| Association of Comics Magazine Publishers | |
| Leader Title: | President |
| Leader Name: | George T. Delacorte Jr. |
| Leader Title2: | Executive Director |
| Leader Name2: | Henry E. Schultz |
| Purpose: | To regulate the content of comic books in the face of public criticism |
| Dissolved: | c. 1954 |
| Successor: | Comics Magazine Association of America |
The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was an American industry trade group formed in the late 1940s to regulate the content of comic books in the face of public criticism during that time. It was a precursor to the Comics Magazine Association of America, and the ACMP Publishers Code served as the template for a more detailed set of rules enforced by the CMAA's Comics Code Authority.
The ACMP was formed in May 1947[1] and publicly announced on July 1, 1948.[2] Founding members included:
George T. Delacorte, Jr., founder of Dell Publishing, which included Dell Comics, served as president, and Manhattan attorney Henry E. Schultz, president of the board of Queens College and a member of the New York City Board of Higher Education, as executive director.[3] The ACMP was formed after "accusations from several fronts charged comic books with contributing to the rising rates of juvenile delinquency", and city and county ordinances had banned some publications[4] though these were effectively overturned with a March 29, 1948, United States Supreme Court ruling that a 64-year-old New York State law outlawing publications with "pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime" was unconstitutional.[5] Regardless, the uproar increased upon the publication of two articles:
Spencer, West Virginia held a comic-book burning on October 26, 1948.[8] After the Associated Press reported on it, copycat comic-book burnings followed around the country, particularity in Catholic parishes.[9] [10]
In 1948, the association released their "Publishers Code," drawing on the Hollywood Production Code (better known as the "Hays Code"), which had also been drafted to stave off external regulation. Like the Production Code, it forbid portrayals of crime that might "throw sympathy against the law" or "weaken respect for established authority," and prohibited "ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group." "Sexy, wanton comics" were not to be published, and divorce was not to be "treated humorously or represented as glamorous or alluring." Comics that complied with the code were offered a "Seal of Approval."
The code, however, was not a success, ignored by both large and small publishers. Some publishers, such as Dell Comics, Archie Comics, DC Comics, Fawcett Comics, and initially Marvel Comics, refused to join the organization, the latter three had its own editorial advisory boards.[12] [13] Marvel later resisted and the group begin using the ACMP seal by 1952. Others, such as founding member EC Comics, terminated their participation. Those who continued as members made use of the ACMP seal of approval without any formal process of review. Describing the situation in 1954 at a comic book hearing conducted by the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, Director Schultz said: "The association, I would say, is out of business and so is the code."[14]
In 1954, a mounting tide of criticism, including a new book by Wertham — Seduction of the Innocent — and congressional hearings, spurred the formation of the ACMP's successor, the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA). The ACMP Publishers Code served as the template for a more detailed set of rules enforced by the CMAA's Comics Code Authority.
EC comics and Mad magazine publisher, William M. Gaines, in a 1983 interview with The Comics Journal revealed: