As ever, following the beat of a different drummer, Marvel Comics has announced that it will no longer submit its comics to the industry's self-policing Comics Code Authority and will switch from book distributor LPC Group to Diamond Comic Distributors for distribution of its collections and graphic novels.

Marvel's decision to drop the Comics Code's Seal of Approval and withdraw from the Comic Magazine Association of America, which funds the Code Authority, is a historic one and could spell the end of the 50-year-old trade association and Comics Code.

In a telephone press conference attended by many ears, including those of the national mainstream press, Marvel President of Publishing, Licensing and New Media Bill Jemas said, "We needed to shake ourselves loose from the idea that a creative company would submit its work to a third party. That's un-American, as far as I'm concerned.... The Code is inappropriate for readers, consumers and retailers in the 21st century. [The Code says] if a book does not bear the stamp of the CCA, there's something wrong with it. I think that's bullshit."

Though Marketing Director Bill Roseman said no particular incident had precipitated the decision, it was evidently made preparatory to development of a recently announced "mature-readers" comics line. Without the Code, Marvel will be free to label its comics according to a system of its own devising. Jemas said, "Most Marvel comics will continue to be suitable for all ages," but titles "specifically targeted for teens and adults will labeled."

As described by Jemas, the new system (the details of which are still being developed) would place Marvel comics into three categories: "Stuff for everybody" would carry no label, comics with some potentially problematic material would carry a "parental advisory," and comics intended for teen and older readers would carry a "mature audience" label. The labels would also specify the kind of content that makes a particular issue potentially inappropriate for younger readers.

To Roseman, this latter feature makes Marvel's planned labels superior to DC's mature-readers Vertigo line: "[The Vertigo line] says they're for mature readers, but what does that mean? Does it mean there's nudity? Does it mean there's violence?"

Jemas argued that Marvel's labeling would actually provide more of a guide for parents than the Code has. "You have a bizarre situation under the CMAA system that books that don't meet the guidelines don't get any warning [on them] at all," he said.

Marvel's announcement apparently follows a period of growing contention between the publisher and the CMAA, which has long been dominated by DC, Marvel and Archie Comics. Even the CMAA's racking programming, its fundamental strategy of funding the placement of comics racks for display of CMAA member titles in retail stores, was criticized by Jemas as damaging the comics industry. "What racks do," said Jemas, "is they take comics and put them out of the mainstream magazine line and stick them in a corner."

As a way of integrating its publications with "the big guys," Marvel has recently begun reprinting some of its comics with a magazine-format trim.

With Marvel's departure from the CMAA and its rejection of virtually all of the marketing strategies that have justified the organization's existence, it's questionable how long the CMAA will survive. An attempt in recent years to bring smaller publishers into the trade association and to address the needs of the direct market met with very limited success. Remaining members include DC, Archie, Dark Horse, Chaos!, Wizard and Diamond. Dark Horse has also expressed reservations about the Comics Code.

Though the Code was once a powerful tool of censorship, the public's awareness of the seal has largely faded away. Asked if Marvel was concerned that the new labels might prove scarier to parents than the absence of the Code's seal, Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada told the Journal, "What's scary to me is that people don't know what the Code means. By adding a rating system, I think that's comforting." It remains to be seen how comforted parents will be by a self-serving rating system that allows Marvel itself, rather than a third party, to determine when its comics are appropriate for younger readers. Then too, there's the risk that Marvel's advisory labels may draw the general public's attention to content it never noticed before. To which, Quesada replied sarcastically, "God forbid people should actually look at these comics."

Of less historical importance, but with perhaps greater potential to affect Marvel's bottom line, was the company's decision to hitch its book-selling wagon to Diamond's plans for expansion into the bookstore market. Despite the distributor's lack of a track record outside the direct market, Marvel chose to give Diamond its exclusive trade-paperback distribution business.

In a separate press conference, Jemas said, "Diamond has that ability to react on a dime. Bookstores have never seen that before. Diamond provides constant round-the-clock shipping. That's why we think we're going to be comfortable; there's a very good value to the customers with regard to our program."

The Journal will take a closer look at Marvel's choices and their ramifications as they develop.