Polite Dissent

Short answer:

• I am opposed to labeling comic books.

Longer answer:

• Labels make it too easy to treat comics (or movies or music) as stereotypes, not as individual works. This is a “violent comic,” this is an “erotic comic” or this is a “foreign comic featuring characters with unnaturally large eyes.” People see the label and think they know they all need to about a book. This tendency to label creeps into medicine too, but I had it beat out of me at an early stage in my career.
• Labels are uninformative. Wanted and Watchmen both contain violence and sex and would undoubtedly be labeled as such, but they are as different as night and day.
• Labels are arbitrary. For example, the movie Angel Heart was originally given an X rating. The producers appeased the MPAA board and earned an R rating by cutting 10 seconds of a female backside during a sex scene. Ten seconds! How much did that matter — and it was her back, not even the most interesting part! I could see this quickly degenerating into a number scenario: two acts of violence earns this rating, three to eight violent acts earns this label, and anything over nine — look out!
• Labels serve as a crutch. Too many parents blindly decide that all works with or without certain labels are fine for their children. This is a breach of their parental responsibilities. It is imperative that parents should decide what works are right or wrong for their children. Labels, or some anonymous “label board” should not decide for them. It amazes me that any parent would purchase (or allow their child to purchase) a comic named Deadshot and be surprised that it features violence. These are probably the same parents who are shocked — shocked, I tell you! — that a game titled “Grand Theft Auto” showcases criminal activity.
  Not just parents use labels as a crutch, but businesses as well. Some stores won’t carry titles with a certain label, regardless of the actual content of the work and whether or not the label is actually deserved.
• Labels rarely work. How many news stories have been aired about kids being able to buy games and music rated “mature” without any age check or parents present?
• Labels are aesthetically unpleasing. Where would labels be placed on comic books ? The front is already crowded enough. The back is advertiser territory. The inside? There might be violence or sex on that first page! Who’s going to look inside to find a label, anyway?
• Labels are decided by someone who is not me. I am the most important arbiter of what is right, or not right, for me and my children. Not other people. My views are what count, not theirs.