Comics Lowdown | Texas school district bans ‘The Breakaways’

Plus: Scout Comics launches Latinx imprint, Marvel’s legal battles, New York Comic Con and more!

Cathy G. Johnson’s The Breakaways joins the list of banned graphic novels making headlines over the past few weeks after Spring Branch Independent School District in Texas banned it from school libraries.

Spring Branch Independent School District, which serves part of Houston, told the Houston Chronicle that the graphic novel was removed from schools because it was “not age appropriate nor was it appropriate for its intended educational use.” A committee decided to ban it after receiving a letter from a parent.

The graphic novel is about a diverse 8th-grade soccer team that includes a trans character.

“The book includes kids of all sorts of identities to reflect the world that is around us,” creator Cathy G. Johnson told the Chronicle. “There is a transgender student who comes out in the book. He is just one of many characters who make up my book, as well as one of the identities that make up the world.”

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DC reveals Jonathan Kent is bisexual

The new Superman will share a kiss with another man in an issue coming out next month.

According to the New York Times and IGN, Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman who recently took over for his dad, is bisexual. He and Jay Nakamua will share a kiss in an issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El being published next month.

“The idea of replacing Clark Kent with another straight white savior felt like a missed opportunity,” writer Tom Taylor told the New York Times. He said that a “new Superman had to have new fights — real world problems — that he could stand up to as one of the most powerful people in the world.”

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