Pacification of Rebellious Comics by the Comic Code On the Example of Changes Introduced Into Reprints of Pre-1955 Comics

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of changes introduced into reprints of pre-1955 American comics in order to adapt them to requirements of the Comic Code. Pre-1955 American comic books are characterized as “rebellious” — challenging norms and aesthetic rules of contemporary America – and the activities of Comic Code Administration as a form of their pacification. What follow next is a presentation of main strategies of adaptation of pre-1955 comics to the requirements of the Comic Code identified on the basis of analysis of fifty reprints. In the last part the author compares the original and reprinted versions of three comics books stories, shows how dramatically the plot of stories could change due to introduction of prescriptions of the Comic Code Administration.