Author: Caitlin McCabe

New Bill Stops Promotes Free Press in New Jersey Schools

New Jersey is considering a bill that will not only allow student journalists the right to exercise editorial control over content in school publications, but halt censorship from officials who might deem certain materials to be too controversial. The bill, which…

Chinese Cartoonist Speaks Out About Censorship

For over a year, Chinese cartoonist Wang Liming (best known as Rebel Pepper) has been living in exile in Japan after landing in hot water with the Chinese government for his subversive and highly controversial cartoons. In a recent interview…

Ann Telnaes and How Social Media Changed Editorial Cartooning

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes is no stranger to the violent and sometimes highly personal backlash and criticism her works incite. In a recent editorial piece for the Columbia Journal Review, Telnaes discusses how social media has become a tool…

Cartoonist Rehired After 2-Month Free Speech Battle

Editorial cartoonist Rick Friday has been rehired by the Iowa-based newspaper Farm News, the newspaper that fired him two months ago for tackling corporate greed in the farming industry. Friday, who had a 21-year long stint with the newspaper, was…

How Smile Transformed the Comics Industry

Seemingly overnight, semi-autobiographical graphic novels for children have become a hit genre, dominating New York Times bestseller lists, winning industry awards, and garnering significant praise and accolades. Leading the way is Raina Telgemeier, whose fun, incredibly relatable, and heartfelt graphic novels…

Two Graphic Novels on Toronto Public Library’s Annual Challenged Books Report

Toronto Public Library recently released their yearly Reconsideration of Materials Summary, recapping the books and movies challenged in one of Canada’s largest library systems, and two graphic novels were among the books challenged. Similar to the American Library Association’s yearly…

How the Comics Code Laid the Foundation for LGBTQ Comix

Along with giving rise to some of the industry’s greatest creators and laying the foundation for what has become the independent comics scene today, the undergrounds also fostered the development of the queer comix movement — a wholly new and unique space where LGBTQ youth could, for once, express themselves and speak out freely about social issues directly impacting the LGBTQ community.

The Humble History of The Adventures of Big Boy

That hamburger-holding, chubby-cheeked cherub Bob’s Big Boy isn’t just a classic icon of the 1930s, selling burgers and seasonings across the United States. He is also the star of one of the longest running and most widely distributed comic book…

VA Parent Leads Summer Reading Censorship Campaign

The school year may be winding down for students across the United States, but upset parents in Chesterfield County, Virginia, have been hard at work the past few months in a successful campaign to have titles they call “pornographic,” “vile,”…