Date: Wed, 23 Feb 1994 17:10:03 CDT From: Bill Hayes <[IANR 012] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]> Subject: Volume 4 Issue 8 Part 4 February 22, 1994 The Comics List Weekly Vol. 4 No. 8 Pt. 4 This Week: Violence in Comics - 1989 Claremont Today Show interview +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Jim Perreault <[j--p] at [acsu.buffalo.edu]> Subject: Claremont Today Show interview Date: Tue, 22 Feb 94 8:49:22 EST Here is a transcript of an interview that Chris Claremont did on the Today Show a few years ago. The date on the file was Nov 28, 1989 so it was probably aired a few days to a week before that. Jim What follows is an interview with Chris Claremont that was broadcast last Tuesday morning on Today. Originally I posted this to the local discussion, but I think perhaps more people would like to see it. Bryant Gumbel: On After Eight today, violent comic books. Don't laugh, if you haven't thumbed through a super hero comic lately you may be shocked by whats on the shelf. It used to be the violence was kids stuff. A BAM or POW to the jaw was the extent of it. No mess or blood, but not anymore. In the last decade the dosage of extreme graphic violence and sexual suggestiveness has been on the increase, in many comic books, where the primary color is red, blood red. The books may be costly, but the blood flows freely. Grisly reality and outright sadism has replaced the sanitized, bloodless violence of yesteryear. As a result, some critics contend, a dark, excessively cruel hostile world is often depicted. Pyschaitrist Dr, Thomas Radecki has studied the trend, and he's concerned. TR: We're getting used to the old violence. We want something more violent, more thrilling, more exciting, more blood, more decapitations; something more brutal and hideous than before. BG: The increasing mature themes may in part be fueled by a growing number of adult enthusiasts, who account for a significant percentage of sales. Mind you not all superheroes have changed, some continue to fight crime the old fashioned way. Yet on the same rack beside the realitively restrained Spiderman you are likely to find: Green Arrow, kneeling in front of a crucified prostitute; a bloody scene of Void Indigo; or a very adult subject drawn in Electra:Assassin. Buddy Saunders operates a chain of comic and hobby shops in Texas is among the many concerned by the direction comics have taken. Doesn't the seal make it clear who the comics supposed to be sold to? BS: Your talking about the comics code? BG: Yea. BS: The code is no longer a guarantee in any way that the content is appropriate for children. In most/ a great many comics do not have any kind of seal at all. BG: How do you determine at your shop whose able to buy what? BS: With great difficulty. I don't think publishers are being very responsible in providing retailers with the kind of information they need when we order the books and when we receive the books. The information is just not there very often. BG: Talk to me about whose buying these kinds of books that I have laid out in front of me. What/Whose your customer? BS: Most customers are older readers. We have a hight percentage of adult customers. We don't have a big problem there. My concern as a retailer and as a parent, is that these comics are also being aggressively promoted by publishers to the children's market. I don't know of any publisher or retailer that doesn't want children as customers. BG: Do you think the problem is that widespread? Have I picked out a representative grouping with that piece of tape? BS: The violence is extremely widespread. It is growing worse, and I feel as a parent that I can't allow my children to read most of the action- adventure super hero comics, in that particular genre. BG: Let's talk to Chris Claremont a little bit. He may be one of the most successful and best selling comic-book writer in America today and Good morning Chris. "Good Morning" How come were seeing this? I mean why are we seeing comics more violent than when you or I were kids? CC: Well I think actually; When you said was that a representative sampling, I don't think it was. It was a sampling of a specific end of the market, and what you have in comics today is an offering by the publishers that is as wide and varied as the audience. In the case of the Void Indigo and the Electra:Assassin, those books are offered by Marvel's Epic comics line which is an imprint specificly geared toward the adult market. On the other hand, Marvel offers Star comics, which is for children and is acceptable to very young kids; and the mainstream Marvel books, which are geared supposedly/intentionally to the mainstream audience. BG: Wait just a second, and we'll talk about the kid and the mainstream . Let's put up that shot again of the Green Arrow in front of the prostitute. That's pretty gory stuff, and yet I'm holding here a little statue/doll [of Green Arrow] that is obviously meant for a child. BS: May I interject here? D.C. feels that Green Arrow can be marketed to children. They've told us that, and they continue to tell us that. BG: What about it Chris? CC: By the same token, you see a lot of Lucasfilm produce, for example Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, marketed to kids and a lot of people found material in that film objectionable. I think what you have here is a dichotomy between the merchandising side of a comic book publisher ( or any publisher or a producer) and the creative side. What the publishers are trying to do is to differentiate their material according to an audience that is larger than there ever was. BG: He says they're not differentiating it well enough. BS: They are not. CC: Well I think that has to come under a matter of opinion. I can personally speak for Marvel which is trying very hard to address this problem; to give the retailer enough information in its solicitations. BS: Marvel is a much more responsible publisher than say D.C. Comics. BG: Well you've written to the publisher, when they write, what do they tell you? BS: They tell me in essence that I'm from a backward state, that people on the east and west coast are much more progressive, and that they feel that this material is appropriate for the children. They tell me that this kind of material is actually good for kids, it teaches them how the world really is. And that leads to something else: the way women are handled in these comics. If a were, I don't have a daughter. If I were/ If I had a daughter I would be concerned about the message young kids are receiving in as far as relationships with women. Read these comics and you get the impression the only way you can have a relationship with a women is using a gun or a knife. CC: But I think again the flaw in the reasoning is the presumption that you can apply this attitude to the entire industry and that isn't so. I think that there are specific books that have to be addressed specifically. BG: Do you think it is a parental problem or an industry problem. He's got a good point which is 'Hey if you go to the movies _Debbie does Dallas_ is playing next to _Bambi_ , and you can rea anything you want on the adult rack right next to _Shane_ in the library.' Why should your attitude be different? BS: Parents definitely have a responsibility, but the comics industry has a responsibility too. I as a retailer have a responsibility to get the appropriate material to the right audience. Without knowing whats in comics now, if parents come in and tell me I should sell anything to anyone, I guess I would acquiesce and not like it. But I don't think parents feel that way. BG: What do you mean, censorship? BS: NO! Of course I don't want censorship. BG: You want a ratings system? BS: I would like to have, number one, when you order these comic books, for the publishers to tell us what's going to be in them. That Green Arrow comic that we saw [shown again] , D.C. told us that that could be sold to children; and when we received it there was nothing there to tell us it could be. It was labeled mature reader. D.C. tells us mature reader means you can sell it to kids. BG: Do you resist a ratings system? CC: I figure it would be self-defeating and I think again Marvel has a de- facto ratings system in the sence that you have separate imprints the way a mainstream publisher would have separate imprints. But you also notice in films when you have the PG and the R, the tendency is to push the heavier and heavier stuff. BG: I'm gonna have to stop this guys and end it like so many of the comics do with a blurb at the bottom 'To be continued' CC: Yea. BG: Mr. Claremont, Mr. Saunders, thank you CC & BS: Thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- End part 4, more to follow...