The Comics Code Authority was established in 1954 to screen potential comic books being sold in the United States.
"This code banned graphic depictions of violence and gore in crime and horror comics, as well as the sexual innuendo of what aficionados refer to as good girl art.....
depictions of "sex perversion", "sexual abnormalities", and "illicit sex relations" as well as seduction, rape, sadism, and masochism were specifically forbidden (2014, Wikipedia)"
Due to the enforcement of the Comics Code Authority, an explosion of underground comics began.
And so the evolution of the comic strip medium began to burst from it’s children’s story and humor seams and through the likes of R.Crumb and Moebius we saw comics being brought to new light. Adults now had their own comic reading material, some of which children would neither understand or be allowed to look at. R.Crumb and Moebius were both compelled to draw what some people might rightly call their inner perversions, and even Moebius in the BBC documentary, In Search of Moebius, says that he didn’t even feel he had ownership over his own drawings. He felt he was almost in a trance and a channel for some other force through which he drew some of the most imaginative and fantastical images ever seen in the world of comic books. Comics or the comic strip started as mostly a vehicle for children’s humor, but the likes of R.Crumb and Moebius, to name a few, pushed the way we saw these strips into new realms…literally and figuratively.
The images above are rather tame in sexual content from R. Crumb (left) and Moebius (right). The violence and sexual material was often quite graphic, yet fantastical. Some of the content that Moebius created was even beyond the bounds of what the Comic Book Code was condemning.
Discussion Questions:
What are your reactions to Moebius and his various thematic and intricate graphic works of art?
Moebius was featured at the Louvre Gallery, do you agree that comic books can be considered high art?
From a feminist perspective, is this work off-putting? Or is it solely tailored for a male user?
How has the European comic book industry impacted and influenced the American? Or has it?
Discussion Questions:
What are your reactions to Moebius and his various thematic and intricate graphic works of art?
Moebius was featured at the Louvre Gallery, do you agree that comic books can be considered high art?
From a feminist perspective, is this work off-putting? Or is it solely tailored for a male user?
How has the European comic book industry impacted and influenced the American? Or has it?