Update: Apple Bans Saga #12 For Gay Sex Scene

[The Wooster]

Update: Apple Bans Saga #12 For Gay Sex Scene

"Two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex," are enough to knock a comic off the app store.

Update: Apple did not ban the comic from its stores. That decision was made internally at Comixology. Read more here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123195-Comixology-Dropped-Saga-12-Not-Apple]

With the possible exception of Locke and Key, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Saga is the best thing happening in comics right now. It's a heady mixture of high adventure, classic fantasy, space opera surrealism and the same biting humor that Vaughan brought to Ex Machina and Y: The Last Man. It's good, go read it.

But not on any of the comic portal apps available on iOS, as Apple is banning the series' twelfth issue from sale on the grounds that it contains "two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex." At least, that's the story according to a recent announcement from Vaughan.

For reference, Saga's first line of dialogue is, "Am I shitting? It feels like I'm shitting," part of what is eventually revealed to be a relatively graphic childbirth scene. One of its central characters is the bisected phantom of a teenage girl, complete with hanging ghostly intestines. In issue four, a character visits "Sextillion," an absurdly over-the-top "pleasure planet" complete with multi-breasted centipede hookers, phallic architecture, evil pedophile aliens. Oh! And (NSFW) gay sex [http://i.imgur.com/KwJxL.jpg] (NSFW) In short; It's an adult series, for adults. Yet this is the first issue to run into trouble with Apple's content policies.

So what can you do to get around Apple's moral defense shield? As Vaughan puts it:

1) Head over to you 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?

Also, if you're a Comixology user, you can likely purchase the comic via the non-Apple web interface and have it show up on your iPad when you sync your purchases.

Point number four is rather relevant, as Apple is rather open about the low regard in which it holds every medium that is not literature or music. To quote the company's App Store submission guidelines:

We view apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.

Source: Image Comics Tumblr [http://imagecomics.tumblr.com/post/47555617614/a-statement-on-apples-banning-of-saga-12-from-brian#_=_]




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[Xan Krieger]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

 

[Xan Krieger]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

Probably sex since Apple has a massive issue with pornography.

Well then there's not much of an issue here, just normal censorship that I think we're all used to.

 

[The Wooster]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

 

[Xan Krieger]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

You mentioned sexual characters but not two characters...doing it so to speak. Boobs and gore I guess are OK based on what you wrote but the line is drawn at penetration.

 

[The Wooster]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

You mentioned sexual characters but not two characters...doing it so to speak. Boobs and gore I guess are OK based on what you wrote but the line is drawn at penetration.

The planet is called "Sextillion" What do you think happens there?

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I mostly use IDW and Comixology for my comic purchases, so I'm not sure if this is par for the course with Apple. If they were to do the same with a comic featuring hetero sex, then I'd simply say this is just a matter of (frankly) constrictive censorship rules (if they were to put age warnings like they do for music and movies then it probably wouldn't be a big deadl) If, however, they are pretty lax with hetero sex being depicted but get uppity with homo, then frankly that's just stupid. If anything, can't they just be consistent?

captcha: banana stand

I'm not sure whether to make a sexual euphemism or an Arrested Development joke, you decide

 

[Xan Krieger]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

You mentioned sexual characters but not two characters...doing it so to speak. Boobs and gore I guess are OK based on what you wrote but the line is drawn at penetration.

The planet is called "Sextillion" What do you think happens there?

Spoiler: THIS

Mod edit: Image removed.

*jaw hits the floor*
WTF AM I LOOKING AT?! Now I understand Apple's decision.

 

[The Wooster]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

You mentioned sexual characters but not two characters...doing it so to speak. Boobs and gore I guess are OK based on what you wrote but the line is drawn at penetration.

The planet is called "Sextillion" What do you think happens there?

Spoiler: THIS

Mod edit: Image removed.

*jaw hits the floor*
WTF AM I LOOKING AT?! Now I understand Apple's decision.

That is issue four. Which is not banned.

 

[Xan Krieger]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

You mentioned sexual characters but not two characters...doing it so to speak. Boobs and gore I guess are OK based on what you wrote but the line is drawn at penetration.

The planet is called "Sextillion" What do you think happens there?

Spoiler: THIS

Mod edit: Image removed.

