When comics fan Patricia Donahue ordered 11 issues of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s The Boys, she didn’t expect to be denied the books by Qatar’s Ministry of Culture. However, that’s exactly what happened according to a letter she wrote…
Category: Features
A History of Censorship, NYCC Edition — CBLDF Defends Manga
Manga is changing the world, with an expanding culture of fandom across the globe. While growing in popularity, the medium is also one of the most misunderstood, leading to criminal prosecutions in the United States, Canada, Japan, and elsewhere. On…
“Seduction of the Innocent” Exhibit Opening Benefits CBLDF
If you live near the Las Vegas area, join Alternate Reality Comics this Friday for an exhibit opening in support of CBLDF’s First Amendment work! The “Seduction of the Innocent” exhibit features images and materials from the height of comics…
Seattle Area Resident Shocked at Yaoi Manga, Asks Library to Revise Circulation Policy
Here’s a PSA on behalf of public librarians everywhere: If you would not drop your children off at a full-service bookstore with a credit card and tell them to go wild, then you should not send them into the library…
Sherman Alexie: Censorship of Any Form Punishes Curiosity
According to critically-acclaimed author Sherman Alexie, “Book banners want to control what every child reads,” and that “censorship of any form punishes curiosity.” In an interview with Ed Winstead of Guernica Magazine, Alexie discusses being the author of banned books…
NCAC Interviews SIDESCROLLERS Creator Matt Loux
The National Coalition Against Censorship’s blog has a new interview with Matt Loux, whose graphic novel SideScrollers was recently removed from an Enfield, Connecticut, high school’s summer reading list after one resident complained of profanity and sexual references. CBLDF and…
Otaku: Japan’s Favorite Scapegoat — and Tourist Draw
Japan has long had a checkered relationship with its subculture of otaku, a word whose nuances cannot easily be translated to English but which more or less means “geeks whose hobbies border on the fanatic” (Ito). More often than not,…
Nudity a Frequent Target for Book Challenges
A frequent cause for the contention when it comes to comic books and graphic novels has been the age-old, yet incorrect, idea that all comics are for children. In this light, it is not hard to discern why books featuring…
Robie Harris Speaks Up On A Career’s Worth Of Challenges
Robie Harris knows more than most people about book banning. Her children’s books on sexual health and family life are perennial standards on challenged and banned lists across the country, accused of being everything from age-inappropriate to “obvious child pornography.”…
Honest Teen Life Stories Among Frequently Banned & Challenged
Nothing gets a parent quite so anxious as their child’s teen years. Burgeoning adulthood comes with sexual awakening and an introduction to smoking, drinking, and any number of other vices. For many parents it can seem easier to limit a…