Americana in Four Colors (1964/1974) comic books 1956-1969

$1.00 cover price. Two variant covers exist; this 1964 reprint with cover variant is the plain cover; it does not have any comic characters depicted. Twenty Years of Self-Regulation by the Comics Magazine Industry (1964 edition) by John L. Goldwater of Archie Comics. 52 pages Chapters in the Americana in Four Colors, booklet include: 1) Introduction, Twenty Years of Industry Self-Regulation; 2) The Comic Magazine Industry. What are comic magazines? Historical background; 3) The Comic Code Authority. How the Code Authority operates; 4) Educational Values in Code-Approved Comics Magazines. Comics as reading aids; 5) Self-Regulation, the Proved Solution; 6) The Code of the Comics Magazine Association of America. Goldwater was a founder of Archie Comics/MLJ and President of the CCA for 25 years, the organization that regulated American comics after the horror and crime comic scandals of the 1950. This booklet includes several sections covering various aspects of the comics medium, format and history as well as the actual Comics Code. Sections include: "What Are Comic Magazines?", "Educational Values in Code-Approved Comic Magazines", "Self-Regulation...The Proven Solution", "How the Comics Code Authority Operates", as well as a rundown of the actual editorial code governing newsstand comics ("If crime is depicted as is shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.", "All lurid, gruesome, unsavory illustrations are to be eliminated.", "Sex perversion or reference to same is strictly forbidden", "Females shall be drawn realistically without undue emphasis on any physical quality", etc). and the code for "advertising matter" (po ads offering fireworks, sex-instruction manuals, pin-ups/art studies, gambling equipment, alcohol, knives, concealable weapons, realistic gun facsimiles, etc). There is also a two-page comic by Archie artist Dan Decarlo called "The Comics Technique", which is about how comics were made at the time, a one-page illustration of the terminology in the comics medium, and a pair of black and white photos (one featuring a Reverend presenting Goldwater with a plaque for the services rendered by the CMAA to the industry and the American public). The cover of the 1972 edition features Superman, Archie, Casper The Friendly Ghost, Fred Flintstone and Spider-Man, representing publishers Harvey, Marvel, DC/National, Archie and Charlton Comics. Cover price $1.00.