Banned Books Awareness: “Batman: The Killing Joke”

Posted on May 15, 2013 by R. Wolf Baldassarro

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“Batman: The Killing Joke” is a one-shot graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland. Published by DC Comics in 1988, it has remained so popular that it has been in print since then.

It has also been subject recently to censorship efforts.

Looking into the content and subject matter it’s not difficult to understand why, but that- as usual- hardly justifies censorship.

The story’s effects on the continuity of the Batman and, in fact, the entire DC Universe included the shooting and subsequent paralysis of Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl) by the Joker in his attempt to drive Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon insane. His henchmen strip Gordon naked, cage him in an abandoned amusement park’s freak show, and force him to view a giant screen of his wounded daughter in various states of undress, hoping to drive Gordon insane in order to prove that even the most upstanding citizen can go mad after having “one bad day.”

That theme is presented in a retelling of the fateful day a simple man became the monstrous Joker and its parallel to the Bruce Wayne-Batman transition, brilliantly exploring the idea that Batman is just as insane as the criminals he faces, albeit simply manifesting it in a different way. In an interview, Moore summarized the theme as, “Psychologically, Batman and the Joker are mirror images of each other.”

The Joker delivers the point home in a masterful monologue to Batman about having just “one bad day.”

Critic Geoff Klock summarized those ideas saying, “both Batman and the Joker are creations of a random and tragic ‘one bad day.’ Batman spends his life forging meaning from the random tragedy, whereas the Joker reflects the absurdity of life, and all its random injustice.”

The events in the story also directly led to a storyline shortly after in which the Joker beats the second Robin, Jason Todd, to death with a crow bar. It might be worth noting that fans were part of a long voting campaign to decide whether to kill off Todd’s controversial character.

It has been hailed by critics as one of the greatest Batman stories ever written, with IGN declaring it the third best of all time. The story even influenced Tim Burton’s film adaptation of the franchise as well as Christopher Nolan’s critically-acclaimed persona of the Joker artfully played by Heath Ledger, who used the novel as reference material for the role.

The book has been the subject of feminist critique for its treatment of Barbara Gordon. Author Brian Cronin noted that “[many] readers felt the violence towards [her] was too much.” Author Sharon Packer also wrote: “Anyone who feels that feminist critics overreacted is advised to consult the source material…Moore’s The Killing Joke is sadistic to the core.”

Gail Simone included the character’s paralysis in a list of “major female characters that had been killed, mutilated, and depowered,” dubbing the phenomenon “Women in Refrigerators” in reference to a 1994 Green Lantern story where the title character discovers his girlfriend’s mutilated body in his refrigerator.

Jeffrey A. Brown, author of Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture (2011), noted The Killing Joke as an example of the “inherent misogyny of the male-dominated comic book industry.”

Still, with all of this in mind, the Columbus, Nebraska Public library Board did the right thing and rejected a protest to remove the title from its bookshelves.

A patron had referred to the book as “very adult” and said in the challenge that it “advocates rape and violence,” requesting the book be removed from the shelves where it is currently located in the young adult area of the library yet cataloged in the graphic novels section.

During this week’s meeting board member Carol Keller said, “I don’t find it worthy of being removed from the shelf.” Others agreed, voting 3-0, with two members absent, noting that many comic books and other publications include violence and the patron’s interpretation of rape was “misconstrued.”

Batman: The Killing Joke will now be added to the list of Alan Moore’s books that have been challenged in libraries across the nation such as Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Neonomicon-, which was officially banned from a South Carolina library last December amid a media firestorm and covered here in Banned Books Awareness.

Not only is this a victory for free speech, but it’s a stark reminder that comic books have definitely grown up. Now if only some people would.

For more information on the Banned Books Awareness and Reading for Knowledge project and the complete list of titles covered, please visit the official website at http://bbark.deepforestproductions.com/

Sources: Columbus Telegram, Wikipedia, Comic book Legal Defense Fund
© 2013 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions

Banned Books Awareness: “Captain Underpants”

Posted on April 21, 2013 by R. Wolf Baldassarro

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Most of us aren’t surprised by “Fifty Shades of Grey” being the fourth most-challenged book of 2012, but would you expect a children’s book to make number one?

Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” has been repeatedly banned or challenged due to concerns over offensive language and charges of being “unsuited for age group.”

“It’s pretty exciting to be on a list that frequently features Mark Twain, Harper Lee, and Maya Angelou,” Pilkey said in a recent statement to the Huffington Post. “But I worry that some parents might see this list and discourage their kids from reading [it], even though they have not had a chance to read the books themselves.”

The Office for Intellectual Freedom received 464 challenges last year- a 25 percent jump from 2011, but still low compared to the 1980s and ‘90s.

The “Captain Underpants” books have long been debated among parents and educators. Some praise the books because they encourage boys to read, others criticize them for having toilet humor and an irreverent attitude; the title character is a superhero created by two fourth graders about their cantankerous principal, Mr. Krupp.

