It was a funky week for comics news coming off the holiday here in America, but it’s still a full slate for me to cover. So, let’s get to it, as I explore ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics in Comics Disassembled, with more of a bad thing unfortunately taking the lead position this week.

1. Book Bans, Continuing Into Infinity

If there’s one thing I hate it’s…well, that would be really difficult to choose. There are so many options available to me these days. But amongst the first things I’d come up with would be the banning of books. The whole thing just seems incomprehensible to me. It’s a nuclear solution to an incredibly solvable problem. Namely, if you don’t want your child to read a book, they don’t have to, and you don’t need to ruin it for everyone else to get there. But it’s an issue that only continues to grow on the heels of any number of challenges towards a bevy of books and comics out there, the most famous of which may be Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel, Gender Queer.

These days, though, it seems as if the primary target for those who lust after the banning of books is manga. And it isn’t just ones like Assassination Classroom or Attack on Titan that skew older that are being banned around the United States in places like North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. It’s even comparatively harmless works like Unico: Awakening (which you can see a page from above), Samuel Sattin and Gurihiru’s recent adaptation of the Osamu Tezuka story. All this is happening as a response to individuals (and states) trying to focus school libraries on what they consider to be “age appropriate” material (aka material they personally do not approve of, quite often), and it continues to grow with the passage of time, both in terms of the schools that are allowing this and the material that’s under threat.

I understand why some wouldn’t want elementary school kids reading things like Assassination Classroom. But why is the solution always banning books, and then expanding those bans to other age groups and locations? It’s always the most extreme option available that these people focus on, and even worse, it rarely stops with the first titles they focus on. One school district in Tennessee instructed librarians to remove over 150 titles, a number that included manga in its selection! I will go ahead and say there is a zero percent chance the people fueling those bans have even read a quarter of those, let alone all 150. It’s a complete mess, and it’s only getting worse. Even worse, it’s for no clear reason, beyond people have a) hate in their hearts and b) way too much time on their hands, and that the powers that be either won’t do anything to eliminate it or are even encouraging it to happen. It really needs to stop.

Related but unrelated: Everyone should read The Library Mule of Cordoba, and do so before it is banned. It’s a great comic, and a highly relevant one as well.

2. Tariffs, Likely Having an Impact

Speaking of things that need to stop before they start, the looming specter of Trump’s promised tariffs on trade partners in Canada, Mexico, and China are generating fear and consternation amongst…well, everyone who understands how business works. That’s for many obvious reasons, and it’s something that’s making people in comics pretty uneasy. I’ve been talking with folks from publishers of late for an upcoming feature I’m working on for SKTCHD, and let me tell you: it’s top of mind. That’s because a lot of comics, particularly the trade paperbacks, graphic novels, and other collections but also many single issue titles, are not printed in the United States. Beyond that, much of the paper that’s produced doesn’t come from the U.S. either. So, uh, what’s going to happen in an industry that depends on other countries for its materials and products, quite often?

That’s something Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston recently rounded up on his site, as he collected perspectives from varying folks in the industry — including publishers, retailers, and beyond — that he found on social media. It’s an interesting read, especially when you get to the folks who lack belief that Trump will actually go through with it. The point is, if you were upset about how expensive comics were before, you ain’t seen nothing yet, because if these tariffs come to pass prices will have to change and change quick, more than likely. This is almost inarguably the number one topic in comics going into 2025, and it’s the type of thing that may not break comics, but it could prove incredibly costly. It isn’t the only industry that would be true with, but it’s obviously pretty relevant here.