Zap ComixBack in 1968 , underground comix attacked the
peremptory values of a conservative society that
less than a decade earlier had imposed strict
rules of conduct on its youth. During the early
to mid- 1950 s, at the height of the social and
political purges known as McCarthyism,
Congress was engaged in an investigative frenzy
to root out Communists in government and
adverse influences on the culture at large. They
believed that American kids—the offspring of a
victorious postwar nation—were susceptible to
forces of evil filtered into the collective
unconscious through such inflammatory media
as comic books. Threatened with government
regulations and fearing diminished profits, the
comics industry agreed to police itself through
the Comics Code Authority, which, like the film
industry’s Hays Office, applied strict watchdog standards to any and all
content prior to bestowing its seal of approval. Any deviation from its list
of standards (which prohibited gratuitous violence, sex, and disrespect
toward authority) was met with swift punitive measures, notably banning
distribution to all stores in which the majority of comic books were sold.
Pressure on the creators, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers
of comic books resulted in products that upheld prescribed American
values. Neutering comics did not hinder sales; instead, restrictions
fomented rebellion over time. After almost a decade of a predictable
Superman, puerile Archie, and tiresome Sgt. Rock, a generation of American
kids became teenagers, with pent-up inhibitions that demanded venting.
During the late 1960 s, the busting of strictures emerged in youth
movements that were expressed through political radicalism, civil
disobedience, hallucinogenic experimentation, free love, and raucous rock
and roll. Virtually overnight (after fermenting for a decade), American
culture was transformed by a youth culture that reclaimed art, writing,
music, and, ultimately, comic books from the guardians of propriety.
Thirty years ago,Zap #1was the spearhead of the comic book
revolution. The 1998 release of Zap #15marked the comic’s extraordinary118