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2024-25 Contest

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

The 2024-2025 challenge
Imagine a comic book centered around the suppression or censorship of visual art, books, music, film or performance at a particular historical moment. You might tell this story using any one of a number of comic book genres such as
real life, comedy, horror, romance, weird/uncanny, fantasy or science fiction.
Now draw only the comic book’s cover.

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest
Click on this link to learn more about the contest, prizes, and how to register.

Comic Book Cover Art

Not familiar with comic book cover art and wondering what you can do in a single page?
Try these links for inspiration:

Censorship Case Studies

Censorship Case Study Examples

FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” routine for which the comedian was arrested.)
The repeated censorship of director Amy Heckerling’s film Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The attempted censorship of “Judgment Day” a comic in EC Comics Weird Fantasy, No. 18, March/April 1953
Opposition to The Rabbits’ Wedding a children’s picture book by Garth Williams, illustrator of Charlotte’s Web
Challenges and bannings of Persepolis Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir
The banning of Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell
The Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith – either the original silent film and its remake as a “talkie” (Director Griffith responded with a pamphlet)
Nazi Party suppression of German modernist art, which was labelled “Degenerate Art“
PEN America v. Escambia County School District – a recent lawsuit asserting that Florida County School Board unlawfully removes or restricts access to books on race, racism and LGBTQ identities

Censorship in the News Now

Censorship in the News Now!

Looking for inspiration based on current news stories? Browse the newspaper resources below for access to articles about censorship in the news without paywalls.

New York Times via nytimes.com
Use this link to register for a free account. Important source of reporting information, and opinion on politics, finance, health, science, culture, the arts, sports, and fashion in the U.S. and abroad. See ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index for issues back to 1851.
New York Times with Index (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
Full image of articles published in The New York Times including illustrations and advertisements. Covers from the first issue in 1851 to three years prior to the current year.
Washington Post
The Washington Post covers local, national and global news, national security and politics, business, technology, arts and entertainment, health and medicine, and sports. Opinion columnists focus on politics, economics, culture, and global concerns.
For an enhanced reading experience like saving articles and accessing when off the campus network, users can create an account with their vcu.edu email to activate individual subscription access.
Access World News
Also known as NewsBank, provides access to major national and international newspapers, local and regional titles, blogs, and more. Historical and current content, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch archive from 1903 to present.
Richmond Times Dispatch Collection: Historical and Current
Current and archived information from the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Comics & Censorship

Banned Comics: Case Files (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund)

Seal of Approval: the history of the comics code
Call Number: Special Collections and Archives (On-Site Use Only) ; PN6725 .N953 1998
This book examines why comic books were the subject of controversy, beginning with objections that surfaced shortly after the introduction of modern comic books in the mid-1930s, when parents and teachers accused comic books of contaminating children's culture and luring children away from more appropriate reading material.
Red Lines : political cartoons and the struggle against censorship
Call Number: NC1763.P66 G46 2021
A lively graphic narrative reports on censorship of political cartoons around the world, featuring interviews with censored cartoonists from Pittsburgh to Beijing.
The Horror! the Horror!: comic books the government didn't want you to read!
Call Number: PN6726 .H67 2010
A rare visual treasury of some of the most important and neglected stories in American literature-the pre-Code horror comics of the 1950s.
Permitted and Prohibited Desires: mothers, comics, and censorship in Japan
Call Number: ebook
This provocative study of gender and sexuality in contemporary Japan investigates elements of Japanese popular culture including erotic comic books.

Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund/CBLDF)
"The Seal of Approval, once prominently displayed on comic book covers, quietly disappeared in 2011. For nearly 60 years, however, censors funded by the comic book industry enforced rules about acceptable content. Only comics that passed a pre-publication review carried the seal. Designed to resemble a stamp, the seal bore the words “Approved by the Comics Code Authority,” which was the regulatory arm of the Comics Magazine Association of America. The trade association’s Comics Code Authority and its Seal of Approval were the publishers’ answer to their critics."

Media Censorship Beyond Comics

FILM

Film Censorship: regulating America's screen
Call Number: PN1995.62 .B54 2018
Film Censorship is a concise overview of Hollywood censorship and efforts to regulate American films. It provides a lean introductory survey of U.S. cinema censorship from the pre-Code years and classic studio system Golden Age--in which film censorship thrived--to contemporary Hollywood.

Film Ratings (Motion Picture Association of America)
Includes information on the history of the MPAA film rating system and how it works.

