Bill Jourdain has a terrific post on the Kefauver hearings on comic books and violence during the 1950s, which led to the Comics Code Authority (and the Silver Age of Comics):
But what about the rest of the industry? Well, the post-Comics Code Authority world was really a new beginning as it signaled the definite end of the Golden Age of Comic Books and the birth of the Silver Age of Comics with Showcase #4, and the introduction of the Silver Age Flash. The superheroes were back!
Comics of Rhodey explains why Captain America's shield is indestructible:
And there you have it. Cap's shield is made of an Adamantium even stronger than that usually used in the Marvel Universe! It's stronger than Wolverine's claws and bones, tougher than Ultron's body, and harder than the Constrictor's coils.
The last time I checked the Steve Ditko comics blog it was pretty much dead (with only one post in January), although I certainly appreciated the link I got from them on my posts on the Question. However I surf over today and find that there were 21 terrific posts in April on all things Ditko. Definitely worth checking out!
Read this fascinating post on death from Pulp Hero:
Superhero violence has become more gory and grotesque as the readers have aged...after all, comics are in competition with other media. And death, the natural byproduct of "real" violence, has become cheap as well. The convention of the superhero story no longer has room for "shorthand" of the superhumanly strong superhero "pulling his punches" to keep from killing his weaker opponent. Only by skill and the grace of the gods does the weaker character escape, and yet lost is the drama of survival beneath an avalanche of horror. Bleeding mouths, gored lips, tattered flesh have replaced the old artist shorthand of crosshatches to indicate bruising and the ripped cape.
As I have discussed in the past, my interest in comics pretty much ends around the mid-1970s. It's not that there hasn't been a lot of quality stuff published since then, it's that too much of it is too coarse for my tastes. And it's not that I dislike violence or sex in comics; Savage Tales #1 was awesome. But not every comic has to be Savage Tales.
