Graphic Novels!

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Since art has been invented, people feel tried to control what people both say in them and hear from them under the guise of protecting the innocent. This is no different for graphic novels, but why do we ban them? It’s a question that’s been wondered about since the start of the media. Differing viewpoints have always found different reasons to ban different comics. But what happens when one central group, like the CCA, attempts to regulate all of those viewpoints? I’ll be as commenting on the CCA and the banned books of the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s; and I'll also talk about Bone as a modern day example due to the similarities in why they were at risk of banning.

Now, what do I mean by banning? Overall, banning in America isn’t that strict. Graphic novels were either kept off the market or restricted in certain places, but that didn’t mean no one could access them or there was a punishment for producing them other than the stigma and loss of money. This is unlike in places like Europe where, during the same period as the CCA, producing banned material could have resulted in a fee and/or jail time. This may be the result of the self monitoring done by the CCA over the government monitoring of other countries.

In the 1940s, the comics industry was in full swing. The superheroes weren’t dominating the market, due to genres such as True Romance and True Crime. Despite the names, most of these stories were not true but larger than life, and going into intense detail. Even with the laughable claim of focusing on morals, they glamorized the life of the ‘Big Bads’ until the last page. These unofficial main characters lived a life of sex, glory, money, and guns until they were ‘defeated’. These were over the top, usually creating over the top reactions as well. Framing it as ‘protecting the children’, people bought copies to burn, boycotted stores, and wrote very angry letters to the syndicates in charge of sending these “Satan’s Pamphlets.” Of course, the ‘devil’ comics also sold like hot cakes, because they were excuses to look at pinup art and to see the epic violence and overly gritty realism that superhero comics lacked.

Back in the present, however, Bone is a comic book series following the adventures of three ‘Bones’ from Boneville, not nearly as grit packed. It is a long series, though, filling eight separate graphic novels at the time of writing. It is also quite impressive in its ability to weave together a world of fantasy, all while working in an iconic to realistic setting. It seems like an innocent enough series, but somehow it was the 10th most challenged book in America in 2013, despite that innocence. How is that the case?

Bone has been challenged in the past because of the intense violent scenes some parts contain, as well as the fact one can read into it being racist and/or sexist. It’s surprising that a young adult graphic novel would be challenged to such a large extent. And what is more surprising is that despite the frequency of it being challenged to be banned, it has been successfully banned only once. It's clear from that ratio that it's due to the sense of entitlement from the challengers, and not a factual standing. But what would give them that sense of entitlement?

A likely answer lies back with the True Crime graphic novels, and the pushback against them. Fredric Wertham is the main face of this pushback, being the author of the infamous Seduction of the Innocent. Seduction of the Innocent is a book about how comic books were teaching children how to commit crimes, was turning children illiterate, and many other claims.  This coincided with a U.S. Congressional inquiry, which turned Fredric Wertham into a large force of the time (as well as selling a multitude of his books) (Wikipedia One).

Despite the utter absurdity of some of the claims, he even made the infamous claim that Batman & Robin were a gay couple (Wikipedia One), and due to ineptitude of defense from some syndicates and poorly worded statements, Seduction of the Innocent and the Congressional Inquiry helped work to create damage around the globe for comics. Governments began to crack down on comics, although some of these bans and restrictions were made to simply stifle dissent and remove competition. In order to save themselves from the government restrictions happening in the USA, these syndicates created the Comics Code Association, more commonly known as the CCA.

The Comics Code Association was created after the insanity of the U.S. Congressional inquiry had died down, and it was obvious that the majority of people wanted comics policed. Because of the urge to still stay independent from the government, comic book creators and syndicates formed the CCA to self monitor.  They introduced the CCA seal (Figure 1), a simplistic design that was required, not to sell your comic, but to get rid of the stigma of not having the seal. They created tons of restrictions that had to be followed in order to get the seal, effectively censoring out all of the things Fredric Wertham had problems with.

But what happened to those without seals, the ones that were “dirty”? The stigma around not having one of these inked marks on the comic meant that most stores would refuse to sell them, forcing many of our True Crime and True Romance stories to either change to a “clean” plot or go out of business. It was effectively banning entire genres. The CCA was a large, shadowy force, controlling the flow of these comics, likely with a sinister cackle. The seal effectively made clean comics, by purging the rest.

