Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

[drunkonduty]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

I have no idea which created which.

 

But I will say that a little restriction really can make a good artist shine. I always point to William Blake when a discussion like this comes up. Blake believed that restraint and energy (IIRC, Urizen and Orc in his language) worked together to create great art. As an engraver he knew the necessity of strong outlines (ie: the restraint) but within those outlines he played around as he saw fit at the time, his various printings never seem to have come out the same colour twice (the energy.) This is not the place for a long discussion of Blake (haven't even mentioned his poetry) but I'd recommend checking him out. (Of couse many of you reading this are probably well aware of the man and his work.)

 

Likewise the Hayes Code. I remember seeing a doco many years ago about the Hayes Code. In one interview a fellow was saying how the Hayes Code challenged them to be creative. He referred to a classic "love" scene (sorry, I can't recall what movie, this really was years ago. It may have been a Hitchcock movie, I seem to recall Cary Grant being in it) in which the leads were constantly on the move, not quite getting on the bed, only kissing for the briefest of moments before moving away. All of it adding up to one great, sexy, tease.

 

So, although I hate censorship, in practice a good artist will not be overly restricted by it.

 

As others have said: bad artists, well they're bad. Maybe less freedom of expression for them would be a good thing.

 

cheers all.

[Doomed Prophet]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

Sounds like a chicken/egg:egg/chicken issue... Maybe both of them were spontaneous mutual mutations due to the general sociological conditions of the time...

[Tom Carman]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

OK' date=' so you can't show lots of gore and you can't show nudity/sex if you wanted the CCA stamp. Oh well. I'll live.[/quote']

 

I'm reminded of an issue of She-Hulk where she got attacked, the building trashed, and her business suit shredded, but her underwear proved completely indestructible. Someone asked her about that after the fight, and she showed them the little tag "Protected of the Comics Code Authority".

[Andrew_A]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

Originally posted by Assault

I'm an example of someone who likes the Silver Age, but disapproves of the Comics Code. I'm also like the founding works of the Iron Age (Dark Knight Returns, Killing Joke, Watchmen, etc), but have no time for the excesses of lesser hackwork (including by the same creators!).

 

To put it simply - the Comics Code (and its counterparts outside the US) was an unwarranted intrusion on creative freedom. (It also ended up revitalising the superheroic genre, but that was unintentional).

 

At the same time, I enjoy much of the work created after the Code, just as I enjoy much of the work from before. In particular, I enjoy a lot of the weird, wild and silly stuff of the Silver Age - the creativity and imagination that has largely vanished from the Iron Age. Much of this creativity existed before the Comics Code, of course - it didn't cause it - it just didn't stamp it out.

 

Heartily agree. I loved the silver age. I loved the iron age (before it got stupid). I love some parts of the "rust age." A good story is a good story, regardless of the restrictions. For good examples of stories that don't bother with censorship check out Planetary, V for Vendetta, Miracleman, Sandman, Fables, New Universal, Supreme Power, Powers, etc.

 

I could go on, and some of you will definitely disagree with this list, but the truth is that good work is good work. If it moves you, thrills you, makes you laugh, makes you cry, or just gets you through a bad day, does it really matter what kind of restrictions were placed on it?

 

Personally, I tend to believe something that Max Allan Collins said. It's his belief that the hyper-restrictiveness of the Code created a climate wherein creators had to react against the code and tell stories with more sexuality and graphic violence (not that that's bad).

 

So in a way, the Code may have created the Iron Age.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

Heartily agree. I loved the silver age. I loved the iron age (before it got stupid). I love some parts of the "rust age." A good story is a good story' date=' regardless of the restrictions. For good examples of stories that [i']don't[/i] bother with censorship check out Planetary, V for Vendetta, Miracleman, Sandman, Fables, New Universal, Supreme Power, Powers, etc.

 

 

I would argue that there is censorship in those stories as well; it's a self-imposed one by the writer/artist rather than one from outside, but it's no less (and probably more) strict for all that.

[st barbara]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

My opinion' date=' short form: It was the comics companies who created the Silver Age. The CCA simply stated the rules under which it would operate.[/quote'] But remembe, it was also the comics sompanies that created the CCA !

[Mike W]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

I'm reminded of an issue of She-Hulk where she got attacked' date=' the building trashed, and her business suit shredded, but her underwear proved completely indestructible. Someone asked her about that after the fight, and she showed them the little tag "Protected of the Comics Code Authority".[/quote']

 

Yeah, Byrne went out of his way to "break the fourth wall" with that series. It was kind of amusing but it simply doesn't fit with the rest of the Marvel universe.

[Andrew_A]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

Originally posted by FenrisUlf

I would argue that there is censorship in those stories as well; it's a self-imposed one by the writer/artist rather than one from outside, but it's no less (and probably more) strict for all that.

 

Not really my point. What I was trying to say, was that it doesn't really matter what kind of externally, or internally, imposed censorship exists, good stories have a way of getting made.

 

The opposite is also true. A bad story is a bad story whether the rules are imposed by uptight prudes or some British guy trying to corrupt the nation's youth.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Did the CCA create the Silver Age?

 

True enough. Good work will be good work regardless, and bad work will stink regardless of how much the creator can 'show'.