A Madman Looks at the CBLDF and Banned Book Week... (A Family Comic Friday Extra)

 

Hello Dear Readers-

I've you've been following my blog, you will know that Banned Book Week is usually a very big deal to me. It still is, but this year was one of those times when life just got in the way. I've been super busy gearing up for the first week of classes next week and my blood sugars got out of whack after a nasty stomach bug. But writing unfortunately was the furthest thing from my mind.

I would have to say that reading as a close third- after eating. So I don't have a Family Comic Friday selection this week. But since I am feeling up to it, I decided to write an opinion piece on kids and banned books.

The following titles have something in common:

Weird Science, Huckleberry Finn, Bone, Dragon Ball, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Wanna guess what that common denominator is? If you guessed that all of those books have been challenged in either a school board or court room setting in hopes of being banned from libraries nationwide- then make a star out of gold tin foil and give it to yourself. You are right!

Banning materials doesn't just have to be of books. It can be TV and movies, clothing, even toys and games. But when it comes to those items, it's a little harder to fight against their banning because those are items that can become a legitimate distraction at school.

Take the fidget spinner for instance. Does it help children with learning and attention deficits be able to focus better in class? Absolutely, However, when every kid in school has one because it has become the latest fad for all the students to have it; then becomes an item that distracts everyone. At that point, then some parent or teacher gets mad and decides that the item needs to been removed from school premises for the sake of learning.

I have a friend who is in his 30s and works full-time and is a stand up guy. But last year, he was banned from his child's school because he wore a Darth Vader t-shirt when picking his kids up. Vader happened to be welding his light saber, a weapon, and thus under the school's weapon policy, was considered a potential threat to the school. My God, if that's the case, I'd be on death row! Because I have picked my kid sister up from school with Princess Leia holding a blaster in her hands.

The argument about whether my friend's shirt was going promote someone to go on a rampage is clearly not as dangerous as if my friend actually brought a working light saber to the school. It's also a lot easier to ban clothing than it is a book. But people still try.

Here's the how and why:

1. So the school makes a ruling that weapons of any kind cannot be on school property. Whether this be real, toy, fake, or on clothing and other accessories.

2. Then someone gets the bright idea that books have weapons in them. Take the classic Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Why, that book is about a war. Wars have guns. People die in wars from guns. Thus, the Red Badge of Courage must be banned from school because it may influence little Timmy to reenact the battle of Gettysburg at recess one day.

Maybe this example is too extreme. So let's look at one that is hitting very close to home for many parents and students right now- racism. I think we can all agree that the N-word is a word that shouldn't be used- especially to describe someone. Well, I know this might shock you but some of the greatest works in American literature use the N-word. One of those books is my favorite book of all-time is To Kill A Mockingbird.

TKAM was written by a white Southern woman named Harper Lee. But when she used the word in her book it wasn't to glorify it. Instead, it was to illustrated the harsh way blacks were treated in the pre-Civil Rights era. Lee herself was a member of the PRO civil rights movement and very vocal against the use of prejudicial treatment against of those of color. Yet every year, as sure as corn grows tall in the field, at least one school board in the US must hold a hearing in which someone challenges the right for Lee's book to be available in school libraries.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a charity very near and dear to my heart. Even though the charity was formed to help provide legal representation for comic book creators and sellers who find themselves in hot water for selling 'offensive material', the CBLDF has fought against censorship of books in school and public libraries nationwide. They also bring awareness of oppression to creators in foreign lands such as Iraq and Singapore who have been imprisoned because their comics challenged the rule of regime-like leadership. The CBLDF supports the First Amendment and the right of freedom of speech. The CBLDF also supports the right to read and own such speech and they will put up a legal fight when those freedom's are challenged.

Before I close, I want to make something clear- what is the difference between censorship and advisement? When I write reviews on my blog Madman With a Book for my weekly Family Comic Friday post, I give said work a grade based on 1-10 stars. I also tell parents that a book may have foul language, nudity, violence, or scary imagery. But I do not let those elements affect my grade for the book. I grade a book on quality of artwork, story structure, cohesion in the plot, and other elements of good storytelling. So if I grade a book 7 out of 10 stars and also say it's scary and has swears, the grade isn't due to that but because I found a number of flaws in the book's readability.

