On January 24th, the editorial board of the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s student newspaper, The Badger Herald, decided not to run artist Vincent Cheng’s “Ya Boi, Inc.” comic strip for that day. Cheng’s strip (shown above)…
Banned Egyptian Graphic Novel Back on Cairo Shelves
The banning of cartoons and graphic novels by the foreign regimes they criticize is an all-too-common story. So, it is always a welcome change to report a formerly banned work’s re-release. A once-banned graphic novel that criticized Hosni Mubarak’s government…
Senator Claims Video Games Are “Bigger Problem” Than Guns
The Senate Judiciary Committee began holding hearings regarding gun violence on Wednesday. During a day of heated and frequently preposterous commentary, the most ridiculous statement came from Senator Lamar Alexander (R-KY), who told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that violent video games…
NCAC Defends Video Games in Massachusetts
In the wake of the Newtown shootings and after receiving a complaint from one set of parents, the state of Massachusetts removed arcade games that use light-guns from state-managed rest stops along the Massachusetts Turnpike. In response, the National Coalition…
NCAC Film Contest Lets Kids Fight Censorship
Each year, the National Coalition Against Censorship — a frequent CBLDF partner and organizers of the CBLDF-sponsored Kids’ Right to Read Project — produces the Youth Free Expression Project Film Contest. We recently came across the website for the 2012…
Controversial Artwork Back on Display in Newark Library
A controversial charcoal drawing that was covered up for more than a month is back on display in the Newark, New Jersey, public library. Kara Walker’s work “The Moral Arc of History Ideally Bends Towards Justice But Just As Soon…
Light-gun Games Too Dangerous for Massachusetts Rest Stops
After the parents of a 12-year-old boy complained, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation decided to remove arcade games that utilize light guns from state-run rest stops. Parents Andrew and Tracy Hyams spoke with The Boston Globe about their objection to…
Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena
The comic books of the Golden Age represented little more than escapism for millions of readers. And no one provided escape better than Sheena Queen of the Jungle, whose exotic adventures and good girl art titillated male readers and spawned an…
Suspended Student Poet Allowed Back to School
We have a quick update on Courtni Webb, the San Francisco high school student who was suspended from school last month after a teacher found a poem that mentioned the Newtown shootings in her private notebook. According to a blog…
Be A Valentine’s Hero! Give A Personalized Gift Benefiting CBLDF!
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This Valentines Day, surprise your sweetie with a signed or personalized gift that protects the freedom to read! From now until February 4th, the CBLDF is offering our donors the opportunity to receive graphic novels personalized by Brian K. Vaughan, Craig Thompson, Brian Wood, Cliff Chiang, Terry Moore, Jeffrey Brown, and Paul Pope!
California Student Suspended for Newtown Poem
Remember the 16-year-old from New Jersey who was arrested last month after a teacher reported his notebook doodles of “what appeared to be weapons?” Now the same sort of hypervigilance on the part of school officials has caused another teen…
KOTAKU Takes a Look at 25 Years of Research on Violent Video Games
After the violence in Newtown — and really, any violent mass shooting these days — it didn’t take long before pundits were blaming violent video games for the violence. As happened with comic books in the 1950s, video games have…
How You Can Report a Library Challenge to ALA
Like CBLDF, the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom is a resource that librarians can call upon for help when facing a book challenge. The OIF maintains a confidential database of information about library challenges, which helps them identify…
Pennypacker & The Pussycat: Political Cartoon Censorship in 1903 Pennsylvania
A recent snippet in Comic Book Resources’ column “Comic Book Legends Revealed” brought to our attention a 1903 tale of attempted cartoon censorship and political intrigue in Pennsylvania. We’ve found some more background info in an article by Steven Piott…
President Recommends Yet More Research on Video Games, Violence
Yesterday, President Obama issued his list of recommendations for Congress and executive actions he plans to take in order to address gun violence in the United States. As anticipated, video games received only a minor mention in the 13-page document,…