Comments on: Teacher assigns "lewd" comic

By: Rob Rogers

Rob Rogers — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:36:53 +0000

According to an update of the article, the comic was Eightball, the kid is now referred to as being 13, and the teacher has resigned. I’m not very familiar with Eightball, so I’m not sure what how to gauge the reactions of the people quoted.

Here’s the URL for the updated article: http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=7100387

By: Kat Kan

Kat Kan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:53:10 +0000

Per Alexa’s comment: I’m a librarian, I’m describing the way Blankets is handled in almost every library whose librarian I know, and I know (or am acquainted with) plenty of them. Plus, Blankets has been discussed extensively on librarian listservs, so please give me credit for giving a consensus opinion held by many librarians across the country. It doesn’t matter that YOU as a freshman could have handled the book. So could I have, but that was almost 40 years ago for me. I’ve been promoting the inclusion of graphic novels in libraries for almost a quarter-century, and reviewing them for library media for more than 13 years. Believe me, I know a lot of high school librarians who wouldn’t even consider adding Blankets to their collections, precisely because they know they’ve got students and parents like this set who got the teacher in trouble.

By: Scott Bieser

Scott Bieser — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:05:57 +0000

It may be difficult to obtain more information about this case because it is a personnel matter (between the teacher and the school) and as such will have “privacy” walls around it that would not pertain to, say, a comics shop owner getting arrested for giving a mature-themes comic to a 9-year-old.

By: Alexa

Alexa — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:30:34 +0000

Still, I hope the CBLDF is keeping abreast of the story. Not that they need another case– think of all the perfume Neil would have to sell!

By: StevenRowe

StevenRowe — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:40:39 +0000

a “lewd” comic could be anything from an adult comic to a R rated Magna to most of today’s Marvel and DC comics to a swimsuit issue of Betty and Veronica.

By: Dennis Thomas

Dennis Thomas — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:00:52 +0000

Actually, I am amazed at how little actual information was conveyed in that article. I am also amazed at how little coverage this is receiving overall. I tried to find more information on this using a Google search and itcame up with this very article, the news channel article that is referenced and another one pointing to the Beat entry again.

I would have thought that a censorship case with a bit of a tawdry cast to it would have attracted a little more attention! :-)

By: Cary Coatney

Cary Coatney — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:20:00 +0000

That Heroes in Hire issue that came out last week with the bondage cover that everyone was whining about?

Coat

By: michael

michael — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:17:44 +0000

I too, really wanna see what comic it was before I make judgement.

But, seeing how these things go, usually the idiots who give underage kids comics without comsidering other peoples’ morals, end up giving them something that does have questionable content.

By: Todd Alcott

Todd Alcott — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:06:52 +0000

It was probably Maus, which a school board would consider “pornographic” for the same reason they consider Slaughterhouse-Five “pornographic” — there’s one page with a drawing of a woman’s breasts on it.

Of course, in Maus they’re a mouse’s breasts, and she’s lying atop a mountain of corpses, but these school-board types don’t split hairs in cases like these.

By: rich

rich — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:08:22 +0000

Interesting … even though it is a news “brief”, why don’t they mention the title of the comic?

By: Alexa

Alexa — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:10:40 +0000

The girl is a freshman in high school. Blankets is considered to be suitable for OLDER teens, like seniors, not freshmen.

Oh, fuck that. Parents like these would have raised a fuss if she had been 18, just as easily as when she’s 14. Besides, it was not too long ago that I was a freshman in high school, and I can tell you that I could have handled Blankets then.

Of course, this pretty much guarantees that every kid in the school will read it by next week.

By: Kat Kan

Kat Kan — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:56:25 +0000

The girl is a freshman in high school. Blankets is considered to be suitable for OLDER teens, like seniors, not freshmen. Considering how some high school librarians criticized Naruto for being “lewd” and pornographic (it’s sadly all too true – I was flamed for daring to recommend it to teens), it could be ANYTHING.

By: Alexa

Alexa — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:35:32 +0000

It’d be awesome if it was The Pro.

Or even better, wouldn’t it be great if it was the FCBD Alternative Comics that got that guy down in Georgia all that trouble, and the teacher assigned it as a lesson in censorship? That’s always fun.

By: Christopher Moonlight

Christopher Moonlight — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:19:56 +0000

“Maybe Lost Girls”

Pricey reading for a classroom. 10 to one it’s some kind of manga. We’re in trouble anyway.
“Brakin the law, Brakin the law.”

By: HABE

HABE — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:09:29 +0000

Knowing the media, it was probably “Bone.”