The purpose of my Family Comic Friday posts are to help parents, guardians and adults looking to introduce children to comics and graphic novels. There's a lot of stuff starring Wolverine that is for kids and even more that isn't. It is up to the parent to decide what to buy or not buy for their child.

The CBLDF believes that it is the individual's right to determine what to read and not read. I feel the same way. But as an educator, I also understand that some adults are clueless as to what is age appropriate and need guidance sometimes. Heck, even librarians need help too- Watchmen should never be put in the kids graphic novel section- no matter hard hard you try to draw pants on all the images of Dr. Manhattan. Which a novice librarian's helper actually offered to do when I pointed out that it had been miscategorized.

For more information about the CBLDF and Banned Books Week, check out their web page here.

Banned Books Week, 2015: The Suggested Reading List Problem (A Family Comic Friday Essay)

  To close out my week long support of Banned Books week, I wanted to discuss school assigned readings. I thought to save this topic until my weekly Family Comic Friday article would be the proper time to tackle this subject. Especially, since suggested reading lists have become a tricky thing to navigate in this hypersensitive era of mass and social media.

    While I have over a decade's worth of experience as an educator and working with children, I'm not an expert. I am what you would call a comics expert and I've helped families and kids get linked up to age- appropriate readings. That said I think I can clear up one thing that stands in the way of censorship: parental control or guidance is not censorship!

   Every parent has the right to decide what if right and what is wrong for their children and every family is different. My dad's mother would let me help her in the kitchen from age 6. My mom's mom would only let me help pick berries and vegetables in the garden. Neither grandparent was wrong in their beliefs. It's just that in my Grandmama's family, everybody helped cook when she was a girl but in my Grandmother's family, kids were expected to either do chores or play- cooking was an adult activity only.

   The same goes for families today. I know a family with twin girls. Sister A is very girly, wears dresses, likes jewelry and make-up, and is very sensitive. Her sister, Sister B,  is rough and tumble, will go out there and play tackle football with her older brothers, likes to dress in jeans and a t-shirt, enjoys Harry Potter and such. The parents have told me that while the girls are the same age, certain movies and books are too intense for Sister A while some things are just too immature for Sister B to enjoy.  So what's to say that when you put 30 kids in a classroom of the same grade that they are all going to be at the same maturity to read or watch certain things? If a pair of twin identical sisters can be so very far apart, how do you expect 30 different kids from different walks of life to be able to understand the same concepts?

    Just a couple of months ago, several incoming freshmen at Duke University were required to read a graphic novel. The book was called 'Fun Home' a biographical account of writer and artist Alison Bechel's childhood and decision to come out as gay to her family. The book has some sexually graphic moments, depicts homosexuality, and has R-rated language. Some Christian students decided that this book was considered immoral to them and they refused to read it.

    Now, I've never read 'Fun Home' but even before the Duke students' revolt, I had been aware of this book and even thumbed through it once at a book sale. Definitely not a children's book but I could see it possibly being an insightful book for teens that are questioning their sexuality or those that have friends who are LGBT. After examining the book myself, I found that it wasn't my cup of tea. Plus, since I'm stingy with my money, I figured I would wait for this to pop up at my local library and give it a read then.

   See, I made a valid decision on weither to buy the book or not and I gave an open and honest opinion on what I thought of it. I didn't denounce anyone that read the book. I didn't warn you of the dangers of homosexuality. I wasn't negative. In fact, I would be open to reading (and review) 'Fun Home' if money wasn't an option or I could check it out for free.

     I decided to research some of the Duke students reactions to the reading assignment along with some experts opinion on the matter. Most of those who didn't want to read the book were very polite about it. They cited scripture, they didn't lambast anyone who wanted to read the book, and one gentleman ended up becoming friends with a bisexual student after expressing his beliefs. Sadly, several students, including the young man brave enough to befriend someone of a differing sexuality were brutally mocked for their bravery in standing up for their moral codes.

   One expert from the New York Times went on to extrapolate that the students refusing to read this graphic novel were sheltered children and thus unaware of the world around them. Overprotective parenting was blamed for their decisions to not read 'Fun Home.' Just a few days ago, I pointed out a stat that said that parents were the main objectors in cases of book banning. Sometimes the arguments for a ban are ridiculous while some are valid.  For example, if a teacher was to require students under the age of 18 to read and review Madonna's SEX, then I could support parents petitioning a school board to remove this exercise from the curriculum. (You might think I am joking about this type of example but my wife was once offered an extra credit assignment in high school to view and write a report of the film 'Caligula'- and we're talking about the X-rated version not the edited one.)

