Publication: Graphic Storytelling, Book Challengers, and Obscenity

A few weeks ago I received my copy of the new collection Out of the Gutters: Obscenity, Censorship, and Transgression in American Comics, eds. Jorge Santos and Patrick Lawrence. This wonderful collection was kind enough to include my chapter, “Graphic Storytelling, Book Challengers, and Obscenity.” (I can’t post the chapter here but am happy to share it if you email me). I explore the ways in which book challengers attack comics and other graphic storytelling, such as picture books, by deploying narratives of indecency and obscenity. It ties in at times with my article on attempts to contest the meaning of obscenity.

This chapter developed thanks to the editors reaching out and asking if I had anything on modern battles around comics. I had some because when I started my censorship research I collected everything. But I also wanted to broaden the scope to include other forms of graphic storytelling because picture books for younger children are targeted frequently by censors today. In exploring the discursive strategies deployed against graphic storytelling I found that they fit into two broad categories. One involved discourses that primarily targeted the content of the material in question. Thus, it did not matter so much to these challengers that the material was visual, it mattered that the author/creator(s) dealt with bad subject matter such as sex, violence, or the existence of LGBTQ people. The second involved discourses that centered on the visual nature of the material. Thus, it may be bad to depict gay people but a book that depicts happy queer people and rainbow flags everywhere was especially dangerous because it attracted the eye of the young.

Apart from my work, the collection is full of amazing chapters that span all kinds of fascinating topics of comics and obscenity. I’ve only had a chance to read a few so far but they all look wonderful and anyone interested in comics and/or obscenity should find a lot to like in this book.

I haven’t had a chance to get the underlying sources up on my data page but I’ll try to get to it soon.