Apple Bans Saga #12 Over Sex Images

UPDATE: ComiXology clarified this Wednesday afternoon that it was them blocking Saga #12 from Apple and not the other way around.  Here is the press release from ComiXology on the matter of Saga #12- Click here.

Saga #12 comes out with a bit of controversy.  Apple has announced you will NOT be able to buy the digital copy of Saga #12 via any application on Apple’s iOS.  You might be wondering why Apple would do this.  Well, it is all because of two postage stamp like images within the book.  These images are very sexual in nature and aren’t something you see in your everyday comic book.  As anyone who reads Saga knows, it isn’t your everyday comic book.  I wrote about Why You Should Be Reading Saga, well to me this is another reason.  No, not this one sex scene, but this book is original and doesn’t hold back.  I am a bit shocked Apple would even ban this single issue, when in the very first issue of Saga we have a child birth and another sex scene with two TV head humans, one who appears to be a male and one who appears to be a female.

Brian K. Vaughn released a statement about Apple banning Saga #12.  Also below Brian K. Vaughn’s statement is one of the images in question.  This image is NSFW and explicit so if you are underage or might be offended please don’t scroll past his statement.

As has hopefully been clear from the first page of our first issue, SAGA is a series for the proverbial “mature reader.” Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow’s SAGA #12 from being sold through any iOS apps. This is a drag, especially because our book has featured what I would consider much more graphic imagery in the past, but there you go. Fiona and I could always edit the images in question, but everything we put into the book is there to advance our story, not (just) to shock or titillate, so we’re not changing shit.

Apologies to everyone who reads our series on iPads or iPhones, but here are your alternatives for Wednesday:

1) Head over to your friendly neighborhood comics shop and pick up a physical copy of our issue that you can have and hold forever.

2) While you’re at it, don’t forget to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which helps protect retailers who are brave enough to carry work that some in their communities might consider offensive. You can find signed copies of Saga at the CBLDF site right now.

3) Download the issue directly through sites like https://comics.imagecomics.com or on your non-Apple smartphone or tablet.

4) If all else fails, you might be able to find SAGA #12 in Apple’s iBookstore, which apparently sometimes allows more adult material to be sold than through its apps. Crazy, right?

Anyway, special thanks to Eric Stephenson and everyone at Image for supporting our decision, and for always being so supportive of creators. Sorry again to readers for the inconvenience, but I hope everyone will be able to find an issue that Fiona and I are particularly proud of. And after you do, please check out PanelSyndicate.com, the new digital comics site I own with artist Marcos Martin, which remains 100% uncensored by corporate overlords.

Your pal,

Brian

Here is one of the images in question (again this is NSFW):

Now this isn’t the end of the world if you own an iPad, iPod or an iPhone.  ComiXology has you covered for this as well. They clarified this via Twitter when another comic book artist Greg Pak asked them if they would carry Saga #12. Here is the tweet to confirm it- https://twitter.com/cmxsupport/status/321702527538184192

ComiXology will have Saga #12 for purchase via their app.  Once you have it on their app it will sync to any of your Apple products.  Plus if I were you I would just stick with ComiXology in the future for downloading comics straight to your Apple products or you can do what Brian says- GO support your local comic book shop and buy Saga there!