Over the decades, progressive social changes and anti-censorship sentiment led to a decline in the influence of the CCA. Revival Red Sonja #39 (2008): Golden Age style bondage cover Despite the CCA's censorship during this period, some Golden Age style bondage covers still managed to make it to print. Mainstream superhero publishers often included male characters (usually teammates) in the same bondage situation as the female characters in order to dilute the perception that the cover was being sexist or exploitative. Bondage covers became much less frequent, and those that were published usually depicted the restrained female in a less extreme manner than what was previously the norm. Publishers who relied on good girl art combined with bondage covers for their sales (such as "jungle girl" publisher Fiction House) quickly went out of business due to restrictions enforced by the CCA. It was essentially the job of the CCA to censor the comic industry from publishing material that would be considered inappropriate for impressionable minors. Wertham's book led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority (CCA) in 1954, which shook up the comic book industry. The Comics Code Authority Spider-Woman #6 (1978): A more overt CCA-approved bondage cover Despite being a symbol of female empowerment, Wonder Woman has appeared in bondage on more covers than any other well-known superhero. This cover, featuring a buxom Phantom Lady struggling to escape from ropes, was presented by Wertham along with the caption: "Sexual stimulation by combining 'headlights' with the sadist's dream of tying up a woman." Even the most famous female superhero in comics, Wonder Woman, was pointed out by Wertham as having a bondage subtext. On his list of targets were the numerous "jungle girl" titles as well as Phantom Lady, whose notorious issue #17 bondage cover art was singled out for attack. Controversy intensified in the socially conservative 1950's, prompting psychiatrist Fredric Wertham to write his famous 1954 book "Seduction of the Innocent." Wertham contended that comic books were corrupting the minds of young people with their excessive violence and degradation of women. Controversy Phantom Lady #17 (1949): The bondage cover condemned by Werthamīecause comic books of the era were mainly targeted towards younger readers, bondage covers attracted controversy due to being perceived as lurid and provocative. When Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane made her first cover appearance in 1940 ( Action Comics #29), she was depicted as a bound-and-gagged damsel in distress. Bondage covers were also a frequent theme of early superhero titles. By contrast, the male hero of the series, Ka'a'nga, was always shown rushing to the woman's rescue and was almost never depicted as a captive himself. In Jungle Comics (1940-1954), one of the first titles to prominently feature bondage covers, a fur-bikini clad heroine appeared in bondage on no less than 50 covers of the title's 163 issue run. The provocative appeal of such covers accounted for their popularity and proliferation. Most of the Golden Age bondage covers showed not only a bound woman, but also portrayed her under threat from a villain/animal/monster or some other deadly danger (fire, drowning, a ticking time bomb, oncoming vehicle, etc). History Golden Age Fight Comics #50 (1947): Typical Jungle girl bondage coverīondage covers were very common in the Golden Age of Comics and fairly common in the early Silver Age. Bound characters may also be gagged, usually with cloth or tape, to further the appearance of helplessness. Webs, nets, and glowing energy bonds have also been used as restraining devices. Often-seen 'living' restraints include vines, roots, tentacles, snakes, or other rope-like appendages. Ropes, chains, and shackles are the most commonly seen restraining devices, but the restraining material is limited only by the imagination of the artist. Comic book bondage covers are generally considered to depict the physical restraint of a female character (examples with male characters are far less frequent and are usually not considered as exploitative in nature, due to the target audience being predominantly male).
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