Last week Russian Ministry of Culture officials revoked the distribution license for Armando Iannucci’s satire, The Death of Stalin, based on the Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin’s graphic novel of the same name. When the Pioneer cinema in Moscow proceeded…
Author: Patricia Mastricolo
Beetle Bailey Cartoonist Mort Walker Dies at 94
Mort Walker, a prolific comic strip artist, advocate for comic history preservation, and the creator of world famous Beetle Bailey, passed away Saturday, January 28, 2018, from pneumonia at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. Walker lived to be 94 years…
District Policy Ignored in YA Book Ban
The principal at Fort King Middle School in Ocala, Florida may have pulled YA novel The Facts Speak for Themselves by Brock Cole from the library without following the official district book challenge policy. The initial report from Spectrum News…
Thai Political Cartoon Goes Mysteriously Dark
Thai political cartoon, Khai Meaw, disappeared from Facebook on January 18, 2018, without attribution or explanation. The popular cartoon never employed speech or thought bubbles but was clearly critical of the military junta. The Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand claimed…
Mom Says The Glass Castle is Too Far for Freshmen
Mary Jo Little thinks that The Glass Castle is inappropriate reading for ninth graders at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina.“There’s rape. There’s assault. There’s drunk driving. It’s just not appropriate in this age group,” Little told Channel 9. The Glass…
Parent Challenges Harper Lee Classic in Classroom
To Kill A Mockingbird is under fire again, this time in Wisconsin. Tumjama Kameeta, submitted a request to the Monona Grove School District in Wisconsin, asking administrators to remove To Kill a Mockingbird from the school curriculum, citing, among many…
Last Week for Guantanamo Art
This week could be your last chance to ever see the art exhibit from Guantanamo Bay detainees, it closes Friday, January 26th. Since the November shift in policy from the U.S. military, art made by inmates is no longer allowed…
Can Comics Make You Clever?
Can reading comics make you smarter? Author, Artist, and MacArthur ‘genius‘ Gene Luen Yang knows they can, and he’s just done a new video for BigThink.com to talk about it. From Yang’s experience as an educator, he saw the benefits of kids…
Can You Help Protect the First Amendment?
Cuomo Ditches Flawed Prison Directive
On January 12th, 2018, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted he would rescind directive 4911A, which greatly restricted inmates access to books as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. The directive was a pilot program designed to roll out…
