31 Challenged and Banned Comics for Banned Books Week

It’s Banned Books Week, and what better way to celebrate our right to read than by reading challenged and banned comics?! Whether you’re reading for fun or for the Virtual Read Out, here are just a few titles to add to your read pile…

Check out the CBLDF Banned Books Week Handbook and other CBLDF resources for Banned Books Week here.

1. Amazing Spider-Man: Revelations by J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita, Jr., and Scott Hanna

• Location of key challenge: A middle-school library in Millard, Nebraska
• Reason challenged: Sexual overtones

The parent of a 6-year-old who checked out the book filed a complaint and took the story to the media; the parent also withheld the book for the duration of the review process rather than returning it per library policy. More…

2. Amityville: Jr. Graphic Ghost Stories by John Perritano

Amityville

• Location of key challenge: Knightdale, North Carolina
• Reason challenged: Inappropriate for age group

CBLDF joined Kids’ Right to Read Project to protest the removal of Amityville: Jr. Graphic Ghost Stories from the Lake Myra Elementary School library in Knightdale, North Carolina. Despite violating school policy, the book was pulled from the Wake County school library earlier this month after a parent complained to school officials about the book’s subject matter. More…

3. Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

hadashi_no_gen_1969

• Location of key challenge: Japan
• Reason challenged: Violence, discrimination

Keiji Nakazawa’s internationally renowned manga Barefoot Gen, which depicts wartime atrocities from the perspective of the seven-year-old protagonist, has fallen victim to several challenges in its home country of Japan. More…

4. Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

• Location of key challenge: Stark County District Library in Canton, Ohio
• Reason challenged: Sexism, offensive language, and unsuited to age group

Despite the challenge, the library retained the book and now holds two copies, which are shelved in the Teen section. More…

5. Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Boland

Killingjoke

• Location of key challenge: Columbus, Nebraska, Public Library
• Reason challenged: Advocates rape and violence

In May 2013, a patron of the public library in Columbus, Nebraska requested that the book be removed from the collection, claiming that it “advocates rape and violence.” More…

6. Blankets by Craig Thompson

• Location of key challenge: The public library in Marshall, Missouri
• Reason challenged: Obscene images

CBLDF wrote a letter to the Marshall library on behalf of Blankets and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, playing a key role in keeping both books on shelves. More…

7. Bone by Jeff Smith

• Location of key challenge: Independent School District 196 in Rosemount, Minnesota
• Reason challenged: Promotion of smoking and drinking

A letter from Jeff Smith decrying the attempted ban of his book was read aloud at the library review committee’s hearing, and the challenge was ultimately rejected by a 10-1 vote, to the praise of Smith and the CBLDF. More…

8. The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner

diary

• Location of key challenge: Undisclosed
• Reason challenged: Sexual content

Artist and comics creator Phoebe Gloeckner has never been afraid to show the raw and gritty bits of reality in her work. For that reason, Gloekner’s work is a frequent target of censors. In 2015, CBLDF was involved in a confidential challenge against the graphic novel over its sexual content, and our efforts kept the book on shelves. More…

9. Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama

• Location of key challenge: All public school libraries in Wicomico County, Maryland
• Reason challenged: Violence and nudity

The library review committee recommended that the books in the Dragon Ball series, which were recommended by the publisher for ages 13+, be removed from the entire public school library system, including at the high school level. More…

10. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

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• Location of key challenge: Texas (multiple schools)
• Reason challenged: Sexual content

Although most readers of all ages found Drama to be just as endearing and authentic as Telgemeier’s other books Smile and Sisters, a small but vocal minority have objected to the inclusion of two gay characters. More…

11. The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Nudity, sexual content, and unsuited to age group

When the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom released their list of the Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2011, the second-most challenged book on that list was The Color of Earth, the first book of a critically-acclaimed Korean manwha, or comic book, series. More…

12. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Obscene images

CBLDF wrote a letter to the Marshall library on behalf of Fun Home and Craig Thompson’s Blankets, playing a key role in keeping both books on shelves. In 2014, the book faced a greater challenge in South Carolina, where the state legislature debated punitive budget cuts against the College of Charleston because it incorporated Fun Home into a voluntary summer reading program for incoming freshman. More…

13. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell

Graveyard Book

• Location of key challenge: Undisclosed
• Reason challenged: Violent imagery

In February 2015, CBLDF was confidentially involved the defense of the graphic novel edition of The Graveyard Book, which was challenged in an undisclosed middle school library for violent imagery. More…

14. Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes

• Location of key challenge: A high school in Guilford, Connecticut
• Reason challenged: Profanity, course language, and brief non-sexual nudity

A high school teacher was forced to resign from his job after a parent filed both a complaint with the school and a police complaint against the teacher for lending a high school freshman a copy of Eightball #22, which was later published as the graphic novel Ice Haven. More…

15. In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Nudity

In the Night Kitchen was not often removed from shelves; instead, librarians censored it by painting underwear or diapers over the genitals of the main character, a precocious child named Mickey. More…

16. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill

• Location of key challenge: Jessamine County Public Library in Kentucky
• Reason challenged: Sex scenes

Two employees of the Jessamine County Public Library in Kentucky were fired after they took it upon themselves to withhold the library’s copy of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier from circulation because they felt it was pornographic. More…

17. Maus by Art Spiegelman

• Location of key challenge: Pasadena Public Library in Pasadena, California
• Reason challenged: Anti-ethnic and unsuited for age group

