[Comics] Reinventing Comics IV

McCloud then addresses the three main reasons why public perception of comics matters:

1. It affects the willingness with which readers will seek out new work*;
2. It can encourage or discourage people from entering the industry; and
3. It determines the effectiveness of attacks on comics as a medium.

For example, in the mid-1950s, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published a book (Seduction of the Innocent) that blamed comics for the rises in juvenile delinquency, sexual perversion and race hatred. The public outcry that this incited led to the burning of comics in the streets and the passing of a comics code of ethics.

This code removed references to gore, sex and sadistic behaviour. It also removed challenges to established authority, any hints of relationships outside of marriage, any references to physical afflictions or deformities and any allusions to sexual orientations other than hetero. And all of this was able to occur because of public perception; in this case the public perception that the entire audience for comics was children.

The chapter also details the importance of institutional scrutiny, especially academic attention. Courses in creating and analysing comics legitimise them as a career choice. This can be a crucial factor for artists on the brink of deciding which medium to pursue.

*McCloud describes two significant hurdles in this category: unpleasant or unhelpful retailers and a visual language within comics that has disappeared up its own butt - making them inaccessible to new readers.