Author Of Banned Graphic Novel About The Holocaust To Speak At The CenterStage in Reston

RESTON, VA — The organizers of the Reston Community Center's 2021-22 events schedule likely didn't imagine its upcoming presentation about the state of comic books in America would suddenly be part of a national discussion on censorship.

Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and author of "Maus," is scheduled to present "What the %@&*! Happened to Comics?" on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 3 p.m., at RCC's The CenterStage.

In January, the McMinn County School Board in Tennessee voted to ban "Maus" from its curriculum for its "inappropriate language" and depiction of a nude woman, according to the Associated Press. This decision sparked outrage across the country.

In both "Maus" and its sequel "Maus II," Spiegelman documented his Jewish parents' experiences living in 1940s Poland. The books show the author interviewing his father about surviving the Holocaust. This powerful story earned Spiegelman a Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

Spiegelman told CNBC he was "baffled" by the decision to ban the books, describing it as "Orwellian."

In both graphic novels, Spiegelman employs the comic book storytelling convention of anthropomorphizing his characters, portraying Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. The nude woman the school board objected to is a female mouse shown unclothed while being victimized during the Holocaust.

Julie Goodin, a former history teacher, told AP the graphic novel was a good way to depict such a horrific event.

“It’s hard for this generation, these kids don’t even know 9/11, they were not even born,” Goodin said, according to AP. “Are the words objectionable? Yes, there is no one that thinks they aren’t. But by taking away the first part, it’s not changing the meaning of what he is trying to portray.”

The banning of "Maus" comes at a time when conservative officials are targeting books in school libraries or curriculums that are teaching subjects to which they object.

During the 2020 Virginia governor's race, Fairfax County parents called for the banning of two books that depicted LGBTQ+ themes from high school libraries. After removing the books for review, a school panel determined they could return to high school library shelves.

Tickets to Spiegelman's presentation "What the %@&*! Happened to Comics?"are available for purchase online for $20 Reston residents/$30 non-Reston residents.

The Associated Press contributed to the reporting of this story. Read the AP's full story: Holocaust novel 'Maus' banned in Tennessee school district