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This a collage taking a look at the history of Batman's controversial gun use, part 4, the 1972-1983 comics written by Bob Haney, David V. Reed, Denny O'Neil and Alan Brennert, art by Jim Aparo, John Calnan, Tex Blaisdell, Marshall Rogers and Joe Staton. This is also proof that the claim that Batman's never used guns in the comics is total crap. The original Batman had no "no-gun rule, no-kill rule." He didn't have any rules. He was a mysterious vigilante, based on the gun-totting Shadow and lethal Zorro. The Michael Keaton type Batman. Far from the Adam West persona of Batman.

In Batman (1989) script writer Sam Hamm's interview in the 1989 Comics Interview Super-Special on Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm says, "I was at the World Science Fiction Convention and they were showing slides of Batman's various weapons and gadgets, and the Batwing -- our version of the Batplane -- came up on the screen, Jeff Walker, the Warner Brothers publicist, mentioned that it was outfitted with rocket launchers, machine guns, etc., etc., so somebody jumped up in the back of the room and said, 'Do you mean Batman is going to be using a gun!?' As if to say, 'Uh-oh, the canon has been violated.' The thing I said to the guy was if you want to go back to the roots of the character, back to when he was created, he did carry a gun. In the early comics there are scenes where he's pulling out the old .38 automatic and popping guys."
stevenely.deviantart.com/art/S…

It was editorial censorship by Whitney Ellsworth that forced a "no-gun rule, no-kill rule" upon the creators of Batman in 1941 with the creation of an editorial advisory board code of conduct that all DC writers and artists were suppose to follow. But, as we see, Batman's gun use still continued, just less frequently and edited to nonlethal means in most cases. Realistically, Batman wouldn't be able to avoid using guns in his war on crime. But Batman certainly never was a trigger happy gun nut. Batman gunned down criminals only as a last resort. Batman certainly wouldn't want machine guns, AR-15s and bump stocks in the hands of temperament trigger happy citizens that could potentially go on a shooting rampage targeting innocent people, which are becoming more and more common.

These are scans from times Batman used guns in the Bronze Age '70s-early '80s comics. Batman is shooting a rifle in The Brave and the Bold #104 (1972) "Second Chance for a Deadman", written by Bob Haney and art by Jim Aparo. Reprinted in Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo vol. 1 (2012).

Batman is shown firing a rifle loaded with a tear gas canister in The Brave and the Bold #112 (1974) "The Impossible Escape" written by Bob Haney and art by Jim Aparo. Reprinted in Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo vol. 1 (2012).

Batman is shown holding and aiming a gun on the page-one introductory - known as the "splash panel" - in Batman #301 (1978) "The Only Man Batman Ever Killed" written by David V. Reed, art by John Calnan and Tex Blaisdell. This issue has never been reprinted in America.

Batman is shown holding a smoking gun on the page-one introductory - known as the "splash panel" - in Batman #302 (1978) "The Attack of the Wire-Head Killers" written by David V. Reed and art by John Calnan. This issue has never been reprinted in America.

Batman is shown holding a captured patsies pistol [which Batman soon finds out is loaded with blanks] in Detective Comics #481 (1978) "Ticket to Tragedy" written by Denny O'Neil and art by Marshall Rogers. Reprinted in Batman in the Seventies (1999).

Batman is shown firing his automatic pistol in a flashback remembrance scene in The Brave and the Bold #197 (1983) "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne" written by Alan Brennert and art by Joe Staton. Reprinted in Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert (2016).

