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Any tax attorneys out there willing to do some research on a Comics Code matter?

Started by markseifert,

37 posts in this topic

markseifert

markseifert

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A fascinating (to me anyway!) story is developing regarding the final days of the Comics Code. It would appear that nobody knows (or has yet gone on the record) what's been going on with it for the past year.

 

From Newsarama today:

 

But Newsarama hasn't been able to locate any evidence that the organization was functioning since 2009. And Archie Comics has indicated that it wasn't actually submitting comics for approval to the Comics Magazine Association of America, which oversaw the Code

 

My own research on the matter turned up this 2008 tax filing from the Code's governing body, the Comics Magazine Association of America, which was apparently a tax-exempt trade organization with public reporting requirements:

 

http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/NY/Comics-Magazine-Association-Of-America-Inc.html

 

I'd love to find out if there was a 2009 or 2010 filing, and it'd be very interesting to see the details of the other filings from prior recent years as well. On the face of it, the $39k listed as income at that link isn't much to keep an ongoing approval process going.

 

If anybody can point me towards where to look for further public records on the CMAA, I'd appreciate it.

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mpt6974

mpt6974

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I'll help you out, but can't do it until I go back to my university on Wednesday. I am getting my Masters in Accounting and almost finished. We have access to any tax case filing with RIA checkpoint. I have some free time that day so I'll see what I can dig up :)

 

ediit : I also just started a Research Tax class so maybe I can use this for the project! I have previous experience using RIA for other classes though so it shouldn't be a problem.

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markseifert

markseifert

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ediit : I also just started a Research Tax class so maybe I can use this for the project! I have previous experience using RIA for other classes though so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Awesome. I note from the link that the tax-exempt status was granted in 1959, so I would loooooooooove to be able to chart what their income was vs the number of books they were approving (which I can deduce from published books, of course). That'd be some damn fine historical info to get on the public record.

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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I note from the link that the tax-exempt status was granted in 1959, so I would loooooooooove to be able to chart what their income was vs the number of books they were approving (which I can deduce from published books, of course). That'd be some damn fine historical info to get on the public record.

 

I agree, that would be very interesting.

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mpt6974

mpt6974

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Found something funny from the 50's:

 

"I. Introduction

 

The Subcommittee To Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, pursuant to authorization in Senate Resolution 89, 83d Congress, 1st session, and Senate Resolution 190 of the 2nd session of said Congress, has been making a "full and complete study of juvenile delinquency in the United States," including its "extent and character" and "its causes and contributing factors." In addition to a number of community hearings that have been held in major cities, the subcommittee has undertaken studies of various special problems affecting juvenile delinquency.

 

Over a period of several months the subcommittee has received a vast amount of mail from parents expressing concern regarding the possible deleterious effect upon their children of certain of the media of mass communication. This led to an inquiry into the possible relationship to juvenile delinquency of these media.

Members of the subcommittee have emphatically stated at public hearings that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not at issue. They are fully aware of the long, hard, bitter fight that has been waged through the ages to achieve and maintain those freedoms. They agree that these freedoms, as well as other freedoms in the Bill of Rights, must not be abrogated.

 

The subcommittee has no proposal for censorship. It moved into the mass media phase of its investigations with no preconceived opinions in regard to the possible need for new legislation.

 

Consistent with this position, it is firmly believed that the public is entitled to be fully informed on all aspects of this matter and to know all the facts. It was the consensus that the need existed for a thorough, objective investigation to determine whether, as has been alleged, certain types of mass communication media are to be reckoned with as contributing to the country's alarming rise in juvenile delinquency. These include: "crime and horror" comic books and other types of printed matter..."

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mpt6974

mpt6974

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Essentially, the industry is admitting that no minors actually read comics anymore, and they're right. :sorry:

 

I don't know about that, as this was from the early 1950's which I believe falls in the Golden Age of Comics. I think instead they are saying that they had no scientific basis to prove that crime and horror comics caused juvenile delinquency.

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markseifert

markseifert

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The subcommittee has no proposal for censorship. It moved into the mass media phase of its investigations with no preconceived opinions in regard to the possible need for new legislation.

 

I'm a student of this era, and this is the subcomittee simply pushing the industry to censor itself, I think -- SOP for what was done in film, music, and games.

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mpt6974

mpt6974

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The subcommittee has no proposal for censorship. It moved into the mass media phase of its investigations with no preconceived opinions in regard to the possible need for new legislation.

 

I'm a student of this era, and this is the subcomittee simply pushing the industry to censor itself, I think -- SOP for what was done in film, music, and games.

 

Agreed.

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markseifert

markseifert

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Cool, thanks. (thumbs u

 

Early years it's not TOO hard to figure out, but 80s up it'll start to get tricky because I'll have to sort through by title because there'll be non-code stuff even from the major pubs. Interesting stuff though. :headbang:

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markseifert

markseifert

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In regards to the Code, now that we're in the postmortem stage I want the information to be preserved. Even beyond stuff like this, can you imagine the historical correspondence and records they must have... somewhere?

 

It's a little troubling that no one seems to know what's gone on in the past few years. We've made a couple of posts over at Bleeding Cool hoping to shake loose additional info from people who might have it, and that's the kind of thing I'd like to do here -- get the data on the record in the comics community, and perhaps it leads to other info coming to light.

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