RECENTLY CENSORED COMICS LIST (APRIL 2018-JUNE 2018)
by BK Munn
It’s time once again to check in with the Canadian government’s ongoing censorship efforts. For some reason, most of the censorship in this country is directed at comic books, and specifically manga (but also hate propaganda).
Background
The basic way comics are censored in Canada is at the border by Border Services agents. These defenders of liberty open mail, shipments and luggage looking for seditious or pornographic material. And four times a year they publish a list of what they have caught, with a note attached about whether the items in question are “prohibited,” meaning they are impounded and/or destroyed, or “admissible,” meaning they let them go.
For the longest time, the government seemed to have a hard-on for Little Sisters Books and other bookstores who imported a lot of LGBTQ material, especially before the advent of free porn online and the demise of bookstores, which lead to some famous court cases. Nowadays they seem to pay particular attention to adult manga and anime.
With the exception of Hate Literature, this is an effort that focuses on visual media almost exclusively. Meaning, the Canadian government doesn’t seem to be in the business of actually reading books without pictures, like in the old days of Lady Chatterly’s Lover and “under-the-counter” porno paperbacks.
The List
The full title of the censored book list is “Quarterly List of Admissible and Prohibited Titles” and the most recent list to arrive in my inbox is for the period covering April 1 to June 30 2018, published by the mysterious “Prohibited Importations Unit, Travellers Border Programs Division” of the federal Canada Border Services Agency. One of the roles of the CBSA is to “administer tariff item 9899.00.00 of the Schedule to the Customs Tariff” (i.e., part of the Customs Act) that blocks the import of material “considered to be obscenity, treason, sedition, or hate propaganda” as defined by the Canadian Criminal Code.
Sometimes the list includes items that fall under Section 59 (Re-determinations): “This section lists titles that have been previously prohibited under tariff item 9899.00.00 and which have been the subject of program monitoring. The re-determination was initiated by the PIU in order to ensure that goods have been correctly classified.” Also Section 60 (Re-determinations): “This section lists titles that were previously prohibited under tariff item 9899.00.00 and which have been re-determined at the importer’s request.”
Here is the most recent list: As usual, the CBSA doesn’t note if the items in question were part of a larger wholesale shipment to a retailer or intended for an individual or just seized from a suitcase on the border (to see a collection of these lists up to 2010, see the CBDLF site here).
As usual, a single defunct U.S. publisher is the focus of the government’s attention. The banned comics are all translated hentai manga by Japanese creators, published by Simon Jones’ Icarus press, including issues from the tail end of the long-running porn series, AG: Super Erotic Manga Anthology. A quick check reveals you can order these through Amazon.com but not Amazon.ca, among many other places. Not included in this post are the many dvds on the banned list.
SECTION 58: DETERMINATIONS
Hate Propaganda / propagande haineuse
Books
- From the Temple to the Talmud; written by Dr. Harrell Rhome; published by The Barnes Review. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Mein Kampf: The Stalag Edition; written by Adolph Hitler; published by Zentral Verlag Der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf. GMBH 1937-1944/Ostara Publications; © 1937-1944/2016. (admissible / admissible)
- My Revolutionary Life; written by Gen. Leon Degrelle; published by The Barnes Review; © 2015. (admissible / admissible)
- The Artist Within the Warlord: An Adolph Hitler You’ve Never Known; written by Carolyn Yeager and Wilhelm Kriessmann, Ph.D.; published by The Barnes Review; © 2014. (admissible / admissible)
- The Dissolution of Eastern European Jewry; written by Walter N. Sanning; published by Castle Hill Publishers. (admissible / admissible)
- The Synagogue of Satan: Updated, Expanded & Uncensored; written by Andrew Carrington Hitchcock; published by Willis A. Carto, The Barnes Review; © 2017. (prohibited / prohibite)
Booklets
- A Straight Look at the Second World War – The Final Truth About World War II; written by Willis A. Carto; published by The Barnes Review. (admissible / admissible)
- The Hungarian Terror: Béla Kun Strangles A Nation; written by Dr. Edward R. Fields; published by The Barnes Review; © 2014. (admissable / admissable)
Magazines
- The Barnes Review; published by Willis A. Carto, The Barnes Review; © 2014. (admissable / admissable)
Obscenity / Obscénité
- How To Bomb the U.S. Gov’t; written by Sam Hyde, Nick Rochefort, and Charls Carroll; Million Dollar Extreme. (admissible / admissible)
- Comic AG – Issue 57, April 2007; published by Icarus, © 2007. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Comic AG – Issue 58, April 2007; published by Icarus, © 2007. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Comic AG – Issue 59, May 2007; published by Icarus, © 2007. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Comic AG – Issue 60, May 2007; published by Icarus, © 2007. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Comic AG – Issue 61, June 2007; published by Icarus, © 2007. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Puni Kano; published by FAKKU, LLC; Wanipagazine Co. Ltd., © 2014. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Renai Sample; published by FAKKU, LLC; Wanipagazine Co. Ltd., © 2015. (prohibited / prohibé)
- Flesh For Frankenstein; produced by Andrew Braunsberg, CINECITTA Studios, © 1973. (admissible / admissible)
- I Fucked Your Step Father! 7; produced by White Ghetto Films, © 2014.(prohibited / prohibé)