How would the state of comics be like if the comics code was never dropped?

How would the state of comics be like if the comics code was never dropped?

Not that different because by the time it finally was dropped it was so lax it may as well have not existed, and most comics coming out today other than ones specifically marked for mature readers would pass all the code's standards.

Not how I always heard it. It outright killed a fair number of titles upon its inception.

I'd be willing to bet better. And there'd be no Mad Magazine.

Like said, the Code went through adjustments as time went on; even when Marvel still gave a shit about it, you could get away with Conan the Barbarian and Werewolf by Night and even Ghost Rider's earliest appearances, I *think*...

But if you mean going by the *very original* and outright censoring standards of the Code in its original form, shit would be so much different today to the point where comcis probably wouldn't be a thing.

We'd never have Frank Miller's works, and the entire TMNT franchise in any and all forms. Usagi Yojimbo wouldn't exist in it's original and continued form. Bone, freaking masterpiece *Bone* wouldn't be allowed since Monsters weren't really kosher in the original Code's rules and you can sorta/kinda read the Hooded One as a witch, also not allowed.

I imagine that the Super Hero genre would have just flat out ceased at some point or become something so banal like Archie that you could just repackage various stories in digest form and the core audience would never need a set starting point.

And the manga anime boom of the 90s would simply *never* happen; shit, I don't think any cartoon series past Scooby Doo would have made it on air aside from the saccharine stuff like Care bears and Smurfs (unless Gargamel being an evil wizard set off the code)

I mean, shit isn't perfect now, but if the comic scene was stagnated for 60 some odd years by the original code, we simply wouldn't have the medium. It would be this strange novelty that other countries have teen/adult comics that cater to wider audiences, but god luck getting any of that shit before the internet is invented.

>because by the time it finally was dropped it was so lax it may as well have not existed
Sure around the 80s the CCA had become pretty lax, but by that time damage had already been done, it basically killed EC and caused Cape comics to completely dominate the market since it was among the few type of stories you were allowed to tell.

Alternative talking point: what if the comic code, or anything similar, had never existed?

More horror and romance books

Comics wouldn't be seen as primarily capeshit for kids in the west. They'd have more casual nudity like euro comics. The grimdarkening caused by the collapse of the code never would have happened, meaning Marvel never would have gotten addicted to shock culture which resulted in the Brevoort method of actively antagonizing your readers.

Yes, at its inception, in the 1950's. I'm talking about the early 00's.

I think superheroes would have eventually made a comeback but definitely would not have been the primary pillar of the industry.

I think comics would be a more popular medium today. Either that or they would have died completely decades ago, without the superhero fandom to prop them up.

It's really hard to say because it so drastically altered history and to this day it's hard to tell if anybody would still have any interest in comics as a medium if it weren't for superheroes.

What the fuck are you talking about? The Code killed horror comics which were where the cutting edge writers and artist were back in the day and thus, set the American comic industy so back that it took about 30 years to catch up with the rest of the world.

Their direct descendants, the SJWs, wouldn't exist, that's for sure.
Also, cape comics would take a few more decades before they dominate the market.

>Implying the Code created SJWs
>Implying capes would dominate instead of becoming a niche, like it happened all over the world

You need to go out more, man.

Not him, but capes are a western invention. It's not so much that they became a niche in other parts of the world, but that they didn't quite catch on, or other countries never bothered to make their own.

I imagine things would be closer to euro comics, and some genres like horror would be more mainstream.

Vigilantes with secret identity aren’t exactly uncommon.

Mad predates the Code, it just wouldn't exist specifically in the magazine format.

It wasn't dropped at all. It still is the checklist they refer to whenever they're trying to be edgy and adult while doing capeshit.

>We'd never have Frank Miller's works, and the entire TMNT franchise in any and all forms.

user, TMNT was self-published.

Dropped as in released? Like dropping a mixtape or something? Or dropped as in abolished?

No, people would still be able to bypass the Code. Mad Magazine bypassed it, for example. The Warren Magazines (Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, etc) also bypassed the Code. Why do you think Marvel had so many black-and-white magazines during the 70's? Cause it was a market that Warren tapped into.

>We'd never have Frank Miller's works, and the entire TMNT franchise in any and all forms. Usagi Yojimbo wouldn't exist in it's original and continued form. Bone, freaking masterpiece *Bone* wouldn't be allowed since Monsters weren't really kosher in the original Code's rules and you can sorta/kinda read the Hooded One as a witch, also not allowed.

You're completely oblivious about how indie comics worked at the time. Especially the Undergrounds! American Underground Comix didn't even use the Code! They started in 1968 when the Code was still going strong. What would happen if the Code was still going strong is people just trying to bypass it by doing it themselves. And all the indies you mentioned benefited from having a direct market; the Code primarily affected stuff on the newsstand, where things would be easily seen by kids.

>And the manga anime boom of the 90s would simply *never* happen; shit, I don't think any cartoon series past Scooby Doo would have made it on air aside from the saccharine stuff like Care bears and Smurfs (unless Gargamel being an evil wizard set off the code)

Wait what the fuck? The Code has nothing to do with animated cartoons! Do you even know anything about what happened in the 70's and early 80's to cartoons? They got far more censored than the 50's and 60's cartoons! You thought the fucking CCA was bad? Parental groups were trying to push in the need for cartoons to have a moral lesson in every episode and other things.

I don't think it would've been possible to avoid the code. Comics back then were really pushing things. They had more graphic themes than a lot of the movies and other media of the time, and they were marketed at children. I think it was inevitable to get some kind of backlash and content restrictions.

But if the code had somehow never existed, I can only assume the US comics scene would have more variety today. Crime and horror books wouldn't have been crippled, and capes might not be dominating the market.

Mad bypassed the Code by turning into a magazine but that wasn't their main reason for doing so. Gaines changed it into a magazine because he wanted to keep Harvey Kurtzman around (he'd gotten an offer from another magazine).

So whether OP meant "dropped" as in "Code never happening" or "Code never stopped being restrictive", Mad probably would've turned into a magazine anyway.