This week Henry and Colin are joined by writer and comics critic Jeet Heer and Jeff Trexler, Interim Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, to discuss the broader context for the censorship of graphic novels in schools. Jumping off from the recent censorship of Art Spiegelman’s Maus by a TN school board, we review the long history and reasoning of censorship, policing, gatekeeping of comics – from early newspaper strips, to the first magazine books sold to kids in drug stores, the Senate investigation and self-censorship code of the 50s, and on to the Underground comics movement for adults and the independent comics of the 80s. Recently, we’ve seen the same concerns arise anew as equal protection laws have brought things that were once considered private into the public sphere, and the pandemic brought the classroom and its educational use of graphic novels into the home. We point out the changes that have led teachers and librarians to “switch sides” in this argument and become proponents of comics as literature, and talk about the role comics can play in engaging readers of all ages, as well as helping to express the full diversity of American culture. We end with some thoughts about how individuals can respond to the challenges comics are once again coming under and support their role in this dialogue.
A full transcript of this episode will be available soon!
Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:
Jeet Heer, columns in The Nation, The New Republic
books: Arguing Comics, A Comic Studies Reader, The Superhero Reader, In Love with Art
Jeff Trexler, Interim Director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
McMinn, TN Education board censorship of Maus; Jeet’s writing immediately after
Leander, TX school district banning of graphic novel versions of The Handmaid’s Tale & The Lottery
Early newspaper comics: Katzenjammer Kids, Mutt & Jeff
Comics for older youth:
Duck Comics, Carl Barks
Crime Does Not Pay, Charles Biro
EC Horror comics, William Gaines
For more about the history of horror comics, see Episode 74: Horror, Social Change, and
Experimentation with Michael Monello and Qiana Whitted
Frederic Wertham and Moral Panic around Horror and Crime Comics
Frederick Wertham speech
The Comics Code
Underground Comics and the origins of the CBLDF:
Friendly Franks comics shop
Dennis Kitchen, comics publisher
Zap Comix, Robert Crumb
Raw, Art Spiegelman & Françoise Mouly
Film, Comic Book Confidential
Independent comics of the 80s aimed at adults:
Watchmen
The Dark Knight
The new wave of graphic novels aimed at youth again:
Bone, Jeff Smith
TOON Books, Françoise Mouly
Manga
Books By Raina Telgemeier
Other critically-acclaimed yet controversial graphic novels:
Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
Early proponent of comics for children Josette Frank
And today: Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table of the American Library Association
Henry’s book Comics and Stuff
Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].
Music:
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
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In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet
https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X
https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream:
https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream:
https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library
https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
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