Publishing Journal ›› 2019, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (2): 106-.

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Study on American Comic Industry’s Self-Regulation : From the Perspecitve of 1954 Senate Hearings

  

  • Online:2019-03-15 Published:2019-03-15

Abstract: [Abstract] In the 1950s,crime and horror comics were popular in the United States. The public believed that crime and horror comics would adversely affect young people and set off a national anti-comics campaign. In 1954,the US Senate held a hearing to investigate crime and horror comics and juvenile delinquency,and the American Comic Magazine Association established by the comics industry after the hearing. As a result, the American comic industry began decades of self-regulation to regulate the content of comic books. This paper reviews the historical origins and backgrounds of self-discipline in the American comics industry and the process of the US Senate hearing in 1954. It explores the deep reasons for the self-regulation of the American comic industry from political,economic,and cultural perspectives,and analyzes the self-regulation’s farreaching impacts on the American comic industry itself and American society as a whole.