To celebrate Banned Books Week, Fantagraphics is offering a sale on our most ground-breaking, boundary-pushing, and controversial comics.
From classics to contemporaries, we’ve highlighted some of the most important works in comics history and offered them at a great discount. Declare your #FreedomToRead by filling your bookshelves with these amazing titles.
1950s The Comics Code Authority was the de facto censor of comics. In order to obtain their seal of approval, comic works had to abide by strict moral standards. Many distributors refused to carry comics without the seal. Entertaining Comics was hit especially hard by these restrictions. MAD was their only publication to survive, by becoming a monthly magazine to circumvent the code’s jurisdiction.
1960s–1970s Comics went underground, with artists avoiding regulation by selling their comics in unconventional venues like head shops. The small press scene thrived, particularly in San Francisco. Unfettered by the restrictions of the comics code, artists like R. Crumb and Aline Kominsky explored taboo topics like gratuitous drug use, sexual perversion and political satire.
1980s The Hernandez Brothers burst onto the scene with their Love & Rockets series, which ushered in a new era for the alt-comics landscape. Their blend of magical realism, punk and Chicano culture has garnered critical acclaim and courted controversy. In 2015, parents at a New Mexico high school called for the book to be banned from the library.
1990s–Now
Fantagraphics continues to publish artists that tackle challenging subject matter and push boundaries. We’re proud to be the home of cartoonists who are striving to keep things weird, and give a middle finger to the limitations of common decency