Once Upon a Dime reprints The Code that Killed the Golden Age of comics, which was self-imposed in response to Fredric Wertham’s 1953 book, Seduction of the Innocent, a sensationalist attack on comics that claimed that Batman and Robin were “a wish dream of two homosexuals living together” and that Wonder Woman was a “lesbian counterpart of Batman”.
From General Standards Part A:
- Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
- No comics shall explicitly present the unique details and methods of a crime.
- Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.
- If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.
- Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates the desire for emulation.
- In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.
- Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.
- No unique or unusual methods of concealing weapons shall be shown.
- Instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal’s activities should be discouraged.
- The crime of kidnapping shall never be portrayed in any detail, nor shall any profit accrue to the abductor or kidnapper. The criminal or the kidnapper must be punished in every case.
- The letters of the word ‘crime’ on a comics magazine shall never be appreciably greater than the other words contained in the title. The word ‘crime’ shall never appear alone on a cover.
- Restraint in the use of the word ‘crime’ in titles or subtitles shall be exercised.