Fans Ticked Over Manga Censorship

by Calvin Reid, PW NewsLine -- Publishers Weekly, 3/9/2005

DC Comics is coming under heated criticism and calls for a selective boycott from manga fans complaining that the first volume of the much-anticipated Tenjho Tenge, released through DC's CMX manga line, has been heavily edited to remove explicitly sexual content.

The dispute has generated page after page of dismayed comment about DC Comics on messages boards devoted to manga; protestors have also launched their own Web page.

Many complaining fans are annoyed because of CMX promotional material, which claims that it offers "pure manga -- 100% the way the original Japanese creators want you to see it." But Japanese publishers are far more casual about depicting nudity, partial nudity and sexual content than U.S. publishers.

Random House found that out last year when they tried to remove nudity from the Negima series published by Del Rey Manga and set off protest. Del Rey backed down and now offers a shrink-wrapped and uncensored Negima that seems to please everyone. A spokesperson for DC declined to comment.