      I will defend a parent's right to decide what is right for their children to consume and what isn't. But, I think it is wrong for a parent to say ' If I won't let my kid read it and neither can yours." I spent my last 6-years of school attending private Christian schools and let me tell you if you want you child to live in a shell until they are 18, put them in one of those institutes. And if you want to shelter them another 4-years, pick a college like Pensacola Christian, where the sidewalks are painted pink for girls to walk on and blue for the boys. If you don't want you child to go to public school and be exposed to homosexuality, drugs, alternative religions, alcohol, and rock and roll and you think Christain schools are where to go. I am here to tell you the truth: you might want to home school.

    So what can a parent do if they think their child is being made to read or view something against their moral code? The best thing to do is to talk with the teacher or principle. Most cases of book banning involving parents start this route. But then the parent doesn't get their way and then it's taken to the school board where protests break out and it gets reported on the evening news.

"Santa is on the cover, so it must
be okay for my 1st grader to read!"

   I actually saw a very inventive way to prevent that from happening. Let's say you child comes home and must read 'The Adventures of  Huckleberry Finn.' The book is a classic, but it does contain scenes of child abuse, a runaway slave, and that N-word. So, let's say you think this book is inappropriate for your child and you do not want them to read it. A new idea that's gaining some momentum is for the parent and teacher to discuss this issue. But instead of banning the book, it is suggested that the parent read the book with their child and then research the author, their motives behind writing the novel,  and discuss with them just what is it that morally wrong in the book.

  Another option that is gaining in popularity amongst teachers is to do away with he suggested reading list altogether. That doesn't mean that the kids are off the hook and don't have to read anything during summer break. Instead, the kids are given a list of almost a hundred books that are considered age-appropriate and then told to read a certain number off the list and write a small report about them. Under this method, kids get to read what they like, parents have a more active role in the book selection process and school boards are not being swamped with as many requests to ban books.

    I hope this essay had done one thing: made you think. I tried to write this as I write my reviews for Family Comic Friday.When I review a book for parents I try to be neither biased or objective, just stating what the subject is about and offer my suggestion on what the proper age of reader would best be suited for the book baised on themes and content.

    I hate seeing parents at comic book shops wringing their hands over what to buy their child to read because the owner hasn't a clue what's inside them and cannot make good suggestions. Just because a 5-year-old kid likes superheroes and motorcycles, that doesn't mean he should be reading Lobo. And that's my goal here, if I can help 1 family be able to navigate the tricky road of suggested readings for school and prevent one more case of book banning, then I've eased a lot of heartache and I've done my job as a Madman with a book.

   Happy Reading!
   

   

Banned Books Week 2015- What Gives a Book a Bad Name?

 
   Yesterday we looked at the people who asked for books to be banned. Today, we're going to look at the factors that give a book a bad name.

  So, just what gets a book banned?

    The answer: Just about anything. From depictions of sexual situations to drug and alcohol use. Accounts of homosexuality to portrayals of religions- both Christain and not. Offensive language, violence, and rape are other reasons people demand a book be banned from schools, stores, and libraries. My favorite reason is differing political viewpoints.

    Well, folks, if these were the reasons to ban a book then you'd never be able to get you hands on a copy of the Bible, Torah, Koran, or most other religious texts. (And this insight is coming from a Christian!!!)

   Another reason books are banned are because people violate the number #1 of selecting a book: They judge it by its cover. Take the book I am reading right now. As you can see on the cover of Maus, it depicts 2 mice huddling under a poster of a cat that looks an awful lot like Hitler. There is also a swastika behind the Hitler-cat. Well, I posted this exact picture yesterday (see right) and my mother-in-law flipped. She thought I was reading a pro-Nazi text.

    She hasn't been the only one ever to do this. Art Spiegelman's Maus has been challenged numerous times because people see the cover and think 'Oh, my God! Someone is making the Nazis kid friendly. I must stop this." But in reality the artist used Mice to represent the Jews and Cats as the Nazis to show how Hitler referred to the Jews- as vermin that needed to be extinguished! And what is nature's most perfect exterminator of mice? Why, it's a cat! Click here to read more...

