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-119/
. What happened is that he was allowed to use the name, and a co-writer used that as an excuse to get around the code by using his name but implying a werewolf.
Caswin: What do we call a "bureau" that doesn't cripple an entire medium with draconian and poorly-thought-out rules and stipulations? Or (genuinely asking, here) has it not come up?
Caswin: Edited it. It could stand some revising, but I think "slightly awkward" is better than misleading.
