Comic Genesis Forums

New episodes I was doing for mcDuffies made me think of censorship labels. Well, it's always an interesting topic. Say, if your comic was, say, tv series, how would it be rated?
And please, I don't get those two-letter ratings, please use descriptions like:
"violence/sexual content/not sutable for children" etc.

McDuffies would probably be rated as:
"adult situations/abuse of alcochol/parent observance"

By "adult situation" I mean, for instance, a pair petting, and then camera goes toward night table or fireplace. So no actual sex.
I might be over the line in a few places in incoming storylines, but then again, probably not. I'm considering [spoilers]rape attempt in one of future storylines. Is it rated more than just "adult situations"?
Also, what about stuff that happen ocasionally, but very rare, maybe once on every 100 strips: swears, violence, well, I had a drogged up man once... Would those ocasional happenings intact the rating of entire series?

If you ask me, standard ratings I see at films are too harsh. What they call "adult situation" is not something that children shouldn't be allowed to watch, except when it comes to sex, frontal nudity, excessive violence and Tarantino-language. I've seen a lot of stuff on tv when I was a kid (not to mention five years of war reports on news) and I don't remember being all so shocked if I saw a petting or something like that.
Then again, three films I watched as a kid: "Carry", "Brasil" and "Altered states", joined with two serbian films: "Strangler vs strangler" and "Night butterfly"... well, those movies permanently screwed my brain. In a good way, I hope.

My comic is Web-14 but I showed tits once. But they were fake silicone stripper tits, if that helps. The TV censors are so strict. "The L Word" is TV-MA just because it has lesbians. I would probably get cited for language. Can you say "cunt" on TV? I know they just started allowing saying "shit" on late night.

"And now to prove that we're live: Penis."

I assume my comic would be flagged for violence, although none of the victims to date have been human. Should that make a difference?

Lessee here ...

"This comic has been proven to contain massive amounts of comical violence, teen angst, mild cursing, plotlines in which teenagers wear semsible outfits and act polite to other people, children being obedient to reasonable requests from their parents, and other disturbing departures from reality. People viewing this comic may be led to believe that there is hope for quiet conservative values in an increasingly loud and liberal world."

--Sij

My comic ain't for a very young audience.
First of all, i doubt a kid under 10 yo could understand the plot.
Then it would be rated for:
Adult Situations - Not explicit sex, but there are some innuendos, partial nudity... nothing too hard anyway.
Swearing - Pretty limited anyway: Usually just "crap" and "damn", but once or twice bigger words may come out
Violence - In chapter 1 (wich is going to end with the next 5 pages) was mainly bonking heads. Chapter 2 will have some action but not much blood. From Chapter 3 characters will start to die in messy and painful ways...

DW isn't too bad right now, some mild language. Not much else really.

It's all gonna change though. Lot's more blood. Lot's more death. Lot's more random swearing! And sex! Lots of it!

Attempted rape would probably fall under adult situations. Successful rape would be quite a degree higher.

Movie ratings are usually more about politics and lobbying more than the actual content. The famous example being "Whale Rider," an innocent and lovely film from New Zealand that got slapped with a PG 13 because evidently the camera caught a bong for three seconds. The advertisers were made to stop using a review clip saying the film was perfect for the whole family because of the MPAA rating, which isn't legally binding or even a necessity. I never look at ratings myself, so I was shocked to learn this, considering the PG13 Charlie's Angels. Best bet when in doubt, check it out on the internet.</soapbox>

Anyway, I rate mine at PG13 because very few thirteen year olds will be offended by anything in my coming, especially the f-word (fuck). I doubt nudity would happen, but I guess we'll see what happens when we come to it.

Violence? My violence is rare, but when it happens, is all slapstick and no worse than your avaerage Tom & jerry cartoon (But seriously. T&J is actually pretty horrific if you think about it).
I'm going to have red blood flowing occasionaly in the near future.. nothing the 5 years olds of today havn't seen before. So it can't get a high rating on that front.

Sex? Nope!

Nudity? Nope... well if you don't count Mr. Pingoo that is. He's stark nekkid.

Drugs? Well I am very suggestive on this front and will have a few on-screen blunts being smoked in the near future.. as far as rating this, well I don't know how it goes. Depends on where you live I guess.

but generaly speaking, all in all my comic is as open and cheery as a disney cartoon!!


Only Without the singing animals.



But I'm working on that.

Well, the American ratings are so out of proportion it's ridiculous. Here in Europe....ok, ok, that's not the topic.

