Saga #12 Banned by Apple

It's not the first time this has happened and it probably won't be the last, but following up Apple's ban of Sex #1 on Comixology's iOS app, Apple is now prohibiting sale of Saga #12. Why? According to writer Brian K. Vaughan, for two "postage stamp-sized" depictions of gay sex.

From BKV's press release:

Annoying press release thing: APPLE vs. SAGA #12

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 s**t.

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

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?

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

So, you can buy Saga #12 through the Comixology web store and then sync it to your iPad/iPhone (or buy it through a non-Apple device), or you can purchase it on Apple's own iBookstore, which has a different set of guidelines.

Though graphic material is indeed prohibited as per Apple's guidelines, as Vaughan points out, Saga and other titles have done far worse than what's shown in Saga #12. Let alone the amount of extreme violence that's found in most mature-readers comics.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. If he could, he'd run away to live amongst wild cats for the rest of his days.

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