Below is the press release from Brian K. Vaughan & Image Comics reacting to Apple’s decision to ban the sale of Saga issue #12 on iOS apps.
(Scroll down for an update to the story…)
Without having seen the offending issue, I think this is hilarious because the last issue opens with our protagonists having orgasms and baring titties and such.
I’d be surprised if this move doesn’t help drive up sales of the book even further.
Oh, well. Silly Apple
Here’s what BKV had to say.
For immediate release: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 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
UPDATE 4/10
Apparently it’s available. Did Apple change its mind?
By the way, SAGA 12 is live in the iBookstore itunes.apple.com/us/book/saga-1…
— Ron Perazza (@Perazza) April 10, 2013
UPDATE 4/10 #2
Comixology never submitted the book in the first place? And then they let Apple take the heat for 24 hours before coming out (so to speak) with a statement? Say what? Read the details.
Comic Book Junkie 