Comments on: Comics of the Damned

Comics of the Damned

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 10:44:48 -0800

Celebrate Banned Books Week by perusing The comics that corrupted our kids - but mind your eyes! Meanwhile the American Library Association's list of this year's most challenged books is led by another comic, Captain Underpants.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 10:47:25 -0800

Oh my kids love Capt. Underpants! The No-Fun Police are after him now?

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 10:48:01 -0800

Well, to be fair, And Tango Makes Three was also the title of my Tango and Cash slash fiction novel.

By: BigHeartedGuy

BigHeartedGuy — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 10:58:12 -0800

Captain Underpants? Really? I hardly think that toilet and fart jokes are as scandalous and soul-damning as, well, almost anything on broadcast television. And while I'd hardly call the captain's adventures enlightening, the few other titles I am aware of in that list should have "may cause self-reflection or thinking for one's self" added to the list of 'reasons to challenge'.

By: Gelatin

Gelatin — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:00:21 -0800

You could even do a two-fer and read comics adapted* from Ray Bradbury stories. *image links appear to be broken in that Salon story

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:01:29 -0800

A few months back conservative co-worker randomly brought up the subject of school libraries sticking Captain Underpants as a terrible sign of decline in the world. Now I'm wondering if it's a Facebook/forwarded email thing among right wing types.

By: hwestiii

hwestiii — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:03:35 -0800

Chicago Public Schools removed "Perspolis"? What?

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:05:18 -0800

Celebrate National Comicbook Day!

By: tommasz

tommasz — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:07:43 -0800

I, I feel a sudden urge to vote Democrat.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:09:21 -0800

Chicago Public Schools removed "Perspolis"? What? Previously

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:11:49 -0800

Luckily right-wing libertarians fully support freedom-of-speech and book publishing!

By: hwestiii

hwestiii — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:15:56 -0800

That is just plain weird. The City of Chicago is currently rocked by uncontrollable gun violence and someone is worried about this wonderful book. Must be quite a tail wagging that dog.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:19:57 -0800

Captain Underpants? Really? I hardly think that toilet and fart jokes are as scandalous and soul-damning as, well, almost anything on broadcast television. There's a difference between something being on broadcast television, which people can buy or not buy if they want, and can turn off, and something being in schools, which my tax dollars paid for dammit. Mind you, I am also opposed to censorship and also think it's silly. But I know some of the roots of the argument against (the NEA gets similar flak, and "taxes" was a big thing at the heart of the controversy around The Brooklyn Museum showing the "Sensation" exhibit, so I've had this argument before).

By: mattbucher

mattbucher — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:23:26 -0800

One of my favorite panels from Captain Underpants.

By: 2N2222

2N2222 — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:31:37 -0800

There's no telling what corruption can come from reading about Capitán Calzoncillos dealing with the dastardly Profesor Pipicaca.

By: BigHeartedGuy

BigHeartedGuy — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:32:42 -0800

Fair point EmpressCallipygos, I hadn't thought about the fact that taxes might be the bee in people's bonnets. I still think, however, that if parents and 'concerned citizens' are worried about negative influences, they're aiming their canon in the wrong direction. That said, part of my bias follows along the lines of Patton Oswalt's observation of, "Hey, these days I'm just glad that anyone is reading anything."

By: GallonOfAlan

GallonOfAlan — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:45:56 -0800

Violent? Read the 'Flesh' strip from the first couple of years of 2000AD. That was violent.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:46:18 -0800

I still think, however, that if parents and 'concerned citizens' are worried about negative influences, they're aiming their canon in the wrong direction. Oh, hell yeah. One of my very most favoritest stories about How Clueless Adults Are About The Real Problem is when I was eighteen and I spoke at an open meeting of our school board about the need for a health clinic in the school. And it may not be 100% "taxes," but that is a common aspect of the argument against - at the root of it may just be a personal feeling of ooginess running up against their just-as-fervent belief that a private business should have the rights to conduct its affairs in its own way. I suspect that they'd control whether these books were in bookstores were on TV or whether these shows were on television, if they could - and some do try, via letter-writing campaigns to advertisers and the like. (Actually, WKRP In Cincinnati had a good episode about that kind of thing.) But most of them realize that they can't because Constitution And Free Enterprise And All That. But "my taxes pay for this" is a loophole they see that will let them challenge things in that one arena. So yeah, these people are indeed finding fault with all entertainment (tv, music, radio, film, books, etc.) for being "negative influences," it's just that they can't get at everything. So schools get hammered for this kind of thing.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:47:34 -0800

Violent? Read the 'Flesh' strip from the first couple of years of 2000AD. That was violent. It was no Hookjaw.