MUSIC

You Ask, We Answer: 'Parental Advisory' Labels (NPR)— The Criteria And The History
Answer to the question: "Exactly how much profanity merits a 'Parental Advisory' label on albums or 'Explicit' on songs? Who sets those rules and have they changed recently?"
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC)
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was a 22-member committee that sought to increase parental control over children's access to music deemed to have violent, drug-related or sexual themes. The PMRC labeled albums with Parental Advisory stickers.

BOOKS

Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights
Learn what a School Book Ban is, what kinds of stories are being banned, and current efforts to censor/ban books in schools.
Top 10 Most Challenged Books Lists (ALA)
Every year, the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools.
PEN American Index of School Book Bans – Fall 2022
Banned Books in Prisons (Equal Justice Initiative)
Code of Virginia - "Obscene" Defined
Obscenity charges brought against books and other works of art are based on definitions and laws such as may be found in the Code of Virginia.
Code of Ethics (American Library Association)
"The Code of Ethics is the document that translates the values of intellectual freedom that define the profession of librarianship into broad principles that may be used by individual members of that profession as well as by others employed in a library as a framework for dealing with situations involving ethical conflicts. "

120 Banned Books : censorship histories of world literature
Call Number: Z658.U5 K35 2005
Tracing the censorship histories of 120 works from around the world, this title provides a summary of each work, its censorship history, and suggestions for further reading.

ART

Censoring Art
Call Number: N8740 .C46 2018
Provides diverse ways of understanding the purpose and mechanisms of art censorship across distinct geopolitical and cultural contexts.

Comic Arts History & Design

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Call Number: PN6710 .M335 1994 (General, Reference and Special Collections)
Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, this innovative comic book provides a detailed look at the history, meaning, and art of comics and cartooning.
Reinventing Comics: how imagination and technology are revolutionizing an art form by Scott McCloud
Call Number: PN6710 .M333 2000
Charts twelve different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and perceived today. Includes: The life of comics as an art form and as literature; The battle for creators' rights; Reinventing the business of comics; Sexual and ethnic representation on comics; The exploding world of online delivery, and much more.
Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner (Illustrator)
Call Number: NC1764 .E47 2005 - Special Collections and Archives (On-Site Use Only)
Eisner presents the principles of graphic storytelling in this guide, which is based on his popular sequential art course at New York's School of Visual Art. Readers will learn the basic anatomy, fundamentals of storycraft and how the medium works as a means of expression.
Comics: a global history, 1968 to the present
Call Number: Cabell Library Special Collections and Archives (On-Site Use Only) (PN6710 .M3323 2014 )
Comics, manga, bandes dessinees, fumetti, tebeo, historietas... no matter the name, they have been a powerful medium across four continents for decades. This is the history of comics around the world from the late 1960s to the dawn of the 21st century.
The Comics: an illustrated history of comic strip art 1895-2010
Call Number: Cabell Library Special Collections and Archives - Oversize (PN6725 .R6 2011 )
Chronicles the origins and evolution of comic strips, from prior to The Yellow Kid through today, and highlights the game-changing contributions of such creative luminaries as Milton Caniff, Walt Kelly, Hal Foster, and Winsor McCay, among countless others.
Mangasia: the definitive guide to Asian comics
Call Number: PN6790.A78 G73 2017
Charts the evolution of manga from its roots in late 19th-century Japan through the many and varied forms of comics, cartoons and animation created throughout Asia for more than 100 years.
One Thousand Years of Manga
Call Number: PN6790.J3 K6913 2022
This book spans the history of manga in all its splendour and diversity: from Hokusai's seminal Manga in 1814 to the latest creations from Jiro Taniguchi, each period is covered in detail.
Critical Survey of Graphic Novels
Call Number: Cabell Library Reference (PN6725 .C7536 2012 )
Over 65 essays covering themes and concepts of graphic novels, including genres, time periods, foreign language traditions, social relevance, and craftsmanship such as penciling and inking.
Working Methods: comic creators detail their storytelling and artistic processes
Call Number: NC1764 .L69 2007
Puts the minds of comic artists under the microscope, highlighting the intricacies of the creative process step by step.
Professional Storyboarding
Call Number: ebook
Offers highly illustrative examples of basic storyboarding concepts, as well as sound, career-oriented advice for the new artist.
Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding for Games
Call Number: ebook
Fundamental techniques used in creating concept art for game design. Readers will learn how to create game art and design clear, concise storyboards as well as how their art is used in a game design document.
The Art of Drawing Manga
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2022
With everything needed to start in the world of manga, The Art of Drawing Manga is the ultimate guide to creating characters and developing original manga books and stories.

Review 101: Tools for Reviewing Comics (CBR)
An intro to the appropriate descriptive language to use for visual analysis of comics and graphic novels.

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Jurgen Comics Contest

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