Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code (Studies in Popular Culture)

Rating:
Summary: Narrowly Focused, Nice Addition to Comic Book Studies
Review: In Seal of Approval (The History of the Comics Code), Amy Kiste Nyberg takes the reader through a narrowly focused but essential part of the history of comic books and, therefore, part of the greater history of popular culture in general. Much of the basic story will be familiar from other histories of comic books but this author provides new insights into the foundation for the movement to censor comic books as well as providing a run down of the evolution of the comics code after the mid-fifites Senate hearings, an evolution very rarely discussed. The author also makes valuable use of sources little used by other authors such as the minutes of the Comics Magazine Association of America. All in all, a nice piece of research and a valuable contribution to the history of pop culture.

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Summary: Oh Please don't try and make the 50's a Golden Age.
Review: Ms. Myeberg is clearly researching a subject as someone from the outside looking in. The truth of the Comics Code is much darker and more sinister then any researcher might have guessed. It all started in 1954 when, hearings were held to discuss the so called harmful effects that comics were having on children. The theories that were discussed by so called intellectuals on comics was so off the wall and really made you think that these guys were looney tunes or crakers. They never presented hard evidence or rock solid data that could stand up to other researchers and their findihngs, but parents were convinced by these scare tactics and called for the closeings of comic book companies and stores. Much like other hearings were done at the time, they ruined comics creators and artists out of jobs, and the remaining companies had to go by the Comics Code seal to get their stories done. But the Code was a joke to start with. It's guidelines and rules for the publishing of comics were so vague and so not specific, that even if you were a rocket scientist, you could not make it add up. The Comics Code seal today looks like a death grip on the various companies that are still in business, some have tried with a measure of success to do their stories there way. But in many ways, the industry has never fully recovered from it. This book tries to celebrate scare tactics that wound up destroying an industry. NO THANKS.

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Summary: The Comics Code in the context of Popular American Culture
Review: This insightful and well-researched work carefully places the Comices Code Authority with in the context of American culture. Rather than taking the traditional view, that the code came a a result of the repressive attitudes of the 1950s and was the downfall of the industry, Amy Kiste Nyborg convincingly shows the Code to be a pioneering effort in industry self-regulation in response to public pressure -- a logical forerunner of motion picture ratings, recoard warning labels, TV advisories, and the V-chip. Parental and community outcry against commic books in the 1940s and 1950s virtually mirrors the "protect our kids from the Internet" efforts of 1998. The unexamined role of economic factors such as industry distribution patterns on the Code is examined here for the first time. The Comics code is shown to have made fundamental changes in how the comics industry has operated over time, and in SEAL OF APPROVAL, Amy Kiste Nyborg demonstrates that it is still very relevant today.

Rating:
Summary: The Comics Code in the context of Popular American Culture
Review: This insightful and well-researched work carefully places the Comices Code Authority with in the context of American culture. Rather than taking the traditional view, that the code came a a result of the repressive attitudes of the 1950s and was the downfall of the industry, Amy Kiste Nyborg convincingly shows the Code to be a pioneering effort in industry self-regulation in response to public pressure -- a logical forerunner of motion picture ratings, recoard warning labels, TV advisories, and the V-chip. Parental and community outcry against commic books in the 1940s and 1950s virtually mirrors the "protect our kids from the Internet" efforts of 1998. The unexamined role of economic factors such as industry distribution patterns on the Code is examined here for the first time. The Comics code is shown to have made fundamental changes in how the comics industry has operated over time, and in SEAL OF APPROVAL, Amy Kiste Nyborg demonstrates that it is still very relevant today.

Rating:
Summary: a bright study of a dark subject
Review: This is one brilliant book. She has taken a subject of much heated debate and passion among collectors and boiled it down to it's essence. I don't agree with everything she claims but it is thought-provoking nonetheless. If you collect comics and you want to gain a deeper understanding of how our hobby has been shpaed then buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: a bright study of a dark subject
Review: This is one brilliant book. She has taken a subject of much heated debate and passion among collectors and boiled it down to it's essence. I don't agree with everything she claims but it is thought-provoking nonetheless. If you collect comics and you want to gain a deeper understanding of how our hobby has been shpaed then buy this book.