Out of the Gutters

Obscenity, Censorship, and Transgression in American Comics

Jorge J. Santos, Patrick Lawrence

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Hardback

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English

University of Texas Press
30 June 2025

Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers; Graphic novels; Graphic novels: history & criticism; Ethical issues: censorship

Series: World Comics and Graphic Nonfiction Series

Comics have long been a subject of moral panics, no doubt thanks to their in-your-face illustrations and their association with young readers. Indeed, the politicians and parents behind today’s book-banning campaigns reserve special ire for graphic novels. What makes today’s controversies different is the content of the alleged obscenity. Instead of targeting sex as such, censors now focus on affirmations of nonheteronormative identity, as in Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. And while violence is a constant in comics, stories that acknowledge nationalist oppression and violence, such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, are also being blacklisted.

Out of the Gutters assembles scholars from diverse disciplines to examine US comics, graphic novels, and cartooning that have been challenged as obscene or transgressive. Covering well-known underground figures like Robert Crumb and Charles Burns, newcomers such as C. Spike Trotman and Emil Ferris, and mainstream creators including Chris Claremont and Archie Goodwin, the collection explores the market economics of transgression, historical representations of graphic violence, the ever-changing meaning of pornography, sex-positive comics by BIPOC authors, and queerness in pop-culture mega-properties like X-Men and The Walking Dead.

Edited by: Jorge J. Santos, Patrick Lawrence
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 540g
ISBN: 9781477331804
ISBN 10: 1477331808
Series: World Comics and Graphic Nonfiction Series
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 30 June 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jorge J. Santos, Jr. is an associate professor of Multiethnic Literatures of the United States at the College of the Holy Cross and the author of Graphic Memories of the Civil Rights Movement: Reframing History in Comics. Patrick S. Lawrence is an associate professor of English at the University of South Carolina Lancaster and the author of Obscene Gestures: Counter-Narratives of Sex and Race in the Twentieth Century.

Reviews for Out of the Gutters: Obscenity, Censorship, and Transgression in American Comics

A rich and compelling compilation of essays, Out of the Gutters is a valuable resource for readers across fields, from comix/graphic novel devotees, to students of censorship or obscenity law, to those interested in underground publishers and transgressive cultural forms. Thoughtful and engaging, this volume draws on a wide body of materials that will make it a key resource. - Brett J. Gary, New York University, author of Dirty Works: Obscenity on Trial in America's First Sexual Revolution