Banned Comics, Old Problems, New Forms, March 7, 2023

The 355th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 7pm ET. For more info visit: https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/

Banned Comics: Old Problems, New Forms. A Will Eisner Week event with Jeff Smith, Jerry Craft, Denis Kitchen, Jeff Trexler, Michael Dooley and Danny Fingeroth.

Will Eisner believed that artistic freedom —in his own work and that of other cartoonists—was of utmost importance. He was an early ally of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Eisner lived through the controversies over comics of the ’40s, ‘50s, and until his 2005 death, and made use of new freedoms for his own graphic novel work. With the current controversies over graphic novels in schools just the latest in the decades-long battle over free speech vs. community standards, comics historians and creators including Jeff Smith (Bone), Jerry Craft (New Kid), Denis Kitchen (Kitchen Sink Press),Jeff Trexler (acting director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) and Michael Dooley (The Education of a Comics Artist) discuss comics censorship over the decades, and what we can learn from Eisner’s career and work to help deal with these latest challenges. Danny Fingeroth (Will Eisner Studios) moderates.