This occurs even if the overall stories themselves don't have anything to do with the concepts directly.In 2005, Robert Rodriguez adapted Frank Miller’s renowned graphic novel Sin City onto the silver screen. Frequently, these graphic novels, and the libraries and schools that carry and incorporate them into their curriculums, are accused of 'preying' on vulnerable children by exposing them to graphic depictions of violence or controversial concepts like critical race theory. Unfortunately, that same accessibility has placed graphic novels in the crosshairs of parents, politicians, and religious figures who oppose the ideas that Maus, Fun Home, and similar comics address. Thanks to the medium's accessibility, graphic novels are often children and teenagers' first encounters with these topics, and there's ample proof that reading them has been a transformative experience for many of them. In recent years, comics and graphic novels have become extremely popular among younger readers, and the many talented authors and artists within the industry have used the medium to address issues related to war, race, gender, and the LGBTQ+ experience. While the CCA and its infamous stamp of approval have been history for over a decade, the stigma that inspired its creation is still alive and well. While some publishers rejected the Comics Code by going 'underground,' the CCA regulated the content of mainstream comics for nearly six decades until it was discontinued in 2011.

Fearing that the federal government would begin regulating comics, the industry adopted a form of internalized censorship through the Comics Code Authority, which drafted a strict set of borderline-puritanical guidelines that comics would have to follow to be sold in most stores. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency launched an investigation into the comic book industry, with several prominent figures from the industry being called for questioning by Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver. Inspired by Wertham's sensational accusations, the U.S. While Wertham's research would later be discredited, the release of Seduction of the Innocent ignited a nationwide moral panic that drove several cities to outlaw the creation and ownership of comics and led to public book burnings. Fredrick Wertham, a renowned child psychologist from New York, wrote and published Seduction of the Innocent, which claimed that comics not only desensitized children to violence but were also the leading cause of the spike in juvenile delinquency that had been plaguing the post-war United States.

The growing public resentment for comic books eventually hit a harsh crescendo in the mid-1950s when Dr.

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