An Editorial Advisory Board was created by DC comics editorial director Whitney Ellsworth as early as October, 1941 that tried to turn Batman comics into the Adam West type Batman.
As former Timely/Atlas/Marvel editor Stan Lee said in the documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked (2003) about National/DC/All-American's classic characters and Timely/Atlas/Marvel's classic characters, "The publishers began to feel that they were in charge of these characters. The characters became cooperate characters controlled more by the cooperation."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygx_rU…
It's explained in Bob Kane's autobiography Batman & Me (1990): "I never had complete control over the Batman [comic book] strip, and the editors placed increasing limitations on what Bill [Finger] and I could do. In the first year, Batman had been a grim vigilante who operated outside of the law. In several early issues of Detective [Comics] he even carried a gun. We had our first brush with censorship over Batman's use of a gun in BATMAN #1. In one story in that issue he had a machine gun mounted on his Batplane and used it. We didn't think anything was wrong with Batman carrying guns because the Shadow used guns. Bill Finger was called on to the carpet by Whitney Ellsworth. He said 'Never let Batman carry a gun again!' The editors thought that making Batman a 'murderer' would taint his character, and mothers would object. The new editorial policy was to get away from Batman's vigilantism and bring him over to the side of the law. So he was remade as an honorary member of the police. The whole moral climate changed in the 1940-1941 period. You couldn't kill or shot villains anymore. DC prepared it's own comics code which every artist and writer had to follow. He wasn't the Dark Knight anymore with all the censorship."

In Cinefex #41 (1989) Tim Burton explained, "I had looked at the Batman encyclopedia [The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes: Batman (1976) by Michael Fleisher about the Golden Age '39 and '40s era Batman comics and the Silver Age '50s and '60s era Batman comics] and found that the mythology contradicts itself - it changes it's own history and has gone through many alterations over the years. So early on, I realized that even if I wanted to be true to the 'real' Batman, there could be substantial argument as to what that really was. We were drawing from the original [Golden Age era Bill Finger and Bob Kane 1939-1940] DC comics strip for inspiration - there was bound to be a certain '40s feeling to it."
www.1989batman.com/2012/03/vin…
This is from the transcript of the 1954 Senate hearings showing the Editorial Board rules that every writer and artist had to follow at DC from 1941 to 1954, enforced by editors Whitney Ellsworth and Jack Schiff ...
EDITORIAL POLICY FOR SUPERMAN DC PUBLICATIONS (1941-1954):
"1. Sex. ─ The inclusion of females in stories is specifically discouraged. Women, when used in plot structure, should be secondary in importance, and should be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of feminine physical qualities.
              2. Language. ─ Expessions having reference to the Deity are forbidden. Heroes and other "good” persons must use basically good English, through some slang and other colloquialism may be judiciously employed. Poor grammar is used only by crooks and villains ─ and not always by them.
              3. Bloodshed. ─ Characters ─ even villains ─ should never be shown bleeding. No character should be shown being stabbed or shot or otherwise assaulted so that the sanguinary result is visible. Acts of mayhem are specifically forbidden. The picturization of dead bodies is forbidden.
              4. Torture. ─ The use of chains, whips, or other such devices is forbidden. Anything having a sexual or sadistic implication is forbidden.
              5. Kidnaping. ─ The kidnaping of children is specifically forbidden. The kidnaping of women is discouraged, and must never have any sexual implication.
              6. Killing. ─ Heroes should never kill a villain, regardless of the depth of the villainy. The villain, If he is to die, should do so as the result of his own evil machinations. A specific exception may be made in the case of duly constituted officers of the law. The use of lethal weapons by women ─ even villainous women ─ is discouraged.
              7. Crime. ─ Crime should be depicted in all cases as sordid and unpleasant. Crime and criminals must never be glamorized. All stories must be written and depicted from the angle of the law ─ never the reverse. Justice must triumph in every case.
              In general, the policy of Superman DC Publications is to provide interesting, dramatic, and reasonably exciting entertainment without having recourse to such artificial devices as the use of exaggerated physical manifestations of sex, sexual situations, or situations in which violence is emphasized sadistically. Good people should be good, and bad people bad, without middle ground shading. Good people need not be "stuffy" to be good, but bad people should not be excused. Heroes should act within the law, and for the law."
www.thecomicbooks.com/dybwad.h…

