The Geek Beat: Rated M For Mature

I find the story hilarious for all the wrong reasons, mainly because Cook is still carrying the book around (at an overdue fine of ten cents a day), with all the nudity and objectionable bits obscured by Post-It notes. She was forced to read it in order to challenge the library's possession of it. "People prayed over me while I was reading it because I did not want those images in my head," she says. That Moore and his metafiction!

I'm unclear as to how it was Black Dossier over all other books that caught their disapproving eye, and not Watchmen. (The movie launched a million nervous giggles, I can't imagine the book hasn't.) Cook and Boisvert seem quite familiar with their graphic novel section, which they describe as being full of "exaggerated comic books" like Spider-Man and X-Men, so I suspect they combed it for other degenerate works and didn't even find a V for Vendetta. What a shame! (For Jessamine County, I mean, not for smut hunting employees.)

The issue has caused a spirited discussion on The Beat*, with some readers arguing that there does need to be a "ratings board" for comic books, while others feel it's a parental issue that should be dealt with privately. I'm inclined to agree with the latter, though I do believe bookstores and libraries should employ a little consideration. Many do. I've seen Alan Moore and Preacher wrapped in plastic (but never Frank Miller), or kept in the back room and made available only by request. But your local Borders and Barnes and Noble usually display a shocking carelessness towards their graphic novel shelves. It's clear they consider anything illustrated to be kid oriented, and it's either awfully close to Children's, or stacked with enough eye-catching kid books as to draw in the unsuspecting. No kid should pick up From Hell or Preacher and be able to flip through it. I didn't feel old enough to flip through From Hell when I first picked it up off the "At the Movies!" endcap.

Yet, why should a store wrap Frank Miller in plastic? No one hides the Romance shelves from young eyes, and every preteen has memories of discovering the Photography section of their library. (In my prudish school, we had to make do with the Reproduction entry in the encyclopedia.) When I worked at Barnes and Noble -- in Kid's, crazily enough -- one of the teenagers' favorite pranks was to leave all the sex manuals open in the middle of the department. I would rather they see Preacher or Y: The Last Man. I can explain Jesse and Tulip easier than I can explain the Kama Sutra. (It's the physics.)

But the truth is that kids aren't drawn to the sex guides and the Fabio shelves as easily as they are to the graphic novel section, which beckons brightly with Iron Man, Wolverine, and Batman. Even the "kid-friendly" heroes have been known to get frisky, and while it's not explicit (Wolverine and Tyger Tyger were just having a slumber party!), the adult audience keeps upping the rating a bit. Even if they don't understand the teases, it's only a few finger skips from The Essential Iron Man to Garth Ennis, and I feel a little guilty about that. In fact, I discussed something similar last year when I wondered if the dark and gritty adaptations weren't cheating the younger set.


Now, I don't believe in censorship and I certainly don't agree that a library or bookstore should replace parental guidance. But let's face it, we're going to see a lot more hand-wringing, Post-It notes, and threats of banned books as the movie adaptations continue, and the Marvel and DC brands become even more popular. I suspect we'll have a frenzy like that which surrounded the Harry Potter books, with churches asking you to bring in your Moore, Miller, and Ennis. I hope not, because it's crazy and illiterate, but rational thinking isn't a hallmark of protest.

Instead, I hope bookstores and libraries smarten up, and just shelve the graphic novels with the rest of the world's literature. It's long past time to remove its "graphic" stigma anyway, and I see no reason why Watchmen, From Hell, The Dark Knight Returns, Y: The Last Man, Laika and Preacher shouldn't be shelved with the rest of their letters and genres. Put them in Sci-Fi, put them in Fiction, put them wherever a picture-happy kid isn't going to pick them up very easily. Keep a comics section if you must, but stock it full of those Spider-Man collections that aren't going to burn out some impressionable retinas. In fact, what I would like to see is Marvel put together big, fat collections of their kid-friendly material (and they have plenty where heroes aren't getting friendly) just to stock in the Kid's Section so that no comic hungry kid needs to wander very far. Just think of all the boys and girls who might be introduced to a very marketable character by finding a big, attractive shelf of flashy books within their reach. Why, these are the characters from the movies! They have books associated with them. Amazing! And it's only fair. This is a genre and a market that's being dominated more and more by adults, and I maintain that you won't have a future audience if you keep every superhero away from them. You've got to give them something while honoring the mature writers and artists of the field.

Look, I don't think two heated library workers are really the sign of a watershed movement. But I do find it troubling to already see so many who side with them, and who are being introduced to this genre not by its positive elements but by a few racy panels. The vocal minority can carry a shocking amount of weight with the media, and I could see a lot of wacky Dungeons & Dragons myths sparking up around the genre. A lot of kids who normally could have read Batman without a parent objecting might find it whisked out of their hands thanks to a shrieking media. Moods run hotter thanks to the saturation of misinformation.

So, put Watchmen in the Ms, and give the kids the bright stuff. Don't put Sin City on an "At the Movies!" endcap where picture-heavy content equals a G rating. Save the graphic novels from permanent residence in an employee's bookbag, and from meeting death by hot tea. Metafiction and deconstruction deserves so much better.












*And much thanks to their tireless diligence of all things comic related that led me to the story