Normally, when you say "pre-code comics", people naturally expect the contents to be somewhat lurid or raunchy. This not the case with the majority of titles published by Fawcett. In fact, almost the opposite is true. Fawcett decided early on to make their stories suitable for all ages. The "seal of approval" was only added to the comics to help the lagging sales that affected all comics when the industry was becoming a social anathema near the end of the golden age.[1]
Unfortunately, it couldn't save them. Not only were they going against the parents and teachers, they were also being attacked from within the industry. Despite it being a frivolous lawsuit, the legal fees involved in their case against National Comics (DC) made it unprofitable to continue publishing the Marvel Family's adventures. Their solution? Settle the case out of court and stop publishing comics altogether.[2]
This was truly an injustice to Fawcett, but also to the comics fans, as you can clearly tell by this story from the next-to-last issue published. The stories were getting longer and more dramatic, without losing their sense of imagination and wonder. There's no doubt in my mind that the Marvels would have dominated the silver age just as they had during the golden age. We'll never know.
from MARVEL FAMILY #88, October 1953
EDIT:Since this story got deleted by my image hosting service, I recommend you read this over at DIGITAL COMIC MUSEUM where you'll find it in it's entirety
[1]Read more about that here
[2]More on that here
*
No comments:
Post a Comment