During Banned Books Week, we bring attention to banned and challenged books in libraries and schools. This is a time to celebrate the freedom to read and the value of free and open access to information and stories by showcasing books that have been banned for multiple reasons. This year, I wanted to bring attention to banned comics.
What is interesting about the rise in comics being banned is that this is a modern trend. Sure, in the 1950s, comics became censored by the creation of the Comics Code Authority, but for the most part, comics were seen as childish and unimportant. However, since the 1980s, many writers and artists began to evolve the comic into more than just pulp fiction, superheroes and science fiction and used the medium to tell stories about real issues.
To best see the overall picture of how much comics have changed over the last few decades, take a look at the American Library Association’s banned book lists from 2000-2009. There were zero comics in the top 100 most challenged titles. Compare that to the 2010-2019 lists where you can see comics as high as the number two spot with Captain Underpants. Here is my list of the must-read comics banned in different parts of the world but whose stories and images are important and should be read by all who enjoy comics and graphic novels.
Barefoot Gen by Keji Nakazawa
Key Challenge: Japan
Reason: Violence, Discrimination
Barefoot Gen depicts the atrocities of the war. The story is closely based on Nakazawa’s own experience during and after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima where his father, two sisters and brother were killed by the bomb when he was 7 years old. It also talks about the Japanese army’s atrocities in other Asian countries, like the Rape of Nanking, which got the books challenged in Japan.
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Blankets by Craig Thompson
Key Challenge: Marshall, Missouri Public library, 2006
Reason: Obscene images
Blankets is a semiautobiographical story of the author’s upbringing in a religious family. It talks about his first love and his struggle with his relationship with God and his views of religion.
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Bone by Jeff Smith
Key Challenge: Rosemount, Minnesota
Reason: Smoking, Drinking
A group of outcasts must leave their village of Boneville and become lost in a land of humans where they find their courage and heroism as they face monsters, dragons and other magical misadventures. Bone is one of the most challenged books in American schools.
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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Key Challenge: Chicago Public Schools
Reason: Graphic images, Inappropriate language
Persepolis is an autobiographical novel about the author’s life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
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Maus by Art Spiegelman
Key Challenge: Pasadena Public Library, California
Reason: Not suitable for children
The story is inspired by Art Spiegelman’s father and his story of how he survived as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust.
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Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Key Challenge: Wake County, North Carolina
Reason: Not suitable for children, Graphic images
Gender Queer was the most challenged book in 2021. It is the author’s tale about how they learned to understand eirself in a binary world. Kobabe said the reason they wrote the book was to “help other nonbinary kids who are struggling to understand themselves and the world around them so they can have something to relate to and not feel so alone.”
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Other banned comics to check out:
- The Breakaways by Cathy G. Johnson
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- Sandman by Neil Gaiman
- Flamer by Mike Curato
- I am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina
- This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
- The Color of Earth by Dong Hwa Kim
- Watchmen by Alan Moore