    After I explained all of this to my mother-in-law (and mentioned that it takes place in her ancestral home of Poland), I think I came ever so close to convincing her to actually read a graphic novel!!!

    Anyway, my point to this article is is that so many times a book gets banned or a bad reputation is because someone looks at the cover, is repulsed, and automatically calls for its censor. But if people would just research the book, a lot of the legal tie-ups about censorship would be erased from dockets nationwide.

    One neat thing my library does every Banned Book Week is that they take a number of books on the list, wrap them in brown paper, and only tell the patron what things got the book banned. I think it's brilliant as it erases the stigma of judging books by their cover and lets the reader go into the book with very little prejudice.

    Now, if you were to see from the listing of grievances that one of those books dealt with something you didn't like- such as violence or homosexuality; here's my advice: don't check it out! Get something else. No one is forcing you to read this stuff... TO BE CONTINUED...

   (coming Friday:  A Family Comic Friday Special Report- Banned Books in School: Assignment Vs. Parental Control.)

Banned Book Week 2015: So Who Bans a Book Anyway?

I went to my local library today to drop out some books due. I'm on staycation, so I thought I'd check out their Banned Books Weeks display. It was a fairly decent little display, 6-sided, but nothing really eye-catching- except for a very information info sheet on the top of the display.

   I was very surprised to learn that of the challenges to books in the past year, only 18% of those who sought to ban a particular book were politicians, religious groups/ clergy, pressure groups, or other governing bodies. The majority of people who attempted to have a book banned were patrons/ customer and parents at 58%.

    To be fair, almost a quarter of legal challenges to banned books were kept confidential or of another criteria that didn't fit in any other category, so there could be some pressure groups or senators or priests lurking in that category unaccounted for. But still, it's a lot smaller percentage than I thought it would be.

  I think the reason behind this is that the news is more likely to cover a story about censorship if it involves a politician or religious group. Why is this? Mostly because sensationalism brings in viewers and readers. CNN doesn't want to devote time to a patron who bought a book and didn't like it and is trying to get it removed from stores. The media would rather cover a group of angry politicians and preachers seeking to have a book not just banned but burnt to a crisp than over a group of mothers irate that little Johnny saw Dr. Manhattan's dingle when he read Watchmen.

  Another issue that makes Banned Book week so important is that there were more challenges toward banning books last year than in any other year in the past decade. So what is the cause for this?

I think it can be broken down into 5 ways:

1. Public mores has changed. Alternative lifestyles are more accepted. Also, People are way more sensitive towards discrimination than ever before. and that leads into #2
2. We are a social media culture. It's a lot easier to get people to rally behind a cause like Black Lives Matter because you have the internet to spread your message more quickly. That leads to #3
3. Companies are afraid of losing money more than ever before. When a variant cover depicting the Joker holding Batgirl hostage, people went to their mobile devices and started a campaign demanding that DC Comics cancel the cover or face a financial boycott. The economy might be better than it was a decade ago, but one major slip in profits is enough for a media giant like DC to have nightmares.
4. Speaking of nightmares- parenting is another reason for why we see so many challenges in the legal system about banning books. Parents, these days are either A) not engaged enough or B) too engaged to the point that they put their child in a bubble. (I was more of a B-child, my sister 12-years younger than I, was more of an A-child.) Anyway, you get these hyperactive parents who see things in books like Harry Potter practicing witchcraft or an alien mom breastfeeding her child and parents go nuts. This leads to my final point...
5. There aren't enough people trying to educate readers on age appropriateness. 

    A favorite story I like to tell folks is how I found a copy of the ground-breaking miniseries Watchmen in the all-ages section of my local library. The book contains nudity, sex, and lots of swears. There's also some violence, but compared to other comics out in the 80s, it's mild. 

   See, I know from experience what's in this book! But the librarian who processed it did n;t. She thought because it was about superheroes, published by DC, and soon to become a movie, then it was okay for all readers. Interestingly enough, she thought I wanted the book banned. I just wanted it put in a more age appropriate place so that we could avoid this from being an issue when a child brought this home to a family who would petition for the book to be banned from the library. 

