Comixology released an official statement today saying they were behind the banning of Saga #12 on iOS devices, not Apple.
When word got out that the latest issue of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ critically acclaimed series was unavailable on Apple because of depiction of gay sex, the internet wasted no time picking up their pitchforks and lighting their torches. Vaughan’s press release on the matter particularly fueled outrage at Apple for supposedly censoring Saga over images of gay oral sex:
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.
However, today’s statement from Comixology’s CEO David Steinberger has shed some new light on the situation:
In the last 24 hours there has been a lot of chatter about Apple banning Saga #12 from our Comics App on the Apple App Store due to depictions of gay sex. This is simply not true, and we’d like to clarify.
As a partner of Apple, we have an obligation to respect its policies for apps and the books offered in apps. Based on our understanding of those policies, we believed that Saga #12 could not be made available in our app, and so we did not release it today.
We did not interpret the content in question as involving any particular sexual orientation, and frankly that would have been a completely irrelevant consideration under any circumstance.
Given this, it should be clear that Apple did not reject Saga #12.
After hearing from Apple this morning, we can say that our interpretation of its policies was mistaken. You’ll be glad to know that Saga #12 will be available on our App Store app soon.
We apologize to Saga creator Brian K. Vaughan and Image Comics for any confusion this may have caused.
Vaghan has now followed-up his original response by apologizing for the confusion and saying he never believed either company involved in the matter were homophobic, just inconsistent with their censorship.
With Apple halting digital comic sales for questionable material like James Joyce’s Ulysses for nudity, Mark Fiore’s NewsToons for political mockery, and the recent removal of 1500 French comics by Izneo for pornographic content, there was little doubt that Apple had banned Saga #12 as well. What made the situation weird was that earlier issues of Saga have depicted sexually acts more explicit than anything found in the current issue. As noted in Dave Howlett’s review of Saga #11, the story began with a flashback sex scene between the male and female leads. However, Steinberger’s remarks make it clear that Saga #12 was only temporarily banned due to Apple’s past censorship practices. It also explains why Comixiology delayed this week’s sales of same-day-as-print books on iOS.
Thankfully, Saga #12 is now available to buy on iOS devices, so fans can finally purchase the issue and put this distressing matter behind them. Hopefully, Comixology and Vaghan have learned a lesson from this fiasco about making assumptions. As for Apple, one would hope this incident will serve as a wake up call to loosen their grip on comic book creators so they can not only avoid future books being banned, but to treat the comic book medium with the respect it deserves.