RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Calling the publication unfit to be seen by children and unsuitable for minors, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Marcelo Crivella, has ordered a Marvel comic book to be withdrawn from sale at the Rio International Book Fair.
“We need to protect our children,” stated Crivella in his social media account on Thursday night.
The Marvel Comic Book the mayor criticized, The Avengers – The Children’s Crusade, shows two adult male characters, Wiccano and Hulking, kissing. In the plot the two are boyfriends and have a stable relationship. Both characters are clothed.
“As a result, we have determined that Fair organizers collect comic books with content that is unsuitable for minors. It is not correct for them to have early access to subjects that do not agree with their ages,” justified Crivella.
According to local media, a mother who bought the book for her son made a complaint about the kiss and the topic trended on the Internet.
For Crivella, a right-wing evangelical, literature ‘like this need to be in sealed in black bags, with warnings about sexually explicit content’ on the cover.
Organizers responded by stating that they would not order the removal nor the sealing in black plastic of any of the comic books from the Fair’s stands. According to them the content of these comic books is neither inappropriate nor pornographic.
“Festival organizers understand that if a visitor purchases a work that he/she does not like, he/she has every right to request the exchange of the product, as provided in the Consumer Protection Code,” organizers said in a press statement.
“This is a plural festival where everyone is welcome and represented. This weekend, the Book Fair will have three panels to discuss Trans and LGBTQA+ literature,” concluded the statement.
On Friday (September 6th) afternoon, after the organizers’ refusal, the mayor sent a group of inspectors to retrieve the comic books in question. The men from the mayor’s office were met with boos and hisses from visitors at the Fair.
Inspectors, however, were unable to find a single copy of the comic book. Exhibitors, that yesterday were selling the Avenger collection, claim that they sold out the copies.
City officials stated that the book infringed articles in the Child and Adolescents Statute (ECA). “The city considered inappropriate, according to the ECA, that a work of superheroes present and illustrate the theme of homosexuality to adolescents and children, including children under ten years old, without prior notice of its content,” read the statement issued by the city’s government on Friday.
Crivella’s criticism came a day after Rio councilman, Alexandre Isquierdo, ranted about the comic book on his Facebook and Instagram pages. “A warning to parents! Watch and share the speech against Marvel’s children’s book that spreads homosexuality to CHILDREN! The comic book is being sold sealed at the Book Fair and in bookstores, (and) parents only realize the content later. An absurd crime!” said the lawmaker.
This Marvel youth series was originally published in the United States between 2010 and 2012. The Portuguese version was first published in 2012 and then republished in 2016 by Panini Comics.