   So, I encourage you adults out there to please look at the books out there on the market and review them for age appropriateness. That's completely fine to say that my 6-year-old can read Batman Adventures but must be 14 before I'll let them read The Killing Joke. Just don't look at a book and say that because it doesn't fit you views that the book should be outlawed. 

   You may not agree with Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto, but this is a country where freedom of speech is protected. Plus, the countries where those works were published had a lengthy and bloody history on banning books and eventually began targeting those who thought differently to those viewpoints with imprisonment, torture, and death.

     Remember folks, when we fail to remember history, we are more than likely doomed to repeat it.
  
   Just a little food for thought on this Tuesday of Banned Books Week, 2015.

  Happy Reading!!!

Banned Books Week, 2015: Some Suggested Readings

Today marks the beginning of Banned Books Week. It's one of my favorite weeks of the year as it gives me a chance to speak out against censorship while pointing out some great books that you might have overlooked. I'll be posting more about BBW, with links, suggestions, and more. 

   Today, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund issued a list of banned graphic novels that fans of the comic book medium might have overlooked. Below is a link to the suggested titles that the CBLDF listed on their Facebook page. 

   Thanks to them and their ideas, I think this might very well be the week I finally read Art Speigelman's Maus (#15) a comic account of the Holocaust in which Jews are portrayed as Mice and the Nazis as Cats. 

   Happy Reading!!!

 

Weird Science-Fiction Fantasy Annual #2 (Banned Comics Week)

My final selection for Banned Comics week is a unique time capsule of the changes that EC Comics would have to endure after the Juvenile Delinquency Senate hearings and with the coming of the comic’s code. Sales of comic books had been plummeting across the board. To spare jobs and to keep from closing, EC cancelled its horror comics and began to merge other titles together. For instance, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy were merged together after both published their final issue #22. The new title was called Weird Science-Fantasy.

The new title was still edgy with bizarre aliens, screaming femme fatales and twist endings that stunned the reader back into reality. But when the CCA formed in 1954 one of the rules stated the word “Weird” could not be used in the title of a book. Thus, Gaines and Co. changed the name of the series to Incredible Science Fiction at issues #30. This book has the distinction of the being the very first comic to be approved by the CCA (as according to the reprint editors of this annual.)

ISF is tepid. The stories are no longer thrilling. The endings still have a twist but EC’s stunning style had been neutered. Incredible lasted 4 more issues but thanks to an confrontation with the CCA, Gaines decided to stop publishing comics altogether.

Before issue 34 was published, William Gaines sent a reprinted story for approval called “Judgment Day!" (Weird Fantasy  #18). This anti-racism story, was rejected because Judge Charles Murphy, the Comics Code Administrator, demanded that the star of the story, a black astronaut, be changed into a white hero. Gaines refused and threatened to take the matter all the way to the Supreme Court. The CCA, not wanting an early case of more unwanted publicity, backed down.  Gaines went on and  printed the story both without any changes or the CCA approval stamp. It would be the last comic printed by Gaines who would go one to devote his energies to the now magazine formatted MAD Magazine. Yes Mad would be just as subversive but because the book was no longer published in the size of a comic book, it was free from the intrusion of the Comics Code.

I’m not so much a fan of this treasury of latter day EC reprints. But for their historical value, this collection is priceless. You can see through volume 1 and later this second volume how EC’s style was slowly reined in to fit an Ozzie & Harriet lifestyle. Ultimately, by focusing on MAD, Gaines got the upper hand, thumbing his nose at American society all the way to the bank.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Tales from the Crypt #2, (Banned Comics Week)

 This doubled sized reprint from Russ Cochran contains issue #34 of Crypt and Crime Suspenstories #15. Though I mention Gemstone as the publisher of the most of the EC Comics reprints in my collection, it was actually Cochran from Missouri who first obtained the rights to reprint the entire EC line. (Other EC reprints exist before this but Cochran was the first to reprint the entire line of EC Comics comics.) The collection was very popular, but it was a niche market.

 The Russ Cochran Company found itself unable to recoup its losses and sold the rights to newly established Gemstone. Gemstone got the brilliant idea to reprint in small batches and later reissue as needed. Thus, back issues of past copies could either be ordered through mail or replenished in comic shops nationwide. It’s this method that’s held on for over 25 years and helped keep the EC Comics from fading into obscurity.