[Note with the success of Jerry Siegel's Superman comics and Bud Collyer's Superman voice on radio and the Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons and George Reeves' Superman on television, DC were capitalizing on Superman by calling themselves "Superman DC" at the time in the '40s and '50s, [while the DC stood for Detective Comics] but they were officially called "National Allied Publications, Inc." [in 1935-1936 by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson], "Detective Comics, Inc. - DC Publications" [in 1937-1945 by Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld], also "All-American Publications" [in 1939-1944 by Max Gaines], "National Comics Publications, Inc. - Superman DC Publications" [in 1946-1960 by Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld] and "National Periodical Publications" [in 1961-1976 by Jack Liebowitz, Irwin Donenfeld, Carmine Infantino and Sol Harrison] before settling on just "DC Comics" [in 1977-2009 by Jenette Kahn, Sol Harrison and Paul Levitz] and then "DC Entertainment, Inc." [2009-currently, Warner Bros. trying to capitalize on Disney/Marvel Entertainment's success by rebranding DC as DC Entertainment and rebooting DC's classic superheroes to throw together a new trendy DC movie universe and TV universe in competition with Disney/Marvel Entertainment, by Jeff Robinov, Diane Nelson, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns, which is soullessly corporate driven and joylessly forced solely for profit, not organically driven like Marvel's with love, care, warmth and some authenticity to all the classic Marvel superheroes].

The DC Editorial Advisory Board was replaced by the Comics Code Authority rules in 1954 which original rules were enforced on Batman comics under Batman editors Jack Schiff and Julius Schwartz - 1954-1970: "Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure. Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable. All characters shall be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society. Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities (no large breasts, no large buttocks). Divorce shall not be treated humorously nor represented as desirable. Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at or portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable. Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested. Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals. No comics shall explicitly present the unique details and methods of a crime. Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority. In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds. Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated. No unique or unusual methods of concealing weapons shall be shown. Instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal's activities should be discouraged. The crime of kidnapping shall never be portrayed in any detail, nor shall any profit accrue to the abductor or kidnapper. The criminal or the kidnapper must be punished in every case. The letter of the word "crime" on a comics magazine shall never be appreciably greater than the other words contained in the title. The word "crime" shall never appear alone on a cover. Restraint in the use of the word "crime" in titles or sub-titles shall be exercised. No comics magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title. All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted. All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated. Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly nor as to injure the sensibilities of the reader. Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism are prohibited."
cbldf.org/the-comics-code-of-1…

Writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams persuaded DC to get the Comics Code changed in 1971 allowing more creative freedom in comics again so drug addition could be shown, Batman could be a vigilante outlaw, corruption of the law could exist, some blood could be shown, the villains could kill, some characters could die, vampiresm, werewolfism, etc. could be shown, so they redarked Batman comics as much as they could in the '70s under Comics Code restrictions.
About Batman #251 (1973) "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!" reprinted in Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams volume 3 (2005), Denny O'Neil said, "I wondered if the Comics Code would let us get away with that many murders in a story, but again, you could never predict the Comics Code, but we didn't hear a peep from them. I was never satisfied with the work I did for Joker. Given the Comics Code there was just no way to make it work. He had to be like Hannibal Lecter in order to be consistent and logical and be the Joker, and he couldn't be that back then. Now with the freedom comics guys have they could probably make it work."
www.wtv-zone.com/silverager/in…

Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns redarkened Batman comics much further free from any Editorial Advisory Board and the Comics Code restrictions. Frank Miller said in 1986, "Comics need to get more of an adult readership. They've been stuck in kiddieland for a long time. Those old characters are real American myths, even though they were allowed to fall into disrepair. When they were created in the 1930s, Batman was a very frightening figure, and Superman was a symbol of the common man rising over the Depression. But they lost much of that power, because they've been published every month for 50 years, usually with interchangeable writers and artists. Comics had agreed to be Saturday-morning kid stuff and it's only recently that there's been a revolt against that."
articles.latimes.com/1986-03-1…
Frank Miller said, "I felt that superhero comics had really been held back by a misperception that they were just for kids. The comic book world had become so utterly pleasant and safe that the idea of somebody dressing up in tights and fighting crime just seemed beside the point. Batman's got this gorgeous streak of malice running through him that makes him a really exciting character [again]. He's a bad-ass. That's his appeal. He's not a role model. He's not there to tell us all how to behave. He's a scary fantasy."
www.amc.com/talk/2007/06/the-e…

Description
This a collage taking a look at the history of Batman's controversial gun use, part 4, the 1972-1983 comics written by Bob Haney, David V. Reed, Denny O'Neil and Alan Brennert, art by Jim Aparo, John Calnan, Tex Blaisdell, Marshall Rogers and Joe Staton. This is also proof that the claim that Batman's never used guns in the comics is total crap. The original Batman had no "no-gun rule, no-kill rule." He didn't have any rules. He was a mysterious vigilante, based on the gun-totting Shadow and lethal Zorro. The Michael Keaton type Batman. Far from the Adam West persona of Batman.

