Did you know that Detective Comics was banned in Australia in the late 1930s? Daniel Best has the somewhat unbelievable tale of state censorship from history:
The banning of Detective Comics really began with a statement from the Minister for Trade and Customs, in which the proposal for the prohibition on the importation of undesirable literature was put forward. Although the proposal was titled ‘literature’, the text made it clear that the focus would be firmly placed upon pulp magazines and comic books which were deemed to be blasphemous, indecent and obscene. The content of the statement also placed a strong emphasis on the undesirable content of the literature in question, in particular sex and crime and the harmful effect that any exposure to either would have on youth. Damning evidence was provided in the form of a recent murder case in which the murderer had been found with a large collection of pulps, thus, for the powers that be, showing a direct line from pulps and comic books to outright murder. It was all that was needed.
The whole forgotten story can be found here, and is well worth a read.
December 27th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Back in the day Australia banned a lot of US imports, such as the original King King. I don’t think Kong could be shown in Australia until decades later.
December 27th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Dopey headline, unless private stats show a lot of visitors in the 80-plus age range.
March 23rd, 2013 at 2:45 am
Very interesting topic, thank you for posting. Skeleton Bracelets for Halloween http://rnmaliraq.com/vb/showthread.php?p=14164#post14164