Why lifting Sacramento’s outdated comic ban matters to every young reader | Opinion
Since moving to Sacramento a year and a half ago, I’ve found only a few places outside my apartment that truly feel like home. One of those is Big Brother Comics in Midtown. This past Halloween, I strutted down the streets in full Superman costume, my dog Pepper proudly matching me cape-for-cape, both of us wearing that legendary S.
Stepping inside, I knew I’d be among my people. Folks who saw the cape and instantly got it, because they’d read all about the Man of Steel’s adventures too. A few offered a simple, “great costume,” but their smiles said more: they knew what it meant to belong, to have a space where you could geek out and actually be celebrated for it.
It’s wild to think this haven could ever be threatened by something as bureaucratic as a city ordinance banning the sale of comic books. Thankfully, that’s not the story’s ending for Big Brother Comics or any shop like it in Sacramento.
In 1949, the Sacramento City Council banned the sale of comic books that depict acts such as arson, burglary, murder, torture, mayhem, and assault with caustic chemicals, to be sold to young adults under the age of 18. It has been in the city code ever since.
This was back when crime-fighting comics like Detective Comics were all the rage—those pulpy, action-packed stories that made adults nervous and kids dream bigger. Like anything that shakes up the status quo, comics took the heat for daring to be different.
Local comic book artist Eben Burgoon earlier this year discovered this 76-year-old ban in the city code and sought to end this unfortunate chapter in city history. He drafted a petition and started gathering signatures. Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum saw the petition and wanted to help take this ordinance out of the city code, sending a simple message. “Sacramento is open for business for the arts,” Pluckebaum said about the proposal on Monday. “We are not going to suppress books of any kind, whether they’re comic or otherwise. This is an old, antiquated bit of our history that is long overdue for a clean-up.”
The proposal will also make the third week in September “Sacramento Comic Book Week.”
On Tuesday, the City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee passed the proposal and will now head to the full council for final approval.
Though the city doesn’t enforce this ban, its removal lets the comic book community feel seen, a feeling that doesn’t always happen for them. I would know.
Comic books are integral to our society
I never quite understood why loving comics made me a target while growing up. Stories about Superman and Green Lantern sparked my imagination and filled my heart, but to most kids, that just made me “nerdy” or worse. In high school, a bully once thought it’d be hilarious to steal my brand-new Suicide Squad vs. Justice League comic, drag it into the bathroom, and ruin it in the grossest way possible. I tried to save it, but the pages were soaked and the smell was unforgettable, in all the worst ways.
“Grow up,” the guy said as he left the bathroom, laughing with his friends.
But here’s what he never realized: that comic, and so many others, helped me grow into the person I am today. Comic books helped me make sense of my emotions, face grief, and strive to be my best self in a world that made me feel less than heroic. They have evolved alongside us, leaping from newspaper pages to blockbuster movie screens that rake in billions.
For the council, this vote is an easy lift, a simple bit of housekeeping. But in a climate where it sometimes feels like any book could be banned at the drop of a hat, clearing this old ordinance out is a powerful move.
For the comic book lovers in Sacramento, the ones who travel throughout the city going to places like Big Brother Comics or The Cave to find the great stories found in glorious illustrated pages, it means the city finally sees it as art.
For every kid, bullied or not, who ever saw themselves in a cape or a comic panel, that’s something worth celebrating.