In Batman (1989) script writer Sam Hamm's interview in the 1989 Comics Interview Super-Special on Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm says, "I was at the World Science Fiction Convention and they were showing slides of Batman's various weapons and gadgets, and the Batwing -- our version of the Batplane -- came up on the screen, Jeff Walker, the Warner Brothers publicist, mentioned that it was outfitted with rocket launchers, machine guns, etc., etc., so somebody jumped up in the back of the room and said, 'Do you mean Batman is going to be using a gun!?' As if to say, 'Uh-oh, the canon has been violated.' The thing I said to the guy was if you want to go back to the roots of the character, back to when he was created, he did carry a gun. In the early comics there are scenes where he's pulling out the old .38 automatic and popping guys."
stevenely.deviantart.com/art/S…

It was editorial censorship by Whitney Ellsworth that forced a "no-gun rule, no-kill rule" upon the creators of Batman in 1941 with the creation of an editorial advisory board code of conduct that all DC writers and artists were suppose to follow. But, as we see, Batman's gun use still continued, just less frequently and edited to nonlethal means in most cases. Realistically, Batman wouldn't be able to avoid using guns in his war on crime. But Batman certainly never was a trigger happy gun nut. Batman gunned down criminals only as a last resort. Batman certainly wouldn't want machine guns, AR-15s and bump stocks in the hands of temperament trigger happy citizens that could potentially go on a shooting rampage targeting innocent people, which are becoming more and more common.

These are scans from times Batman used guns in the Bronze Age '70s-early '80s comics. Batman is shooting a rifle in The Brave and the Bold #104 (1972) "Second Chance for a Deadman", written by Bob Haney and art by Jim Aparo. Reprinted in Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo vol. 1 (2012).

Batman is shown firing a rifle loaded with a tear gas canister in The Brave and the Bold #112 (1974) "The Impossible Escape" written by Bob Haney and art by Jim Aparo. Reprinted in Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo vol. 1 (2012).

Batman is shown holding and aiming a gun on the page-one introductory - known as the "splash panel" - in Batman #301 (1978) "The Only Man Batman Ever Killed" written by David V. Reed, art by John Calnan and Tex Blaisdell. This issue has never been reprinted in America.

Batman is shown holding a smoking gun on the page-one introductory - known as the "splash panel" - in Batman #302 (1978) "The Attack of the Wire-Head Killers" written by David V. Reed and art by John Calnan. This issue has never been reprinted in America.

Batman is shown holding a captured patsies pistol [which Batman soon finds out is loaded with blanks] in Detective Comics #481 (1978) "Ticket to Tragedy" written by Denny O'Neil and art by Marshall Rogers. Reprinted in Batman in the Seventies (1999).

Batman is shown firing his automatic pistol in a flashback remembrance scene in The Brave and the Bold #197 (1983) "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne" written by Alan Brennert and art by Joe Staton. Reprinted in Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert (2016).

