The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

After several recent instances of demands for more controls or even outright censorship of graphic novels in public libraries, Gordon Weir on BBT magazine’s Deconstructionist column (playing on the old ‘seduction of the innocent’ phrase nicely) has a slightly different take on things, wondering how much the librarians actually know about the graphic novels they shelf – do they realise that despite a cartoon character on the front that some graphic novels are not so suitable for younger readers? That some may be comics fun while others depict lashings of the old ultra-violence and a bit of the old in-out, in-out? Should they perhaps shelf graphic novels by maturity of content rather than putting them altogether where perhaps a 12-year old, having read all the Spider-Man on offer in the library, picks up Milk and Cheese? Or are the librarians very aware of this already and this is part of their plan to expose young readers gradually to more adult concerns?

“It’s possible that the librarians in my great, nameless city know this. Perhaps in their wisdom, they realize that many parents have a hard time finding the right moment to talk to their kids about World War 3 and it’s aftermath- especially as concerns the new Olympic stadium in Neo Tokyo. Or, as Milk and Cheese point out, that cops are often overpaid bullies taking the shame of their small cocks out on the underprivileged. So our wise librarians put these books alongside the Spider-mans and the Daredevils, knowing that when the kids are ready, they will find each other.”

(Evan Dorkin‘s Milk and Cheese on the rampage – are we warping young minds just by showing this one frame? Maybe those minds want to be warped!)

Okay, Gordon’s article is tongue-in-cheek, but there is a genuine concern in there for librarians who want to stock graphic novels – and it seems his city’s library service is rather good on this score – about the mix of content and suitability. And I would think that a decent range of graphic novels, given how fast the medium’s popularity is growing among more mainstream as well as specialist comics outlets, would help libraries to keep bringing in and reaching younger readers who might not otherwise read – surely not a bad thing. We are unlikely to see the end of the ‘concerned parent’ demanding the censorship of what everyone else can read, but perhaps mixing strong content with more YA-friendly comics adds fuel to that fire.

Of course the problem with sorting out content is that it is based on the Great Myth of the Book World – that librarians and booksellers possess intimate knowledge of every single book ever created in their heads at all times. I’ve had plenty of personal experience on that score, with people who expect me to be able to answer enquiries about which book is best for 15th century Welsh traditional knitting patterns (no, I’m not joking) to lazy students who can’t be bothered to do a basic literature search for their essay so ask the librarians or booksellers not only for relevant books and articles but for explanations of the content. Sorry, we are well-read but not omniscient on all matters to do with books – I refer disappointed people to the great Sherlock Holmes who said that a man should keep in his head what he needs for his daily use and for the rest keep a decent personal library. Before anyone argues that perhaps librarians should be familiar with the content of at least all of their graphic novels, I should point out that even the best of us in the book trade can’t know all of the books even in just one medium; besides librarians aren’t required to advance read and vet and grade every other prose book in their charge, so why should they be expected to do so with graphic novels? Is it perhaps because they are indeed graphic and the concerned parents worry this will warp young minds?

I’ve never really believed that because a comic is a visual medium it can corrupt a young reader more than a prose book – other books in the library contain more shocking images, such as photographs of the camps from the Holocaust in history texts, and those aren’t make-believe cartoons, those are real dead people in real photographs. Even younger readers know the difference. The other problem with that belief of visual corruption is that it underestimates the power of the well-written word to plant ideas – after all Tom Paine had no problem using text instead of cartoons to influence people. Of course there are some comics which even the most liberal of us wouldn’t want a 10-year old to read, but there’s a limit to how much a librarian or bookseller can police content; besides many YA books deal in subjects such as sex, bullying, violence and the effects of drugs and the kids reading them like the fact the author isn’t talking down to them but discussing problems they may be aware of but know little about. But those books have words and not pictures; again we may be coming back to a cultural prejudice against pictures (as well as an assumption that cartoons equals ‘this is for kids’ regardless of a large MATURE READERS label). And since sometimes the objections to graphic novel content in library’s extends to works which are clearly marked and shelved for adult readers in a way that doesn’t extend to adult prose novels, I can’t help but think that prejudice is as big a cause of people objecting to graphic novels in libraries as the actual content, which is often no heavier than that in nearby prose works of fiction.