   In Tales, our first story is by the Crypt Keeper in segment called “The Crypt of Terror” which was Tales’ original title. That story is based on the cover image in which a mad scientist creates a Frankenstein type monster and it goes on the rampage at a carnival. Then the Vault Keeper spins a yarn about two con men who dupe a small town into believing their sitting on the next oil boom. The Crypt Keeper then returns in his signature segment “Grim Fairy Tales” which are fanciful fables with gruesome endings. This go-round, the Crypt Keeper regales us with a story of a king who goes too far when he learns about taxation.

The last story is by the Haunt of Fear’s Old Witch. It’s rather interesting as it’s adapted by Ray Bradbury of Fahrenheit 451 fame. It’s a fairly light tale in which an old woman filled with salt and vinegar doesn’t want to die so badly that her spirit storms the mortuary in which her body is housed and demands it back.

  What I found so intriguing about this ghost story was that it’s basically by a well-known author. When Fredic Wertham testified before the Senate during the Juvenile Delinquency hearings, he claims that there was no ‘artistic merit’ to the prose found in comic books. Bradbury is such a big deal that not only did my wife read some of his work in high school for her English classes, I read it too! And I went to a strict anti-anything secular Christian school! So when ever anybody tells you that comics are rubble- you can point out that the great Ray Bradbury was featured in comics as was Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, and even Doctor Seuss!

Before I close, let’s examine the Crime Suspenstories reprint. The first tale is a film noir-type love triangle between a wife with a bad heart, her husband, and his best friend who happens to be her lover. Take about Double Indemnity! Then Ray Bradbury returns! This time, his tale ‘the Screaming Woman’ stars a little girl who hears a woman begging to be released from a shallow grave but nobody will believe the tyke’s warnings. Next, we get an interesting story told in two parts in which the same man must suffer through thirst an dehydration first on the high seas and then in the Sahara. There are plenty clever twists in ‘Water, Water Everywhere…” as well as a unique story structure that clearly influenced some of the greats of the Silver Age like Julie Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Stan Lee. Finally, the Old Witch guests to recall the bickering marriage of a hen-pecked husband and his meddlesome wife.

The Crime comics of the 1950s were a thing of the past by 1959. Crimes of the heart in which implied sex, adultery, and murder were considered taboo. Thus there was a rise in crime digests like Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. Those mags contained the occasional illustration but were considered so wordy that it wouldn’t appeal to kids. Crime Magazines were still available where kids could reach them and they still had graphic covers. But the changing format was considered enough to prevent kids from going into a wanton frenzy like un-coded comics were said to have inspired.

True, it was 30-years later, but in the 80s I remember walking into a newsstand and buying crime mags as a gift for my mother who loved a good mystery. I was never carded. I couldn’t have been- I was 8! Still, the view towards comic books as low culture is proof of the hypocrisy of censorship. The next time someone tells you comic books are kids’ stuff and for the uneducated, ask them if they watch The Walking Dead, or have seen Men in Black? When they say “yes” tell them it was based on a comic book and watch their face drop. Argument won in your favor!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Tales from the Crypt Presents the Vault of Horror #5 (Banned Comics Week)

The main horror titles of EC Comics were Tales from the Crypt, the Haunt of Fear, and the Vault of Horror. The most well-known of these titles is obviously Tales from the Crypt thanks to a 1990s TV series on HBO, hosted by the delightfully funny, Crypt Keeper. But my favorite of the EC horror anthologies was the Vault of Horror.

It was hosted by the Vault Keeper and featured tales of deception, corruption, passion, murder, and intrigue. There was always a twist ending to these tales but the bad guys didn’t always get their just desserts. Sometimes, the hero took the fall! For the American government, that just couldn’t do! Thus, when the Comics Code Authority was established, titles were required to tell stories in which the villain got punished for his crimes. An allowance was allowed for stories to have cliffhangers throughout several issues as long as the villain received punishment before the story was captioned ‘The End.’

In this issue, a young wife who’s trapped in a loveless marriage takes advantage of a sinkhole on their family farm. We then meet a talented surgeon who loses his arm and conducts dangerous experiments in an attempt to make himself whole again. Then a young man meets the woman of his dreams at a masquerade ball. But when it’s time to unmask, it becomes his worst nightmare.  Lastly, a weight loss remedy bears some dangerous fruit.

