"In the summer of 1941 DC instituted a formal code for all its comics perhaps a response to early comic critics. The company declared: "A deep respect for our obligation to the young people of America and their parents and our responsibility as parents ourselves combine to set out standards of wholesome entertainment." Henceforth, Superman, Batman, and DC' other heroes would never take a life. Focusing on the market of young readers and their parents, the company did not go deeply into the horror and crime comics that outsold superheroes in the late 1940s."