The Great Canadian Crime Comic Caper

The publication of The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America, written by David Hajdu, has prompted a slew of stories in the media about the mid-1950s efforts in the US to censor the contents of comic books.  Canadians, being innovators in all things, can take pride [/sarcasm] in the fact that we were well in the vanguard on this one: Canada made it illegal to publish or sell "crime comics" nearly five years before the US Congress began looking into the matter.

Chapter One of Under Arrest - Canadian Laws You Won't Believe provides a detailed examination of the history of the enactment of the "Fulton Bill", as well as the history of prosecutions thereunder.  Even better, the "crime comics" provisions of the Criminal Code remain in effect, as Sections 163(1)(b) and 163(7) - so it is technically still illegal in Canada to sell a crime comic.