So far my comic has had a gay couple kissing (although if it hadn't been for the guy yelling "fucking faggots" at them, nobody would have known they were both male), a guy's head being blown to pieces, a brief scene of self-mutilation, some cursing, and the word "rape" has been used once...and a suicide is coming up...

And on February 24, it will have a naked girl in it. (I'll lend pencils to anyone who wants to jot that down so they remember it =)

Well, after reading yall's descriptions here, I think I better spice up my plotlines...Shed some clothes, use more consecutive punctuation marks, maybe actually use the knuckle sandwich instead of just brandishing it...hmmmm....
*tears 3 months of storyboards out of sketch book*
Ah....the challenge of the blank page....

At the moment I probably have a PG rating. There's really been nothing bad in my comic other than maybe the word 'damnit'. It wasn't intentional, I just don't like to throw in sex and violence as a gimick when it's not nessicary. The rating will probably go up as I draw more strips. There might be a shower scene or two in the near future, I'm not sure yet. I figure there might be some real violence later on (I mean theyr'e space marines, after all...) but most likely it will be aliens being blown up or something. As far as things stand right now though, it's pretty clean.

I'd say I have a PG-13 rating. I've got a vampire for a character, he's been shot before (and should have died)... so things come up that probably wouldn't be considered appropriate for kids under 13.

However I do keep the language clean, typically, and there's not a whole lot of violence. There's not been any sex either, and quite likely there won't ever be.

In any case, that's my two cents.

I went with MA because I didn't care about mass readership, and didn't want any limitations. But in general mine would be considered PG.

Sometimes I wonder about my own rating, given all the sexual innuendo that I seem to put in every other comic even when I'm not trying. But I've never really had any serious complaints beyond my parents sorta regretting that they gave my URL to kids at church.

Roughies
Language: G (unless HOLY CATS! and Tampons) get me a PG)
Substance Abuse: Catnip?
Violence: Violence(Cuts, Bruises, and Bandages), Off-Screen Murder/Rape, Corpses Lying around (Roadkill)
Nudity: Casual, Humorous, Sexual, Exploitative (Stripper)
Adult Situations: Hoboism(Homelessness, Joblessness), Brainwashing, Sex, Pornography, Philosophy

On the Guide I stuck a MA label on it, but if you read it to date you may not understand where its going... I have a three week buffer and I drew the first partial nudity this week. Murder soon. When the undead vikings finally show up, there's probably going to be an awful lot of off-screen murder. Each plotline would need a different rating, really.

Maybe I should add a disclaimer.

Language: PG (I use 'fuck' and 'shit' I think two or three times)
Nudity: G
Violence: G
Sex: PG (vaguely dirty jokes in the intermissions)
Adult Situations: G

Overall either G or PG. Unless you live in Arkansas, where Evolution, and science in general, has taken a back seat to "squeal like a pig" type intelligence. Then I'm rated MA, XXX, and "shoot on sight" for actually citing facts and using scientific backing to answer my questions.

In Arkansas, I'm a blasphemer and bespeaker of ill truths. Everywhere else so far, I'm ok, I guess.

You're forgetting Kansas. Kansas hates you too.

And Oklahoma.

My town is home to both a Christian Broadcasting company, and a large Bible College founded by a man who believes that God rewards piety with with money. Therefore, rich people are good people and poor countries are in need of the gospel.

My town is a suburb to Tulsa where Oral Roberts University and the City of Faith are.

Ecrasez l'infame!
Viva Science!

Missouri ranks 48 in the number of states getting government grants to start small businesses. (based on some study I don't have a link to and can't remember the name of, )

FAUB was never intended for family viewing. It's intended to make you question what you see and what you believe you see. It's meant to shock and confuse you with inevitability. It's meant to show that the system, with all its flaws and failings, does work and that even small actions can have big consequences.

Well, that's the intention anyway.

The swearing isn't prolific but it's present.
The violence is emotional so the reader is as much a target as the characters and there is less of a way to guard against it. The only thing to do is to cover your head and ride it out.
Nudity has been non-existent because there has been no call for it.
There has been plenty of talk about sex, both the good and bad aspects.

Rating: PG13, creeping into R territory.

Why compare comic strips/books to tv shows and movies rating systems?

A Comic book is halfway between art and literature. Neither of which have rating systems.

The rating systems only apply to ages 0-17, so its obviously about the impact on children/teenagers. Now, art and literature... the reason these don't have rating systems is because?

DISCUSS!

IS YOUR COMIC UP TO CODE? (The 1954 Comic Book Code)
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6543/

Mine isn't : http://roughies.keenspace.com/promo/nude.jpg The guy dressed up as Rembrandt, he's the villain. He's villainy.