Too Graphic? 2014 Banned Books Week Celebrates Challenged Comics

Repeat Offender: Dav Pilkey created artwork for Banned Books Week featuring his frequently complained-about hero, Captain Underpants.

 By Lynn Neary

Comics and graphic books are flourishing these days — writers and illustrators are taking on increasingly sophisticated topics and children’s authors are finding just the right balance between naughty and nice. But a number of the books have come under fire from critics who would like to see them banned from schools and libraries. That’s why comics and graphic books are the focus of this year’s Banned Books Week, an annual event that calls attention to challenged titles.

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‘Bone’: Jeff Smith says early Hollywood footage was ‘mind-blowing’

COMIC-CON 2011: SPOTLIGHT ON JEFF SMITH

  It’s been 20 years since Jeff Smith was repeatedly rejected by newspaper syndicates declining his comic, “Bone.” Today that same comic has been serialized in graphic novels published in 28 countries with sales of more than 6 million copies in North America alone.

Now the slapstick tale of the three Bone cousins getting lost in a Black Forest fairy tale is being turned into a screenplay for Warner Bros., and is celebrating its anniversary by throwing a party as part of this weekend’s Comic-Con International. (Smith is also featured on four panels and at multiple signings over the long weekend.) Not bad for a guy who started publishing “Bone” as an underground comic out of his garage in Columbus, Ohio.

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