Before and After
I once read a study, or maybe a quasi-study, that looked into the issue of how much money could be sued over for the day to day copyright infringement that bloggers commit if anyone were absolutely serious. I think the standard m’o concerns the cutting and pasting of current news articles, beyond the codified 3 paragraph limit. But there are other means of copyright infringement that can be committed. (I once posted a couple of disparate floating essays under the title of “The Pinkwater Copyright Infringement Jamberoo“, more of a rescue mission than anything else. I notice an extent morality rationalization, a fairly good one, in the public concerning the purchase of bootlegged dvds and the like: “if the corporations that own it release this tv series or movie, I’ll buy them from them, but if they withhold them — I’ll get them from the bootlegged source.”)
Here’s a copyright infringement, unless it falls under the domain of for purposes of public commentary. Here’s an image I clipped from The New York Times of December 29, 1954.
I have a bit of a time wrapping my head on the severity of this censorship. The newly minted Comics Code Authority could not have a wrinkled old hag — so the ghoulish character of Sarah Harper is given wrinkle cream and an amazing dentist.
I imagine it changes the contours of the entire story. Not that it matters too much, as this is disposable children’s entertainment, and we can’t be bothered with merits of the entertainment – slash – artistic decisions that go into the creation of this flimsy comic book. (The artist does not appear to be attempting a Renaissance, so what’s the point?)
In the immediate future, the Comics Code would force some rather creative release of a new type of monster. Out of necessity since the classic monster forms of Vampires and Witches were banned, meaning the Jack Kirbys of the world had to fill the vacuum with creations such as… Fin Fang Foom, Bombu, Groot…
… who still appears to break that “Distortion in Face” rule that Charles Murphy felt compelled to smooth over.