Re: Mod hat
Marvel did not have the same deep relationship to the governance of the Code as DC, or Goldwater Publications(Archie), had. Didn't get to write some of the rules, for instance, including banning words that eliminated many competitor's titles. (As an analogy, suppose DC could have banned the words "mutant" or the letter "X" from being on a cover in 1980. That's kind of what happened to EC) And even more importantly, DC owned the main distribution apparatus, thus able to limit the number of titles Marvel and others could put out, which is the reason so many characters had to share books with others.
Marvel was therefore forever testing the edges of those rules to weaken them, particularly once DC no longer could limit their titles. Point is, when you're talking about DC and the Code(or Archie and the Code), you're not at all talking the same power relationship.