*jaw hits the floor*
WTF AM I LOOKING AT?! Now I understand Apple's decision.

That is issue four. Which is not banned.

I was just about go get ice cream but I think I lost my appetite, thanks Grey.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Well considering the scene that you linked was allowed but somehow it suddenly isn't when it's two guys doing the same sort of thing, just seems rather wrong by Apple to not allow it. I can see them taking quite a bit of heat about this decision

captcha: banana stand

I'm not sure whether to make a sexual euphemism or an Arrested Development joke, you decide

Why not both?

 

[l3o2828]

Honestly i AM against censorship, but after seeing few images of Saga 12...Well...This comic looks just stupid.
I like how you catalogue it as 'Adult' material and not Mature,as the material itself is about as 'mature' as an 8 year old...Still...Just...Why make this.

PLEASE READ MY OTHER COMMENTS BEFORE QUOTING ME AGAIN OR I'LL JUST DELETE THIS COMMENT AND ALL THE OTHER ONES.

 

[SnowyGamester]

If anyone is curious enough to want to see the supposed offending images, google "Preview: Saga #12", first result, first two panels. I'd post a link but I suspect that isn't the best idea.

As for the images themselves, they're pretty freaking gay, though considering the rest of the comic they shouldn't really stand out that much.

 

[1337mokro]

You know. When a birth scene, eternal haunting spirits, what I presume are massive amounts of adult themes and gore are all okay.

But when the word sex, leaving aside the gay for now, gets mentioned all buttholes in the Apple Cabal clench up.

You see we seem to have this issue with sex. Quite possibly the best thing ever since masturbating and yet it is ranked above gore and death in the things we don't want children to see. I could take a child to a slaughterhouse, not for that purpose you sick people, to watch how his delicious steak gets made whilst possibly running the risk of turning him into a pussy vegan and nobody would bat a fucking eye...

But when I tell him that people with dicks like to stick that dick into holes and people with vagina's enjoy putting tings into them or rubbing them I get tackled by a veritable football team of censors before I defile this innocent child's mind. Mind you this "child" is 17 years old and probably has first hand experience. Whilst they are possibly massively colossal assholes in any other regard I do think that the kids are ready to hear where babies come from.

 

[Therumancer]

The big question is this, did they ban it due to gay sex or just due to sex?

I answered that in the third paragraph. Saga is FULL of sex.

You mentioned sexual characters but not two characters...doing it so to speak. Boobs and gore I guess are OK based on what you wrote but the line is drawn at penetration.

The planet is called "Sextillion" What do you think happens there?

Spoiler: THIS

Mod edit: Image removed.

... I kind of fail to see the big deal here. I'd have to go digging, but I'm pretty sure "Transmetropolitan" and "The Invisibles" both have stuff just as bad as those images in them, especially the former with it's recurring "Sex Puppets" ads (an ongoing joke) and the like. Things like the DC Vertigo imprint have been pushing stuff like this for a very long time. If any of their stuff is availible for purchuse the same way, there are some good reasons to question this. I have a Kindle: Fire personally, and last time I went shopping for digital comics those titles seemed to be there (though I didn't purchuse them as I have hardcopy TPB editions of the complete runs of those series).

At any rate, if I had to make an educated guess as to what the problem is, it's probably that there isn't much in the way of security to prevent children from buying or viewing these things (the kindle doesn't seem to have much). Apple seems to be trying for a very "family friendly" approach.... combined with someone probably complaining about that comic in paticular, which would have put Apple in an awkward position.

Overall it smacks of bureaucracy to me given that this series had been being carried this long (haven't read it personally, but I'm going to find out more about it, to see if it has anything going for it other than disturbing imagery). Oddly, while I'm pretty reactionary I'd imagine the best thing in this case is just to let it go... if you do things will probably just quietly revert back to normal after whomever made the complaint has shut up and stopped caring or paying attention. By being loud and making complaints it raises more questions, gets more attention, and puts more pressure on Apple to worry about content and security than they otherwise would when the other side gets involved. That's going to lead to either Apple going to town with a fine toothed comb over the long term, or trying to impose so much security that your not going to be able to buy a comic online without sending photocopied ID, dental records, and DNA samples, while agreeing to wear an electrified bomb collar Apple can set off on a whim in case of aberrant behavior.