Courtesy of Fantagraphics

Banned Books Week is September 29 through October 6 this year. Connecticut's usually pretty smug about this anti-censorship event. Last week, however, Guilford added a book to the blacklist: Dan Clowe's acclaimed Eightball #22 (aka Ice Haven).

When the New Haven Register revealed on its front page Sept. 17 that a Guilford English teacher had been placed on administrative leave for giving an "inappropriate" comic book to a student as a make-up summer reading assignment, there were some speech balloons and captions missing.

The paper didn't run the names of the student or her irate parents—who'd requested anonymity because of alleged harassment from students who liked the teacher—and didn't name the publication that caused the outrage. Comics enthusiasts and scholars braced themselves. Would the offending book be Frank Miller's Sin City? Cherry Pop-Tart? Some sexist R. Crumb scribble?

The comics world was stunned when, in Wednesday's paper, the Reg revealed that the book the student's outraged father deemed "borderline pornography" was Dan Clowes' Eightball #22. Clowes is among the most acclaimed writer/artists working in the field. Eightball #22, first published in 2002 and later reprinted as the hardcover book Ice Haven, is part of a huge body of work that has included the graphic novels Ghost World (made into a popular movie), David Boring and the David Lynchian A Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. Clowes' newest graphic novel, Mr. Wonderful, is currently being serialized by that well-known porn rag The New York Times Magazine. Clowes has been awarded every conceivable industry honor: Eightball #22 alone won prestigious Eisner Awards for Best Single Issue, Best Writer/Artist, Harvey Awards for Best Single Issue and Best Writer/Artist, and the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Comic.

It's not that Clowes' work doesn't deal with adult themes. One of his preferred narrative devices is to use innocent comic styles of bygone eras to depict unsettled, isolated, ultra-realistic modern characters. In 29 interlocking vignettes, using a variety of different drawing and writing styles critics have deemed "Altmanesque," Eightball #22 tells tales of abduction, desperate young love, primitive carnal and violent instincts, depression, loneliness, paranoia and unlikely career goals. The jam-packed 40-page story ends somewhat hopefully, but documents numerous harrowing life journeys.

Register reporter Rachael Scarborough King shorthanded Clowes' complexities by reporting that the comic "includes references to rape, various sex acts and murder, as well as images of a naked woman, and a peeping tom watching a woman in the shower." Shocking stuff—though the sex and bloodshed aren't in fact depicted, just talked about, and the nudity is part of a poignant and decidedly non-titillating scene in which a sensitive young woman is afraid her lover will leave her because of an unsightly birthmark. In any case, graphic acts of sex, murder and voyeurism can be found in countless classic works of literature, by such acclaimed writers as Charles Bukowski, Truman Capote, Allen Ginsberg, Ayn Rand, Leo Tolstoy, Gore Vidal, Nick Hornby, Theodore Dreiser, Sam Shepard, Alice Walker, Cormac McCarthy, Jack Kerouac, D.H. Lawrence, John Cheever, Thomas Hardy and Sylvia Plath.

All those writers, as it happens, appear on the official list of 2007 Summer Reading suggestions presented to students by the Guilford High School English department. So do disgraced sex-and-drugs-addled memoirist Augustyn Burroughs and bestselling erotic mystery novelist Janet Evanovich, most of whose books have a hot sex scene within the first few pages. It's an enlightened, engrossing, wide-ranging list that might actually attract more young people to read.

Eightball's themes fit snugly with those of most of these unassailably worthwhile writers. Daniel Clowes' main offense, it's suspected, is that while his work has received more accolades than virtually any other writer on the Guilford High reading list, he works in the disparaged form of comic books and graphic novels, a literary genre that's been trying to convince non-partakers that it's "not just for kids" for at least a half century.

That cause wasn't helped by the New Haven Register's Sept. 21 "Soundoff" readers poll question, "Are comic book novels too graphic for children?" Some readers responded with such uninformed comments as "Guilford schools and comic books—it figures," and "Absolutely, period. It is frightening that this event could occur in our educational system." Meanwhile, Guilford's Superintendent of Schools, Thomas Forcella, sent a notice to Guilford High School parents noting that "it is important for parents to know that the material in question rose to a level of unacceptability that is far beyond that of materials normally questioned in educational circles."

Really? Tell that to the School Library Journal, which reviewed Clowes' story (in its hardbound Ice Haven format) and declared it suitable for grades 10 and up. (The "victim" at Guilford High was a ninth grader, but that rating's still a far cry from "borderline pornography" that is "far beyond" acceptability for academic use.)

Reached by phone on Monday, Forcella restated his belief that Eightball #22 was "inappropriate" for 13-year-olds. He mentioned Clowes' "offhandedness" in dealing with such topics as rape, and gave Truman Capote as an example of a writer who "in his novels, presents materials in a responsible manner." Forcella noted that while teachers are allowed to bring in materials that are not on the official curriculum, they usually follow a peer-review process where a colleague agrees that the material is suitable. That process was apparently not followed in this case. Forcella forsees no changes to the existing summer reading suggestions, and chuckled when asked if Eightball #22 was likely to appear on it anytime soon.

Clowes has not yet commented on the incident. Eric Reynolds, publicity director and special projects editor for Fantagraphics, Clowes' longtime publisher, writes in an email that "I am highly disturbed that someone lost his job over this particular comic, especially in light of some of the more incendiary rhetoric being thrown around in regard to it, notably the 'borderline pornography' quote. 'Pornography' as a term has no particular legal significance and is to some degree in the eye of the beholder, but the notion that there is anything pornographic about Eightball #22 is fairly absurd. The more legally relevant term is of course 'obscene,' and there is no doubt that Eightball #22 is not obscene by any legal definition of the word. This is a work of literary satire. It doesn't depict any sexual conduct and its literary and artistic merit has been articulated by many more reputable critics than myself, in magazines and newspapers across the country.

"I'd like to believe this is one giant misunderstanding," Reynolds concludes, "that could be resolved without ruining the career and/or reputation of anyone involved."

Too late. After being placed on administrative leave, the beleaguered teacher resigned. It's a fascinating commentary on American culture that might inspire a great work of fiction: An adult who generously exposes a young student to new cultures and concepts is caught up in a massive misunderstanding and finds his job jeopardized when angry parents get involved.

Oh yeah, that story's already been done—in the film version of Dan Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World. You should check it out. Just not at Guilford High School.

carnott@newhavenadvocate.com