AOB 6 - Regulation

Before 1954, ANY comic or graphic novel could be published at will and without interference from busybody fusspots worried about the contents and from this period, comics such as 'Astonishing' were produced to cater for the darker audience.
But soon concerned parents and adults started calling for such profane and disgusting publications to be regulated as they were believed to have a detrimental effect on its readers, of which whom were proportionately under 18


From this concern came the CCA or Comics Code Authority as a regulatory body for the entire comics/graphic novels industry which is a self governing regulation, instead of government regulated.

The aim of this regulatory body was to prohibit:
- The depiction of authority figures (such as the Police, Judges, etc.) being seen as evil, dying as a result of or being harmed by criminal behavior.
- Depictions of gore, graphic violence, horror and murder.
- Depictions, references and hints of illicit sex acts, sexual perversion including seduction, rape, sadism, masochism were specifically censored and ruled out.
- Subject matter for the comic/graphic novel was closely regulated as crime was subject to many restrictions and horror/terror were strictly off limits.
- Language used in the comic titles were also carefully watched, words such as Terror, Crime and horror were outlawed.
- Mythical/fictional beasts (eg. Zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts) were subject to the ban as they went along with horror/terror and also extreme violence.
- Advertisments helped bring extra revenue for the publishers but the CCA banned ads for liquor, tobacco, fireworks, nude pin-ups and postcards as they all portrayed a positive view of adult products on children. Ads for objects such as knives were also banned as they could encourage violence.

These restrictions were all in place to not only protect the audience but also the population, as the comic content could effect somebody so severely they could re-enact the ultra-violence as seen in their comics.
Considering such regulation and censorship, many publishers decided to simply comply, others had to amend comic titles or just discontinue them.
William Gaines of EC comics believed the CCA regulations were specifically targeted to his comics as a measure to drive EC Comics out of business as their bestsellers 'Crime SuspenStories, The Vault of Horror, and The Crypt of Terror' ALL came under violation
meaning the company would lose money.

Even today comics/graphic novels are under regulations and censorship such as Watchmen by Alan Moore and DC Comics, The Punisher by Gerry Conway and Marvel Comics, and the world famous Batman by Bob Kane and DC Comics. All these comics soon could be facing a total ban due to changes in the Criminal Justice Act (2008) which comes into effect at the end of January 2009.

A hot topic in graphic novel regulation and censorship is 'Lost girls' by Alan Moore.

'Lost Girls' features 3 prominent yet fictional characters from 19th and 20th century publications. Alice from Alice in wonderland, Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz, and Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, describing their earliest sexual encounters. This recieved widespread controversy as it dealt with child sexuality, gratuitous sex, group sex acts, same sex relationships and sexual acts and also incestuous sex acts.

With the internet, people can see reviews written by civilians giving their view on the subject which can be considered a form of regulation as if something is given bad reviews, less and less people will take interest, an example below is shown of such a review.