The masquerade story, entitled “the Mask of Horror” is such an example of a story in which a rather innocent man meets a tragic demise. The man is spurned by his finance whose is cheating on him with an older gentleman. Determined to get over the harlot, the bachelor goes to a party only to take his troubles off his failed relationship. It’s when a drunken friend introduces him to a woman dressed as a miserly vampire does things go sour. The guy forgets his troubles and feels that this woman is his true love. But the only thing he feels at story’s end is her fangs in his neck.

  The only thing that guy did was fall in love with another woman. But, I don’t see him as immoral because his first relationship was destroyed by his fiancé. Just because the guy didn’t end the relationship while his girl was in another man’s arms, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t kaput. Still, I am sure that the message of the story was a misogynistic “beware of wanton women” that was the moral of many of EC’s stories involving passion. In the sinkhole story, the woman falls in love with a handsome health inspector but he turns out to be married. The wife had previously killed her husband, faking his death in a sinkhole, but she is forced to be with her loveless hubby forever, when his bloated corpse rises from the household well and snatches her into the underground river below that formed the giant crevice.

EC was as nourish and ghoulish as they come and I loved it. I still do. My dad until he died took pride in how I saved my money doing odd jobs to buy the complete Vault of Horror Collection from Gemstone in the late 80s. It was the first time I ever set a financial goal and made smart decisions with my hard earned cash. Nowadays, I continue to save my money trying to collect the entire EC library that Gemstone reissued continuously from circa 1988-2000.

Along with the reprint of Vault of Horror #18, this edition also reprints Weird Science #11. In those pages, the great Wally Wood regales us with a futuristic story in which a uranium company condemns both the earth and the moon with its questionable mining practices. Then a computer system learns about love for the first time and gets terribly confused. Then a ship is stranded on a planet of giants while a man goes back in time and ends up becoming his own father in a head-scratcher that makes Terminator seem plausible.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

I read Banned Books (Comic Book Edition)

Tomorrow is the beginning of the annual American Library Association event Banned Books Week. This year, the ALA is focusing on comic books and graphic novels. Their reason is ' "despite their serious literary merit and popularity as a genre, they are often subject to censorship,” said Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee.'

  All week, I'll be reading and reviewing selections from my favorite banned comics of all-time; the EC Comics. Considered gory, brutal, and undeserving of any merit, these comics have stood more than the test of time- the withstood perhaps one o the greatest witch hunts of the 20th Century- the comic book scare of the 1950s.

   EC Comics were the primary target of the Juvenile Delinquency Senate hearings of 1954. A quack psychologist named Fredric Wertham in his book "Seduction of the Innocent" blamed comic books on just about anything wrong with kids and teens in the 1950s. His accusations were based on doctored data and led to a majority of publishers, writers, and artists of the comic book genre to lose their jobs and their passion- as many of these workers never worked in comics again.

 
   I'll be controversial to suggest that the fact that Wertham was German and the majority of the comic book working class was Jewish at the time, is not lost on me. the pandemonium that surrounded the comics scare is eerily similar to 1940s Nazi Germany. Community groups inspired by Wertham 'encouraged' children to collect their comics (and those of their buddies) and held mass burnings. My wife's uncles recall having to participate in these community improvement projects.

   The comic book industry might have failed completely if it wasn't for the few surviving publishers to team-up and create a self-governing committee that would insure standards and practices in the comic book industry. That group was the Comics Code Authority. Though the CCA is no longer used to determined if a comic is 'child friendly', it's place in pop culture history makes it still a vital and important tool in the comics industry. Like the music industry, comic book publishers now self-regulate their own ratings systems for their comics.

   Another important resource is the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. This fund, which I actively donate my spare coins to at comic book shops nationwide, was established to provide legal representation to publishers, authors, and writers who find themselves targets of the next community action to ban comic books.

 
  I hope this week, you'll participate in Banned Books (and Comics) week. But don't just read them for fun. Try to also reflect on the freedoms of speech and assembly we as Americans have the privilege to experience. This week is also time to reflect on the potential dangers of censorship. As the Jewish German writer Heinrich Hesse once wrote "Where books are burned in the end, people will be burned."