Comics, moral panic and cultural regulation in Italy: The anti-comics movement of the 1950s

This article examines Italy’s post-war anti-comics movement as a significant example of moral panic and cultural regulation. Adopting an interdisciplinary framework grounded in moral panic theory, media ecology and generational consciousness, the analysis reconstructs how comics came to be framed as threats to youth morality and social order between 1949 and 1962. Through historical discourse analysis of newspapers, parliamentary records and audio-visual materials, the article identifies moral entrepreneurs and media amplifiers who portrayed comics as deviant media forms. Focusing on key episodes – the Borgo Panigale murder case, the political responses from Christian Democrat and Communist Parties and publishers’ adoption of the Codice di Garanzia Morale – the study reveals comics as symbolic battlegrounds in Italy’s modernization process. Rather than passive targets of censorship, comics emerge as active agents within a broader conflict involving generational tensions, pedagogical anxieties and shifting cultural hierarchies, highlighting how media panics reflect deeper structural transformations within society.