User blog comment:Nausiated/The Comic Book Code Authority and its Effect of Westerns/@comment-1895174-20130811200925/@comment-61022-20130821002629

I don't entirely agree with that statement. Horror comics for sure were greatly effected by the CCA. Westerns endured a lot longer than horror comics, lasting uninterrupted runs well into the 70s (which horror books were mostly phased into science fiction and phased out entirely with super-heroes until a brief revival in the 70s)

super-heroes were the only books to thrive, and they weren't as neutered as you think. If you go back and re-read old Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman comics all the excessive violence and material that got people in an uproar in the 50s was long gone, Batman and Superman had all manner of goofy adventures before the CCA even came into effect. Even the Timely and Atlas era heroes were very tame. DC Comics stuck with the format they were going for because I think they were just lazy an unambitious until Gardener Fox revitalized their line of super-heroes with his reboots in the late 50s (Flash, Green Lantern, Atom etc) not AS silly as what was passing for regular Superman and Batman stories of the time, but not perfect.

You look at the work Stan Lee did for Marvel though, during the height of the post CCA witchhunt and his super-heroes were perfect. Certain things couldn't be shown on panel (like character deaths) and yes, they were quite wholesome tales, but Stan at least told intelligent stories, which was something that DC failed to grasp in those eras, I figure it was easy for them to just pinch off one-off stories with no character development.

I don't think the CCA really neutered Stan's work per-se, he worked within the guidelines, but it wasn't like he was going for ultra violent, blood and gore, and so on. He was a veteran comic book writer by that point and wanted to do more meaningful stories than "bad guy robs bank, hero punches him out and the police take him away".