An Editorial Advisory Board was created by DC comics editorial director Whitney Ellsworth as early as October, 1941 that tried to turn Batman comics into the Adam West type Batman.
As former Timely/Atlas/Marvel editor Stan Lee said in the documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked (2003) about National/DC/All-American's classic characters and Timely/Atlas/Marvel's classic characters, "The publishers began to feel that they were in charge of these characters. The characters became cooperate characters controlled more by the cooperation."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygx_rU…
It's explained in Bob Kane's autobiography Batman & Me (1990): "I never had complete control over the Batman [comic book] strip, and the editors placed increasing limitations on what Bill [Finger] and I could do. In the first year, Batman had been a grim vigilante who operated outside of the law. In several early issues of Detective [Comics] he even carried a gun. We had our first brush with censorship over Batman's use of a gun in BATMAN #1. In one story in that issue he had a machine gun mounted on his Batplane and used it. We didn't think anything was wrong with Batman carrying guns because the Shadow used guns. Bill Finger was called on to the carpet by Whitney Ellsworth. He said 'Never let Batman carry a gun again!' The editors thought that making Batman a 'murderer' would taint his character, and mothers would object. The new editorial policy was to get away from Batman's vigilantism and bring him over to the side of the law. So he was remade as an honorary member of the police. The whole moral climate changed in the 1940-1941 period. You couldn't kill or shot villains anymore. DC prepared it's own comics code which every artist and writer had to follow. He wasn't the Dark Knight anymore with all the censorship."

In Cinefex #41 (1989) Tim Burton explained, "I had looked at the Batman encyclopedia [The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes: Batman (1976) by Michael Fleisher about the Golden Age '39 and '40s era Batman comics and the Silver Age '50s and '60s era Batman comics] and found that the mythology contradicts itself - it changes it's own history and has gone through many alterations over the years. So early on, I realized that even if I wanted to be true to the 'real' Batman, there could be substantial argument as to what that really was. We were drawing from the original [Golden Age era Bill Finger and Bob Kane 1939-1940] DC comics strip for inspiration - there was bound to be a certain '40s feeling to it."
www.1989batman.com/2012/03/vin…
This is from the transcript of the 1954 Senate hearings showing the Editorial Board rules that every writer and artist had to follow at DC from 1941 to 1954, enforced by editors Whitney Ellsworth and Jack Schiff ...
EDITORIAL POLICY FOR SUPERMAN DC PUBLICATIONS (1941-1954):
"1. Sex. ─ The inclusion of females in stories is specifically discouraged. Women, when used in plot structure, should be secondary in importance, and should be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of feminine physical qualities.
              2. Language. ─ Expessions having reference to the Deity are forbidden. Heroes and other "good” persons must use basically good English, through some slang and other colloquialism may be judiciously employed. Poor grammar is used only by crooks and villains ─ and not always by them.
              3. Bloodshed. ─ Characters ─ even villains ─ should never be shown bleeding. No character should be shown being stabbed or shot or otherwise assaulted so that the sanguinary result is visible. Acts of mayhem are specifically forbidden. The picturization of dead bodies is forbidden.
              4. Torture. ─ The use of chains, whips, or other such devices is forbidden. Anything having a sexual or sadistic implication is forbidden.
              5. Kidnaping. ─ The kidnaping of children is specifically forbidden. The kidnaping of women is discouraged, and must never have any sexual implication.
              6. Killing. ─ Heroes should never kill a villain, regardless of the depth of the villainy. The villain, If he is to die, should do so as the result of his own evil machinations. A specific exception may be made in the case of duly constituted officers of the law. The use of lethal weapons by women ─ even villainous women ─ is discouraged.
              7. Crime. ─ Crime should be depicted in all cases as sordid and unpleasant. Crime and criminals must never be glamorized. All stories must be written and depicted from the angle of the law ─ never the reverse. Justice must triumph in every case.
              In general, the policy of Superman DC Publications is to provide interesting, dramatic, and reasonably exciting entertainment without having recourse to such artificial devices as the use of exaggerated physical manifestations of sex, sexual situations, or situations in which violence is emphasized sadistically. Good people should be good, and bad people bad, without middle ground shading. Good people need not be "stuffy" to be good, but bad people should not be excused. Heroes should act within the law, and for the law."
www.thecomicbooks.com/dybwad.h…