The series’ premise is a simple one. It follows the adventures of two mischievous class clowns, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who have inadvertently turned grumpy Mr. Krupp into a tighty-whitey-wearing, cape-bearing superhero. With help from the boys, he defends the world from evil characters such as Professor Poopypants, Dr. Diaper, the Naughty Cafeteria Ladies, and the Wicked Wedgie Woman.

The boys are also constantly pulling off silly pranks, such as turning a sign that says, “Please Wash Your Hands after Using the Toilet” into one that reads “Please Wash Your Hands in the Toilet.”

“I don’t see these books as encouraging disrespect for authority. Perhaps they demonstrate the value of questioning authority,” Pilkey said. “Some of the authority figures in the books are villains. They are bullies and they do vicious things.”

Pilkey said his semi-autobiographical characters are based in part on teachers and principals he had between second and fifth grade- some of whom were villains who got away with it because they were authority figures.

“None of the children in my school, including me, thought to question them,” he said. “So, I do feel there is real value in showing kids that not all authority figures are good or kind or honorable.”

The president of Scholastic’s trade division, Ellie Berger, said in a statement that the appearance of Captain Underpants on the 2012 ALA list coincides with the publication of Dav Pilkey’s first new book in six years and the series’ return to national bestseller lists. Both, she says, are evidence that this bestselling series continues to inspire a love of reading (and underpants) for a new generation of kids.

The series has been a mainstay at the top of the list of formal complaints filed with libraries or schools requesting that the books be removed because of inappropriateness for over a decade.

Some notable incidents include the Riverside Unified School District in California and the school superintendent of the Maple Hill School in Naugatuck, Connecticut who sought to ban the series in 2001 due to concerns that it caused unruly behavior among children.

By 2002, it was the sixth most frequently challenged book according to the American Library Association.

In 2003 it was banned for insensitivity and being “unsuited to age group,” as well as for “encouraging children to disobey authority.”

Offensive language and modeling bad behavior were the top reasons for challenges to the series in 2005 and, in 2006, it was challenged for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group, and violence.

Three 17-year-old girls were told to leave New York’s Long Beach High School in 2006 when they showed up on Superhero Day dressed as the Captain.

The girls wore beige leotards and nude stockings under white briefs and red capes, but Principal Nicholas Restivo wasn’t laughing. He said he knew that they weren’t naked, but that it “appeared that way,” so he sent them home to change.

One of the girls, honor student Chelsea Horowitz, said that she didn’t understand the fuss. “They’re not see-through or anything.”

In spite of the ongoing controversy, the widely popular book series that began in 1997 has grown to include 10 titles and 3 spin-offs and won a Disney Adventures Kids’ Choice Award in 2007. DreamWorks Animation acquired rights to the series to make an animated feature film adaptation.

Captain Underpants has battled talking toilets and the infamous Professor Poopypants, but in the end his most challenging arch-nemesis seems to be adults with no sense of humor.

Sources: The Huffington Post, Marshall University, American Library Association, NBC News, New York Sun
© 2013 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions

Banned Books Awareness: Works Banned by the British in Danger of Being Lost

Posted on April 14, 2013 by R. Wolf Baldassarro

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We know that the mentality behind censorship and the banning of books is shortsighted and narrow-minded; but when that ignorance causes those words to completely disappear from the world, it’s just nauseating.

That’s what is happening to rare nationalist works that were banned by the British during India’s quest for independence.

Between 1885 and 1905 there was a rise of Indian Nationalism opposed to an India that had been controlled by one imperialistic regime after another since 1604.

During that time, various books and pamphlets had been written and distributed on the subject. According to literary critic and writer Deepak Mehta, the only remaining copies of these books are physically disintegrating and they are in danger of being lost to historians, scholars, and the annals of literature forever.

British rule ended in 1947, but now, more than 60 years after Independence, one would have expected these nationalistic writings-, which the British had banned as seditious to the state- to be easily available to scholars and literature lovers worldwide.

The truth, however, is that many of those works are now haphazardly buried at the National Archives in Delhi and the India Office Library at the British Museum, which charges $47 US per page to copy the 49 books and 58 rare pamphlets in its keeping.

Mehta, whose research focuses on those books that were considered dangerous by the British among an Indian populous under their rule, says that no attempts have been made to rediscover the writings.

There cannot be a price on knowledge and history because the understanding and clarity that results from it is the true prize. These works are no longer “seditious to the state” and should be freely available to academic institutions for preservation.

Here we are some 60 years later, still too stubborn to open our minds and learn from history. That isn’t just depressing, it’s pathetic.

Ideas and the written word have been suppressed for political reasons since the inception of politics and government to cloak the masses in the darkness of ignorance, thus maintaining the power of those in charge; but there comes a time when the light of freedom must push back the darkness and stand in defiance, just as Mahatma Gandhi did in those final days of British rule.

Banned Books Awareness

A worldwide literacy project to celebrate the freedom to read.

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