Here's a new warning about another mature (in my market!) book shipping unlabeled next week, along with a possible solution to this problem.  Look at Previews and you'll see that the DC Comics' solicitations are either Mature or All-Ages.  But rating comics isn't that simple.  A lot of the stuff in DC's All-Ages category is not for all ages.  Fallen Angel recently contained sexual references that would make a mother faint.  Next week, DC is shipping Cinnamon El Ciclo #1, which contains the in-panel scene of a man being shot in the chest, directly in front of his daughter (no Alfred Hitchcock suspense here!) - with lots of blood spray.  I showed both books to a number of different customers, and neither book fit anyone's definition of All-Ages material.  If I hadn't seen it a week early, I might have sold Cinnamon El Ciclo differently.  But, reign in the lynch mob.  This is not a problem with just DC Comics.

Marvel Comics has been having their own problems since breaking away from the Comics Code Authority.  They recently unveiled their new 'Secret Decoder Grading System' that, as of this writing, no one has yet been able to decipher.

It's all been very confusing - and not just to retailers, but to our customers.  Currently, if a retailer gets arrested for selling the wrong thing, the publishers are insulated from any repercussions.  But there have been recent questions asked about the possibility of the domino effect running backwards in the direction of the publishers.  Now their attitude might be different!

Add to this mix the recent advent of CGC graded comics.  We've seen on E-Bay what can happen when a purchaser makes a confident choice based on what they consider to be a reliable certification.  And we ALL want to see the sale of comics climb...

Here's my 'Sound Effects' solution:

WOW              All-Ages (G)

POW!              Parental Guidance Suggested (PG)

YOW!!            PG - 13

ZOW!!!            Mature Readers (R)

OWW!!!!            Adults Only (XXX)

IIEEEE!            No Rating Available (Currently the biggest category)

All right, I laughed (and groaned) too, because I first wrote this as a joke. But think about it.  The solution might really be this simple.  Maybe THIS isn't the right coding system, but I ask you: why not use the labels that the press has been applying to the comics industry for years?  Or, are there any other suggestions?  Certainly, in the 'Sound Effects System' there will be no lawsuits from infringement.  How about a referendum on the selection of the sound effects?

If all the diverse factions of the comics industry can work together on Free Comic Book Day, then why can't we work together to create our own Private Industry Rating system?  It doesn't have to be THIS particular system.  But we need something new.  Right now, I don't know what the publishers are selling.  We need a system that, even if everyone involved doesn't agree - most will agree to use.  We need to start talking about basic communication.

I really think that an accepted industry-wide ratings system would work - without the requirements of a third party censor.  Let's use the recent Fallen Angel example - If DC had shipped #2 with an All-Ages rating on the cover, and I were arrested for selling it to a child - then I would have had company when defending myself in court.  Suddenly, all publishers would have liability for their solicitations.  As it is now, they state clearly in the Previews that they accept no liability for any change made in the content from the solicitation, and as someone recently said to me, 'That's their out.'  But if they print that rating on the cover!  Somewhere, sometime, a retailer and a publisher will stand together in court - ratings system or no ratings system.  As I said about the Jesus Castillo conviction - beware of Firestarters.  It's dangerous out here, and we all need to work together.  I'm trying to get the ball rolling, and just hoping that I hit a downward incline.  I yield the Public Forum to YOU.  Look out!  Watch your toes...