6.6-7

comics

"Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."

Indecency

"Material is indecent if, in context, it depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."

SEVEN SIGNIFICANT SUPERHEROES

1) Superman: Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and make it the primary type of American comic book. The opening narration of the 1950's syndicated television show The Adventures of Superman, pretty much tells us everything we need to know about Kal-El, born on the planet Krypton and rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El moments before Krypton's destruction: "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" 2) Batman: Created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, the origin of "the Bat-Man" was not revealed until Detective Comics #33, where young Bruce Wayne witnesses the murder of his parents by a mugger and vows to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of his life warring on all criminals. As the Dark Knight, Batman is the progenitor of all vigilante superheroes with a taste for violence, a list that would include Wolverine, Spawn, the Punisher, and Rorschach. But those last pair of names indicate Batman also represents all comic book superheroes with enhanced abilities rather than specific superpowers, a list that obviously begins with Robin (the first teenage sidekick, quickly imitated) and Batgirl, but also includes the Black Panther, Green Arrow, Black Widow, Kick-Ass, and, technically, Tony Stark's Iron Man. As the "World's Greatest Detective," Batman also is the antecedent for any and all superheroes who uses their brains as well as their brawn, as well as the first comic book superhero to have a rogues gallery of iconic villains such as the Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy. 3) Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman was not the first superheroine. That honor would go to Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, who first appeared in 1940, but Wonder Woman would be the first widely recognized female superhero. Created by William Moulton Marston, who got the idea from his wife Elizabeth, Wonder Woman was intended to be a role model for young girls. 4) Spider-Man: All of the previous superheroes on this list were created during what is considered the Golden Age of comic books, while Spider-Man debuted during the genre's Silver Age. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, nerdy high school student Peter Parker is bit by a radioactive spider. Spider-Man has super strength and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, "spider-sense" to warn him of danger, and web-shooters he invented to shoot spider-webs. When he first appeared, Spider-man was unique not only as a teenage superhero without a mentor, but also as a teenager dealing with the struggles of adolescence and as a superhero who was not viewed by the public as a superhero. As the flagship character of Marvel Comics, he is the only other comic book superhero who has risen to the level of DC's Superman and Batman. The rosters of the X-Men and Teen Titans included dozens of teenager (or former teenage) superheroes, from Dick Grayson and Wally West to Raven and Kitty Pryde. 5) Captain America: During World War II frail Steve Rogers is transformed by an experimental serum into a super-solider. Wearing a costume based on an American flag motif and armed with a nearly indestructible shield that he throws at foes, Captain America was not the first patriotic superhero: the Shield and Minute-Man both debuted in 1940 before Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created the hero who appeared on his first cover socking Adolf Hitler in the jaw (a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor). Near the end of the war, Captain America is trapped in ice and survived in suspended animation until rescued by the Avengers and revived in the present day. During World War II the list of patriot superheroes expanded to Captain Battle, U.S. Jones, and the Fighting Yank, while others such as the Whizzer and the Hangman wore red, white and blue costumes. Today Captain America is the only remaining patriotic American superhero, whose closest contemporary is Red Guardian, who was created as Cap's Soviet Union's counterpart. 6) Captain Marvel: Created by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, Captain Marvel would become the best-selling superhero of the 1940, outselling even Superman. Billy Batson, teenage newsboy, utters the magic word "Shazam!" and is transformed into Captain Marvel, a much easier path for young readers to imagine taking as compared to arriving from another planet or having your parents murdered to become a superhero. The magic words were also an acronym denoting Captain Marvel's powers and which "deity" he got them from: Solomon=Wisdom, Hercules=Strength, Atlas=Stamina, Zeus=Magical Lightning, Achilles=Courage, Mercury=Superhuman Speed and Flight. Captain Marvel is also immortal (courtesy of the Greek gods) and invulnerable (again, the Greek gods, but also Achilles—except for the heel). During the 1940s, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero, outselling even Superman and reaching an all-time high in 1944 when Captain Marvel ran for president and sold 14 million comic books16. Fawcett expanded the franchise to include the Marvel Family with Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. He was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted into film, with the 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel. However, when the copyright on the original Captain Marvel lapsed, Marvel Comics leaped into the breach and created a Kree warrior, Captain Marvel (who has undergone a whole lot of transformations), which explains why today the original Captain Marvel is published by DC Comics as "Shazam." 7) Plastic Man: Created by artist-writer Jack Cole, Plastic Man is the superhero who put the "funny" into "funny books." Patrick "Eel" O'Brian is able to stretch his body into any imaginable form, and his adventures were decidedly quirky, with a high premium on surreal slapstick humor. In terms of powers Elastic Lad and Mr. Fantastic are obviously similar, but in terms of story Plastic Man's legacy is found in the likes of the Metal Men and Deadpool, not to mention characters out on the fringe such as Howard the Duck and Cerebus the Aardvark.

reboot

A remake of an earlier media production, usually a film or television series, with a new cast and a different or refreshed perspective.

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988)

Hustler Magazine, owned by Larry Flynt, published a parody of a liquor advertisement in which Rev. Jerry Falwell, an evangelical Southern Baptist preacher, televangelist, and co-founder of the Moral Majority (a prominent political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party), was depicted in a lewd manner. Falwell was originally ordered to pay Falwell damages in the amount of $200,000. However, a unanimous US Supreme Court ruled that a public figure must show that actual malice was committed by a publication in order to recover money for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

1964 Jacobellis v. Ohio

Justice Potter Stewart wrote in is short concurrence that "hard-core pornography" was hard to define, but "I know it when I see it."

Obscenity

The character of being obscene; an act, utterance, or item tending to corrupt the public morals by its indecency or lewdness.

Pornography

The representation in the media of scenes of sexual behavior that are erotic or lewd, and designed to arouse sexual interest.

1973 Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15

a three prong test that material must meet to be considered obscene: 1) An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest. 2) The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law. 3) The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.23

One, Inc. v. Olesen, 355 U.S. 371 (1958)

is a landmark decision for LGBT rights in the United States as the first U.S. Supreme Court ruling to deal with homosexuality and the first to address free speech rights with respect to homosexuality.

Profanity

is defined as "including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance."

Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957)

the US Supreme Court defined obscenity more strictly as material whose "dominant theme taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest" to the "average person, applying contemporary community standards." The case involved a literary business that sent through the mail a publication called American Aphrodite, containing literary erotica and nude photography, which violated a California statute against publishing pictures of "nude and scantily-clad women." The Roth decision reaffirmed that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment and that Congress could ban material "utterly without redeeming social importance."