For a long time, people thought of comic books as fodder for children, and during the age of the Comics Code Authority (starting in 1954), this wasn’t far from the truth. The CCA was a censorship group that limited the content in comics, hoping to keep their young readers from developing degenerate behavior. However, as the CCA became more and more defunct, and publishers began releasing series outside of its approval, the industry grew up, resulting in several more mature series that made comics more mainstream. Writers continue to push these boundaries with dark and gritty stories, resulting in some truly messed-up stories.