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THE ODE
Conceived as a device for appeasing government censors and uneasy retailers, shifting public morals and a changing market finally made it obsolete
The Comics Code Authority was born in 1954, conceived in a moment of public hysteria and spawned by the comic book industry's fear of government censorship. The code came while comics themselves were still in their golden age; Superman debuted In 1938, and Batman followed a year later. But the growing popularity of comics also meant increased scrutiny from defenders of decency who, in the heyday of Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, were terrified about the corrupting influence of funny books. The debut in 1950 of EC Comics' horror line, with its graphic depictions of gore, confirmed critics' suspicions of the medium's moral depravity. "I think Hitler was a beginner compared to...