Association of Comics Magazine Publishers

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Association of Comics Magazine Publishers
Successor
comic books in the face of public criticism
HeadquartersNew York, NY
President
George T. Delacorte Jr.
Executive Director
Henry E. Schultz

The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was an American

Comics Magazine Association of America, and the ACMP Publishers Code served as the template for a more detailed set of rules enforced by the CMAA's Comics Code Authority
.

History

The ACMP was formed in May 1947[1] and publicly announced on July 1, 1948.[2] Founding members included:

New York City Board of Higher Education, as executive director.[3]
The ACMP was formed after "accusations from several fronts charged comic books with contributing to the rising rates of
New York State law outlawing publications with "pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime" was unconstitutional.[5]
Regardless, the uproar increased upon the publication of two articles:

Catholic parishes.[9][10]

Publishers Code

In 1948, the association released their "Publishers Code," drawing on the Hollywood

Production Code (better known as the "Hays Code"), which had also been drafted to stave off external regulation. Like the Production Code, it forbid portrayals of crime that might "throw sympathy against the law" or "weaken respect for established authority," and prohibited "ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group." "Sexy, wanton comics" were not to be published, and divorce
was not to be "treated humorously or represented as glamorous or alluring." Comics that complied with the code were offered a "Seal of Approval."

ACMP Publishers Code of 1948

  1. Sexy, wanton comics should not be published. No drawing should show a female indecently or unduly exposed, and in no event more nude than in a bathing suit commonly worn in the United States of America.
  2. Crime should not be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy against the law and justice or to inspire others with the desire for imitation. No comics shall show the details and methods of a crime committed by a youth. Policemen, judges, Government officials, and respected institutions should not be portrayed as stupid, ineffective, or represented in such a way to weaken respect for established authority.
  3. No scenes of sadistic torture should be shown.
  4. Vulgar and obscene language should never be used. Slang should be kept to a minimum and used only when essential to the story.
  5. Divorce should not be treated humorously or represented as glamorous or alluring.
  6. Ridicule or attack on any religious or
    racial group is never permissible.[11]

Dissolution of the ACMP

The code, however, was not a success, ignored by both large and small publishers. Some publishers, such as

Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, Director Schultz said: "The association, I would say, is out of business and so is the code."[12]

Successor organization

In 1954, a mounting tide of criticism, including a new book by Wertham — Seduction of the Innocent — and congressional hearings, spurred the formation of the ACMP's successor, the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA). The ACMP Publishers Code served as the template for a more detailed set of rules enforced by the CMAA's Comics Code Authority.

EC comics and Mad magazine publisher,

William M. Gaines, in a 1983 interview with The Comics Journal
revealed:

After the Senate Subcommittee hearings, and this isn’t very well known, but I can prove it again, I sent a letter to every comics publisher, invited them to a meeting and footed the bill for the hall. We took a big place somewhere, and all these people showed up and I tried to convince them that we should form an association and hire the Gleuks of Harvard or anybody else we could find who could do some sort of independent, honest research into whether comic books in truth were the horrendous things that people said they were. And since I really didn’t think they were, I figured, such a study would exonerate us. None of these guys wanted to do that, and right away the whole thing was taken away from me, and they turned it into a situation where they wrote a Code, and the Code forbade the use of the words 'horror,' 'terror,' or 'crime' — this was all my books — and 'weird,' even 'weird,' [laughter] so that would wipe me out. So I didn’t join the association. But then I decided to drop all those books anyway and put out the

New Direction stuff. I put out the six first issues, six bi-monthlies, and they sold 10, 15 percent. You can’t believe how horrendous the sales were. And I later found out that it was because the word was passed by the wholesalers, "Get ‘im!" So they got me.[citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Vassallo, Michael J., "The History of Atlas Horror/Fantasy: The Comics Code 1955" (introduction), ‘’Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Journey into Mystery Vol. 3 ‘’ (Marvel Worldwide, 2010), p. vi (unnumbered)
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-374-18767-5
  3. ^ Hajdu, p. 129.
  4. American Municipal Association
    reported that nearly 50 municipalities had "banned the sale of certain comic books". (Hajdu, p. 108)
  5. ^ Hajdu, p. 95.
  6. ^ Hajdu, p. 98.
  7. ^ Hajdu, p. 113.
  8. ^ Hajdu, p. 116.
  9. ^ Hajdu, p. 119.
  10. ^ Coville, Jamie (n.d.). "Seduction of the Innocents and the Attack on Comic Books: The Comic Book Villain, Dr. Fredric Wertham, M.D." Integrative Arts 10. Penn State University. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Note: article erroneously refers to Wertham as a "psychologist."
  11. ^ Hajdu, p. 128.
  12. ^ 83rd United States Congress; Committee on the Judiciary (Harley M. Kilgore, Chairman) (March 14, 1955). "Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency: Interim Report of the Committee on the judiciary pursuant to S. Res. 89 and S. Res. 190". Congressional Record. United States Congress. Archived from the original on May 10, 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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