Nick Smith of the Pasadena Public Library describes the challenge as being “made by a Polish-American who is very proud of his heritage, and who had made other suggestions about adding books on Polish history… The thing is, Maus made him uncomfortable, so he didn’t want other people to read it. That is censorship, as opposed to parental guidance.” More…

18. Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows

• Location of key challenge: Greenville, South Carolina, public library
• Reason challenged: Sexual content

Despite giving her 14-year-old daughter permission to check out the book, which was appropriately shelved in the adult section of the library, a mother filed a complaint, claiming the book was “pornographic.” CBLDF wrote a letter in support of the book, but it remains out of circulation pending review. More…

19. Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez

Palomar

• Location of key challenge: Rio Rancho, New Mexico
• Reason challenged: Sexual content, child pornography

In early 2015, the critically acclaimed comic collection Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez was called “child porn” by the mother of a high school student in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. More…

20. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis1Cover

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Profanity, violent content

Furor erupted in 2013 when Chicago Public Schools sent an email to local principals, directing them to remove all copies of Marjane Satrapi’s award-winning graphic novel Persepolis. CPS backpedaled on the initial email, but the book was removed from Grade 7 classrooms and use in Grade 8 -10 classrooms now requires additional teacher training. Possibly as a result of publicity from the 2013 CPS ban, Persepolis faced three more school challenges in 2014, landing it the #2 spot on the American Library Association’s Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books for that year. More…

21. Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Sexual content

Despite receiving high praise from the ALA and Booklist and featuring a cast consisting of animals, the book has been challenged at libraries for sexual content. More…

22. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

sagavol1

• Location of Challenge: Apple iOS (2013), Oregon (2014)
• Reason challenged: Sexual content, anti-family, nudity, offensive language, and unsuited for age group.

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples sci-fi epic adventure, Saga, has not only become one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed comic series since its debut in March 2012, but it has also become one of the most controversial comics. More…

23. Sandman by Neil Gaiman and various artists

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Anti-family themes, offensive language, and unsuited for age group

When asked about how he felt when Sandman was labelled unsuitable for teens, Gaiman responded, “I suspect that having a reputation as adult material that’s unsuitable for teens will probably do more to get teens to read Sandman than having the books ready and waiting on the YA shelves would ever do.” More…

24. Big Hard Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky

big-hard-sex-criminals-vol-1-cover

• Location of key challenge: Undisclosed
• Reason challenged: Sexually explicit

Sex Criminals is acclaimed for its dissection of sexual taboo and frank (and frequently comedic) examination of sexuality. In 2016, it was among the top ten most challenged books because it was considered to be sexually explicit by library staff and administrators and banned at an undisclosed location. The series has run into issues before. In 2013, the second issue of the series was banned from comiXology’s iOS app due to Apple’s content policies. More…

25. SideScrollers by Matthew Loux

• Location of key challenge: Enfield, Connecticut, public school district
• Reason challenged: Profanity and sexual references

The school district removed the book from non-compulsory summer reading lists, possibly violating its own review policy, which states in part that “no parent nor group of parents has the right to negate the use of educational resources for students other than his/her own child.” CBLDF wrote a letter in support of the book and is still awaiting a response from the school board. More…

26. Stuck in the Middle, edited by Ariel Schrag

• Location of key challenge: Dixfield, Maine, public school system

• Reason challenged: Language, sexual content, and drug references

CBLDF wrote a letter in support of the book, and the school board voted to leave the book on library shelves with the caveat the students must have parental permission to check out the book. “While we’re pleased to see the book retained in the library’s collection, we’re very disappointed that it is retained with restrictions,” said Executive Director Charles Brownstein. More…

27. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse

• Location of key challenge: Montgomery County Memorial Library System, Texas
• Reason challenged: Depiction of homosexuality

The book was challenged alongside 15 other young adult books with gay positive themes. The book was ultimately retained in the Montgomery County system, but was reclassified from Young Adult to Adult. More…

28. Tank Girl by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett

• Location of key challenge: Hammond Public Library in Hammond, Indiana
• Reason challenged: Nudity and violence

The Tank Girl books are meant to entertain an adult audience, frequently depicting violence, flatulence, vomiting, sex, and drug use. After the 2009 challenge, the Hammond Public Library chose to retain the book, and it remains on shelves today. More…

29. This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

This One Summer

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Sexual content, unsuited to age group

Graphic novel This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki broke boundaries by becoming the first graphic novel to make the short list for the Caldecott Medal. Unfortunately, the Caldecott honor yielded an unforeseen negative outcome: Since the announcement of the Caldecott honor, CBLDF has been confidentially involved in monitoring challenges to This One Summer in various communities. More…

30. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

• Location of key challenge: Various
• Reason challenged: Unsuited to age group

Watchmen received a Hugo Award in 1988 and was instrumental in garnering more respect and shelf space for comics and graphic novels in libraries and mainstream bookstores. The inclusion of Watchmen in school library collections has been challenged by parents at least twice, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. More…

31. Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra

Y The Last Man

• Location of key challenge: Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, California
• Reason challenged: Sexual content

In June 2015, Y: The Last Man was one of four graphic novels that a 20-year-old college student and her parents said should be “eradicated from the system” at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, California. After completing an English course on graphic novels, Tara Shultz publicly raised objections to Persepolis, Fun Home, Y: The Last Man Vol. 1, and The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House as “pornography” and “garbage.” More…

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