But the CCA isn't around today, so how do graphic novels like Bone still get banned? They can be challenged, and brought to court. Even for the most bizarre reasons, these challenges can be made, and due to that, any book can be banned for any reason. However, that’s not a common experience. The most common reason for banning books are ones that are deemed inappropriate for the target audience, as in having sexual content in books for 7-9 year olds. Like the chaste kiss in the graphic novel Drama. (CBLDF 6)

Back with the CCA, however, controlling these comics didn't work really well. It killed off a large portion of the true crime and romance comics, leaving only uninteresting stuff in official stores. The restrictions made it impossible to really relay any plot, as the storylines were a black and white dichotomy. The good guys were the epic, perfect pinnacles of all that was good and righteous. They also happened to almost always be white. The bad guys were had no redeeming qualities, were cruel and heartless yet had the edges sanded off, and always failed, as well as happening to almost always be a minority like Black, Irish, or Scottish. The government was always in a good light, as they were always the perfect people you could turn to trust. There were no corrupt officials in the government, which is probably the most absurd thing about the “clean” comics with the seal.

The restrictions from the CCA would have not put their seal on classics like "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", due to the unflattering portrayal of government officials, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot mysteries, due to the in-depth explanation of crimes, and even Homer's The Odyssey, due to the excessive violence. The CCA also was fought with due to not putting their seal on an excessively violent comic ... of the Shakespearean classic, Macbeth, as well as banning the word Wolfman in a DC comic, when it was in fact the writer's last name: Marv Wolfman (Wikipedia Two).

And even then, that was just the official stores. Independents were still capable of creating comics and selling them through other means, meaning that it was still possible through things like ‘head shops’ for kids to get their hands on the violence, romance, and crimes that the CCA was established to protect them from. This was one of the reasons that Wertham himself called it a “half measure” (Wikipedia Two).

In the modern day, yet still with an apparent ‘failure to regulate violence’, Bone is unique in that the author, Jeff Smith, is such an active member of his fanbase and communities, he is able to defend and talk about his books and the ban attempts on them (Flood, The Guardian). Let me state here, Bone is a fun children’s book. It is funny, has vibrant characters, a strong, foreboding plot, and many other attributes. It also has violence, and crimes, and some small sexual innuendo. But it isn't 'dirty', nor is it deserving of the countless ban attempts on it.

These ban attempts always failed, just like the villains the CCA forced upon the industry. Ironically, the CCA itself fell like those bad guys in 2011 (Wikipedia Two). Due to the insensitivity of violence the culture succumbed to, and the new target of videogames to move the focus of “ruining our children” to, many companies either made inside advisory systems or simply dropped the CCA.  Advertisers also began to not care about the seal. The CCA was eventually erased from modern culture.

Flipping to the present, the vast majority of attempts on Bone have suffered the same fate. Maybe due to the fact that the claims were far from truthful, maybe because of Jeff Smith’s defense, or maybe because of bias, the fact is that attempts to ban this book almost never succeed. The violence of these books isn’t really worth banning, and neither is the storyline.

Of course, some graphic novels do have parts that would make them able to be banned, but a vast majority of banned books are due to simply not being well received in the community. A non-graphic novel example would be To Kill a Mockingbird, while a graphic novel variant could be Maus, both due to the fact that the topics make people uncomfortable. These victims of mob rule are usually under the guise of saying that it's ‘for the children’, sadly without asking about the actual effect it would have.

To put it bluntly, however, any attempt on banning graphic novels, and by extension art, will fail. Certain people have always been trying to suppress one thing or the other for their own selfish reasons, and everything, especially art, eventually rises up to the surface and is accepted. Be it because the rulers disagree with the politics, or parents go up in arms because of the violence, graphic novels have been banned and still have people trying to ban them to this day. Yet, despite all of that, it’s still very possible to read them. These comics, these graphic novels, have a durability that Superman would be jealous of.

The CAA Seal. (Figure 1) (Source: Wikipedia)Bibliography:

“Seduction of the Innocent.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_Innocent. (One)

“Comics Code Authority.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority. (Two)

Flood, Alison. “Bone Author Jeff Smith Speaks out Ahead of US Banned Books Week.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 Sept. 2014, www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/19/jeff-smith-bone-us-banned-books-week.

DefendBannedComics, CBLDF, 10/1/18, http://cbldf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CBLDF_DefendBannedComics_2018_FINAL_digital.pdf.

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