Act 858, which restricts material deemed “harmful to minors” went into effect last week in Arkansas, potentially making comic book dealers criminals. This is one of those painting-with-a-broad-brush deals which manages to lump together titles as diverse as Catcher in the Rye, Sailor Moon, Batman, Penthouse, and a sizeable chunk of young adult materials, most notably manga. The law targets material of “prurient interest” or that “lacks serious literary, scientific, medical, artistic or political value for minors.” To protect the youngsters, libraries, bookstores and any other place that sells offending titles, must segregate the materials and use “blinder racks” for the more visually naughty titles. Not unexpectedly, purveyors of the “prurient” are all het up. More here from Anime News Network.
Also see July 1 Boondocks.
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