Marvel Rating System

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The Marvel Rating System is a system for rating the content of comic books, with regard to appropriateness for different age groups. In 2001, Marvel Comics withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system for its publications.

The Marvel Rating System assigns each comic book one of the following ratings:

ALL AGES - appropriate for all ages.

A - Appropriate for age 8 and up.

T+ TEENS AND UP - Appropriate for most readers 13 and up, parents are advised that they might want to read before or with younger children.

PARENTAL ADVISORY - 15+ years and older. Similar to T+ but featuring more mature themes and/or more graphic imagery.

MAX: EXPLICIT CONTENT - 18 years old. Most Mature Readers books will fall under the MAX comics banner, (created specifically for mature content titles) MAX and Mature-themed titles will continue to be designed to appear distinct from mainline Marvel titles, with the "MAX: Explicit Content" label very prominent on the cover. MAX titles will NOT be sold on the newsstand, and they will NOT be marketed to younger readers.

[edit] History

The first Marvel Rating System, implemented in 2001, used the following categories:

ALL AGES
PG
PG+
PARENTAL ADVISORY/EXPLICIT CONTENT

However, the Motion Picture Association of America complained, as it holds a trademark on such classifications as PG and PG-13 (see MPAA film rating system). Marvel thus switched to the following system:

ALL AGES
PSR
PSR+
PARENTAL ADVISORY/EXPLICIT CONTENT

Beginning in June 2005, Marvel switched to yet another system:

ALL AGES
T+ SUGGESTED FOR TEEN AND UP
PARENTAL ADVISORY
MAX: EXPLICIT CONTENT

NOTE: There is now a "Rated A" attached to some titles. Though it has never been stated what "A" stands for, it is assumed that the rating is intended for adolescents.