The Rating Game

Marvel rolled out its third comic book rating system, revising their in-house standards. The previous system was based heavily on the particular imprint a comic was published under, i.e., MAX being more risque than Marvel Knights, which was in turn able to get away with more than the Ultimate books. Courtesy of Newsarama is the following breakdown:

ALL AGES - Appropriate for readers of all ages.
T+ SUGGESTED FOR TEEN AND UP -13+ years old Appropriate for most readers, parents are advised they may want to read before or with younger children.
PARENTAL ADVISORY - 15+ years old Similar to T+ Suggested for Teen and Up, but featuring more mature themes and/or more graphic imagery. Recommended for teen and adult readers.
MAX: EXPLICIT CONTENT - 18+ years old

These new classifications bring up a host of issues. Chief among them is the nature of the various imprints at Marvel. Marvel Knights, upon being launched, was basically presented as the "street level" characters, with the key players being low or no power vigilantes like Daredevil, Punisher and Ghost Rider, all being done featuring a bit more violence, a bit coarser language and darker tones. But since then, it's been home to Wolverine, Spider-Man, the Hulk and even the Fantastic Four. Exactly what purpose does the imprint system serve now? If it doesn't function to rate the books and there's no science to what stories can be told there, why not just be done with it?

Also questionable is how closely related books will be rated. The Ultimate books have traditionally been a tight-knit group, but the subject matter and dialogue in Ultimates (Hulk planning to rape Freddie Prinze Jr. comes readily to mind...) is a far cry from the relatively tame tales in Ultimate Spider-Man.

Perhaps Marvel could've saved itself time and effort and just kept submitting issues to the Comics Code Authority.