[Note with the success of Jerry Siegel's Superman comics and Bud Collyer's Superman voice on radio and the Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons and George Reeves' Superman on television, DC were capitalizing on Superman by calling themselves "Superman DC" at the time in the '40s and '50s, [while the DC stood for Detective Comics] but they were officially called "National Allied Publications, Inc." [in 1935-1936 by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson], "Detective Comics, Inc. - DC Publications" [in 1937-1945 by Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld], also "All-American Publications" [in 1939-1944 by Max Gaines], "National Comics Publications, Inc. - Superman DC Publications" [in 1946-1960 by Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld] and "National Periodical Publications" [in 1961-1976 by Jack Liebowitz, Irwin Donenfeld, Carmine Infantino and Sol Harrison] before settling on just "DC Comics" [in 1977-2009 by Jenette Kahn, Sol Harrison and Paul Levitz] and then "DC Entertainment, Inc." [2009-currently, Warner Bros. trying to capitalize on Disney/Marvel Entertainment's success by rebranding DC as DC Entertainment and rebooting DC's classic superheroes to throw together a new trendy DC movie universe and TV universe in competition with Disney/Marvel Entertainment, by Jeff Robinov, Diane Nelson, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns, which is soullessly corporate driven and joylessly forced solely for profit, not organically driven like Marvel's with love, care, warmth and some authenticity to all the classic Marvel superheroes].

The DC Editorial Advisory Board was replaced by the Comics Code Authority rules in 1954 which original rules were enforced on Batman comics under Batman editors Jack Schiff and Julius Schwartz - 1954-1970: "Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure. Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable. All characters shall be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society. Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities (no large breasts, no large buttocks). Divorce shall not be treated humorously nor represented as desirable. Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at or portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable. Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested. Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals. No comics shall explicitly present the unique details and methods of a crime. Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority. In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds. Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated. No unique or unusual methods of concealing weapons shall be shown. Instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal's activities should be discouraged. The crime of kidnapping shall never be portrayed in any detail, nor shall any profit accrue to the abductor or kidnapper. The criminal or the kidnapper must be punished in every case. The letter of the word "crime" on a comics magazine shall never be appreciably greater than the other words contained in the title. The word "crime" shall never appear alone on a cover. Restraint in the use of the word "crime" in titles or sub-titles shall be exercised. No comics magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title. All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted. All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated. Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly nor as to injure the sensibilities of the reader. Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism are prohibited."
cbldf.org/the-comics-code-of-1…

Writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams persuaded DC to get the Comics Code changed in 1971 allowing more creative freedom in comics again so drug addition could be shown, Batman could be a vigilante outlaw, corruption of the law could exist, some blood could be shown, the villains could kill, some characters could die, vampiresm, werewolfism, etc. could be shown, so they redarked Batman comics as much as they could in the '70s under Comics Code restrictions.
About Batman #251 (1973) "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!" reprinted in Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams volume 3 (2005), Denny O'Neil said, "I wondered if the Comics Code would let us get away with that many murders in a story, but again, you could never predict the Comics Code, but we didn't hear a peep from them. I was never satisfied with the work I did for Joker. Given the Comics Code there was just no way to make it work. He had to be like Hannibal Lecter in order to be consistent and logical and be the Joker, and he couldn't be that back then. Now with the freedom comics guys have they could probably make it work."
www.wtv-zone.com/silverager/in…

Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns redarkened Batman comics much further free from any Editorial Advisory Board and the Comics Code restrictions. Frank Miller said in 1986, "Comics need to get more of an adult readership. They've been stuck in kiddieland for a long time. Those old characters are real American myths, even though they were allowed to fall into disrepair. When they were created in the 1930s, Batman was a very frightening figure, and Superman was a symbol of the common man rising over the Depression. But they lost much of that power, because they've been published every month for 50 years, usually with interchangeable writers and artists. Comics had agreed to be Saturday-morning kid stuff and it's only recently that there's been a revolt against that."
articles.latimes.com/1986-03-1…
Frank Miller said, "I felt that superhero comics had really been held back by a misperception that they were just for kids. The comic book world had become so utterly pleasant and safe that the idea of somebody dressing up in tights and fighting crime just seemed beside the point. Batman's got this gorgeous streak of malice running through him that makes him a really exciting character [again]. He's a bad-ass. That's his appeal. He's not a role model. He's not there to tell us all how to behave. He's a scary fantasy."
www.amc.com/talk/2007/06/the-e…