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:10:35 -0800

Captain Underpants is fun, but a few chapters from one of the books were so viscerally gross-out (boogers, vomit, etc) that I literally had a gag/nausea reaction when I read it to my kid (he thought this was funny). I think this is just the danger that comes from being a book series based on body-fluid/potty jokes, though. My solution was that he could read the rest of the CU series to himself, and I would keep reading the Dinotopia books to him, since they have harder words, but hardly any booger descriptions. Given the dead-baby jokes and songs about greasy grimy gopher guts that were a feature of my playground years, I have a hard time holding Captain Underpants responsible for the coarsening of delicate youthful minds.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:12:23 -0800

So these 'headlight' comics... it think these need close scrutiny to see just how corrupting they are. Does anyone know where to find them? Asking for a friend.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:21:40 -0800

FWIW I have never read a Captain Underpants book not from the kid's school library. The things that she's brought back from there that have horrified me have all been princess or fashion related. Right now I'm reading through Harry Potter with her for extra godlessness.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:33:09 -0800

Yeah, SO godless! If you read it backwards, well, what happens is, it takes rather a long time, and it establishes that you are a dolt.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:37:39 -0800

The spells all totes work, just like Dungeons and Dragons.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:07:35 -0800

Of course you're talking about 1st ed. spells; that other stuff is bunk. Anyway, ***BURNING HANDS***

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:55:06 -0800

I'm pretty sure Captain Underpamts features some kind of Prismatic Spray.

By: Ice Cream Socialist

Ice Cream Socialist — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:06:08 -0800

It's depressing and sadly unsurprising to see Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Toni Morrison's Beloved on the 2012 most-challenged list when in fact Beloved in particular should be part of every damn school curriculum in the country.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:10:11 -0800

Some of the ordinary comic books have illustrations revealing crude sexual details if you look at them in a certain way. The shoulder of a man with a red scarf around his neck shows a girl's nude body. This is so clear that it can induce the immature reader to look for such things and stir him up sexually. I am imagining this being written between bouts of sweaty, frantic panting.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:14:00 -0800

I prefer the summary: In ordinary comicbooks, there are pictures within pictures for children who know how to look. ...and then you grow up to be Grant Morrison.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:30:55 -0800

Those kids need a pack o' Camel straights is what they need.

By: hat_eater

hat_eater — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:32:28 -0800

The moral of another story: wait for sixty years when the debate about violent holograms kicks off and they'll leave you to play your video games in peace - seems a bit premature.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:23:47 -0800

Right now I'm reading through Harry Potter with her for extra godlessness. "Hermione is my favorite, because she's smart and has a kitty," said 6-year-old Jessica Lehman of Easley, SC. "Jesus died because He was weak and stupid."

By: edheil

edheil — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:40:06 -0800

You've got to give Wertham credit, he was on the nose with respect to how racist some of that shit was.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:40:09 -0800

Well, after reading her a bunch of CS Lewis it seemed the right thing to do. Maybe Dark Materials next...

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:42:03 -0800

You've got to give Wertham credit, he was on the nose with respect to how racist some of that shit was. Hrrrmmmm...

By: turbid dahlia

turbid dahlia — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:04:02 -0800

CRIMES WOMEN

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:11:56 -0800

Presumably a CRIMER spin-off.

By: turbid dahlia

turbid dahlia — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:26:14 -0800

If anybody loves all that terrible old shit as much as I do, I strongly recommend you pick up both the excellent Fantagraphics collections of the work of insane genius Fletcher Hanks. Basil Wolverton was better at his craft, but nothing can surpass the sheer delightful madness of Hanks.

By: sneebler

sneebler — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:59:38 -0800

Man, CS Lewis was what put me off Christianity. Fortunately, my son is old enough that he can read the Captain Bobbette books by himself. He'll be very happy to learn that they're objectionable.

By: Zack_Replica

Zack_Replica — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 09:27:28 -0800

You can find many of these disgusting comics that will corrupt your mind and rot your soul at the Digital Comics Museum which has been mentioned here before, is totally awesome, and you should give 'em some money for archiving all of this sweet, sweet evil. And yes, it even includes Crimes By Women, and the thoroughly... impressive Phantom Lady.

By: rifflesby

rifflesby — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:44:09 -0800

Zack_Replica, you are my new hero.

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 21:11:18 -0800

Matt Fraction getting his nipple pierced in a sex club for a sex comic whilst Chip Zdarsky wears some kind of perv suit - Wertham was right!

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 15:41:35 -0800

Is There a Correlation Between Banning Books and Bad Science?