Japan; The manga censor’s day
This article from New Zealand goes into more detail on he thinking behind the current manga sales restrictions, and they are pretty much aimed at stopping young folks from doing anything stupid and fun, not stopping perverts. Take this from gynecologist Dr Tsuneo Akaeda, who thinks manga leads to STDs:
Continue ReadingDC ditches Comics Code for video game-like rating system
Over on the various DC blogs, Jim Lee and Dan DiDio have announced that DC is pulling out of the Comics Code in favor of a multi-layer ratings system:
Continue ReadingDon’t let this happen to comics…
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet Apparently some politician in Baltimore is using kids reading comic books as the result of a lack of teachers and money for education. Perhaps she should be shown around the Baltimore Comic-Con to see what a fine, upstanding bunch of folks read comics. Thank god she never saw Yaoi.
Continue ReadingSchool library votes to keep BONE on the shelves
After a Minnesota mother challenged her school library on keeping Jeff Smith's BONE on its shelves -- citing smoking, drinking gambling and sexy innuendo as reasons it wasn't fit for kids -- the library board voted 10-1 to keep Bone on the shelves. The mother still objected to the books, but brought her two sons to the meeting, explaining that "It's important for them to see the process of how books are chosen," she said. Removing the book from 12 of the the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district's 18 libraries would have been a very rare step -- only 20 books have been challenged in the past 20 years, the last being "All But Alice," by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, which was removed in 1997.
Continue ReadingScandal: Portland Mercury disses comics! UPDATED WITH MORE OUTRAGE
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet Speaking of Stumptown, we were recently alerted to a local brouhaha, namely, last week’s preview of Stumptown in The Portland Mercury. Shockingly, despite the mayor declaring Comics Month and Portland generally being Cartoon-town, USA, the Mercury ended up running this weird “comics are for losers” comic by Carolyn Main and Riley [...]
Continue ReadingTo boycott or not to boycott?
Share this link on Facebook!TweetThe Hyatt Boycott Controversy has raged for a bit now, with Chris Butcher saying yes here and Chris Williams saying no here. Tom Spurgeon said the argument was spinach and to hell with it: As tends to be the case with comics folk post-1990 or so pressed to make some kind of simple [...]
Continue ReadingDC: BATMAN YEAR 100 isn't one of the best comics of the year
Share this link on Facebook!TweetEvery once in a while we feel a little bad for picking on DC around here, then we read something like this and we have to put on one of those ruffled collar things to keep from scratching our head to the bone. It seem DC refused to let Lynda Barry [...]
Continue ReadingComics fans still viewed with suspicion?
Share this link on Facebook!TweetIf you do go to the link we just listed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s day of superhero fashion, you will see a rather telling indication of what the Met REALLY thinks of these superhero fans: In many ways its comforting to know that as far are we’ve come, there are [...]
Continue ReadingEven More on Wertham
Share this link on Facebook!TweetJeet Heer examines both side of the Wertham legacy in a piece in Slate. So, who is right, Hajdu or Beaty? Did Wertham have a point? Beaty’s revisionism is valuable in forcing us to see Wertham as a complex historical figure, not an easy-to-dismiss cardboard crank. Still, Hajdu is right to [...]
Continue ReadingWertham: Friend or foe?
Share this link on Facebook!TweetWhile Fredric Wertham is the archetypal real-life bogeyman of comics, his legacy is not all black and white. Bart Beatty, author of Frederic Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture and Jeet Heer debate Wertham’s portrayel in David Hajdu’s The Ten Cent Plague at The Globe and Mail Beatty for the defense: Hajdu’s [...]
Continue ReadingBut some must be persuaded
Share this link on Facebook!TweetThis post by Molly Flatt in the Guardian has been linked to by several bloggers, starting with Tom. Flatt is definitely of the “Think! Feel! Comics are a great medium!” school, but the comments get a bit lively, although some of the Newsarama-esque ones were removed before we could cut’n'paste. [...]
Continue ReadingWhen comics were bad
Share this link on Facebook!TweetBook Forum runs an excerpt from David Hajdu’s upcoming The Ten Cent Plague, a history of the persecution of comics books in the ’50s as the source of all juvenile delinquency. The progressing crusade against comics on multiple levels provided Harry Wildenberg the opportunity to light many a cigar in satisfaction by [...]
Continue ReadingProfiling with DMZ
Share this link on Facebook!TweetThis link from the blog of Scott King, Executive Editor of Th3rd World Studios, has been getting some play. It seems King had a run in with the TSA after doing some things you shouldn’t do at airports. King admits he hadn’t flown since 9/11, and was out of the loop [...]
Continue ReadingEchoes of Guilford
Share this link on Facebook!TweetThe Eightball #22 case may have faded into the sunset, but commentators just can’t stop mining it. Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow takes a look back, with his own pointed commentary. Also, Joanne Jacobs at Brittanica.com offers a measured appraisal, and brings up a notable parallel case: Then again, consider the case of Kaleb [...]
Continue ReadingNate Fisher/Eightball case mop-up
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet Pretty much everything of interest in the Nate Fisher/Eightball case has been said, until Fisher himself speaks, perhaps, but a few late comments are worth noting. We found these through our own trackbacks (Our story got Boing Boinged yesterday, sending our hits and trackbacks through the roof.) but if anyone knows [...]
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