Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/182

170 I think I would like to go through the whole thing and answer your question.

Mr. . I am trying to ask hew effective is the self-policing of the code!

Mr. . I think it is very effective so far as we are con- cerned. I can't speak for all the companies in the business. As I say, there are only three publishers, including ourselves, who belong to the association, Wetry at all times to abide by the code.

Mr. . This you say would abide by it; is that right?

Mr. . I think it is impossible for me to properly answer the question becanse illustrated here are 4 panels out of a story that may contain as many as 30 panels. That is the same thing as taking a still from 2 conventional motion picture, let us say, and using a still which by itself may be sensational to advertise the motion picture and therefore either condemn the picture as a wholeI am not trying to duek your question, I don't feel I can properly answer that.

Mr. . Let me ask you another question that might help me. Am I to understand that the code only means that if justice triumphs in the end, anything goes before that?

Mr. . No, sir, far from that.

Mr. . Then | thonght yon could net depict scenes of crime such as that, and we have a few more,

Mr. . I would believe that the code obviates the depiction of evime. but I think that segment must be considered as a whole rather than as a small part of the whole.

Mr. . This is from Adventures Into Weird Worlds, the May issue. It is the scene of a man bemg ernshed to death by some sort of vise.

Mr. . That is quite reminiscent of a very well-known story called The Pit and the Pendulum, which bas been a classic in Ameri- can literature for many decades, I don't know if the artist had that in mind at the time. Again J am not trying to justify it or say it is wrong. I feel that we are in the area of weird comics and only a very small portion of our businessit is all part of our concept of a merchandising program of publishing. I do lave some notes on that, if I may refer to them.

Mr. . Go ahead.

Mr. . This is on weird comics, on weird cones and ref- erence to comics in general. I have a copy of the code. We have many copies in our comic department.

The. Will you furnish the subcommittee with a copy?

Mr. . I will be happy to.

This is the code of the Comic Magazine Publishers Association. This supplants the code which was originally set up for us.

The. Counsel advises us that the code is already in the record.

Mr. . Yes. sir,

(The code appears on p. 70, as "Exhibit No. 9.")

Mr. . We welcome the opportunity to express our opinion couicerning comic books and contreversics pertaining to them. Jt is our considered opinion that in the main the public interest is best served through enlightened self-regulation resulting from full public discussion and resulting open competition, Tnvariably undesirable publications and these put out hastily by marginal publishers fall by