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JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Criteria for Evaluating Comic Books
I. CULTURAL AREA
No objection
- 1. Good art work, printing, and color arrangement.
- 2. Good diction.
- 3. The overall effect pleasing.
- 4. Any situation that does not offend good taste from the viewpoint of art or mechanics.
Some objection
- 1. Poor art work, printing, and color arrangement.
- 2. Mechanical setup injurious to children's eyes; print too small; art work crowded.
- 3. Poor grammar and underworld slang.
- 4. Undermining in any way traditional American folkways.
Objectionable
- 1. Propaganda against or belittling traditional American institutions.
- 2. Obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, or the language of the underworld.
- 3. Prejudice against class, race, creed, or nationality.
- 4. Divorce treated humorously or as glamorous.
- 5. Sympathy with crime and the criminal as against law and justice.
- 6. Criminals and criminal acts made attractive,
Very objectionable
- 1. An exaggerated degree of any of the above-mentioned acts or scenes.
II. MORAL AREA
No objection
- 1. An uplifting plot.
- 2. Wholesome characters.
- 3. Characters dressed properly for the situation.
- 4. If crime, when it enters the plot, is incidental.
- 5. Any situation that does not compromise good morals.
Some objection
- 1. Criminal acts or moral violations even if given legal punishment.
- 2. The presence of criminals, even if they are not shown as enjoying their crimes.
Objectionable
- 1. Women as gun molls, criminals, and the wielders of weapons.
- 2. Any situation haying a sexy implication.
- 3. Persons dressed indecently or unduly exposed (costumes not appropriate to the occasion).
- 4. Crime stories, even if they purport to show that crime does not pay.
- 5. Stories that glamorize unconventional behavior.
- 6. Situations that glamorize criminals.
- 7. The details or methods of crime, especially if enacted by children.
- 8. Thwarted justice.
- 9. Law-enforcement officials portrayed as stupid or ineffective.
Very objectionable
- 1. An exaggerated degree of any of the above-mentioned acts or scenes.
III. MORBID EMOTIONALITY
No objection
- 1. Any situation that does not arouse morbid emotionality in children.
Some objection
- 1. Overrealistic portrayal of death of villains.
- 2. Grotesque, fantastic, unnatural creatures.
- 3. Imminent death of a hero or heroine.
Objectionable
- 1. The kidnaping of women or children, or the implication of it.
- 2. Characters shown bleeding, particularly from the face or mouth.
