Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has acquired the intellectual property rights to the Comics Code Authority from the Comic Magazine Association of America, which shut down earlier this year. The Code represented a half century period of self-censorship brought on by the Congressional hearings in the early 50s. The CMAA disbanded after the last two remaining publishers, DC and Archie, stopped using the code and left the organization early this year (see “Archie Drops Code” and “DC Leaves Comics Code”). Marvel dropped the code ten years ago (see “Industry Reacts as Marvel Drops the Code”).

CBLDF is currently licensing Graphitti designs to offer t-shirts with images of the code symbol that benefit the Fund. 

“It’s a progressive change that the Comics Code seal, which is yesterday’s symbol of comics censorship, will now be used to raise money to protect the First Amendment challenges comics face in the future,” Fund Executive Director Charles Brownstein said.