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With a comic book convention in Charlotte this weekend, Yvette Spivock has a message for parents: Beware of naked superheroes.
She recently discovered that the No. 18 issue of the Batman Confidential comic book series contains images parents might find inappropriate for children.
For a dime, Spivock bought the comic book last week for her 12-year-old son at Mecklenburg's South County Regional Library. Her kids recently discovered the 1960s Batman TV show.
While she chose comic books with relatively mild covers, she felt no need to read them first. After all, comics are for kids, she reasoned, particularly those about Batman.
“I just went through the bins and took the ones with the nicest covers that looked least scary,” she said.
But Spivock grew suspicious later, at home in South Charlotte.
She heard her son and his cousin giggling.
What's so funny? she asked.
“Mom, look at this!”
Spivock was shocked to discover that in this issue, the Caped Crusader's female counterpart – Batgirl – had ditched her clothes, her cape, everything but her mask.
The comic book, published last August, contains 10 pages depicting an unusual confrontation between Batgirl and Catwoman. The crafty criminal has stolen an important notebook that Batgirl needs. To get away, Catwoman ducks into a meeting of the Gotham City's Hedonist Society.
Batgirl follows – donning only her mask (Holy Hedonist, Batman!) to blend in with the naked pleasure-seekers inside.
While it's obvious the characters are naked, readers aren't privy to all the details. The characters' private parts are covered – just barely – with roses, arms and legs, even a bowl of fruit.
The opening page shows Batgirl self-consciously clutching her cape to cover her bare body, although her curves are well-defined.
Another page shows her walking through the Hedonist's gathering as naked men ogle her.
The most eye-popping scene is a two-page spread showing Batgirl's body-to-body tussle with Catwoman for the important notebook.
But it doesn't look like a struggle, and contains none of those exclamations from the TV show: POW! BOOM! WHAM!
Spivock and her husband, Bill, were not amused.
The two aren't mad at the library, but they did touch base to let officials know what they'd brought home from the library's fundraising sale.
The library sells a variety of donated materials but makes an effort to screen items before offering them to the public. If screeners find something off-color, they send the items to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
Library officials aren't sure what happened in the Spivocks' case, but they guess a screener might have glanced over a stack of comic books and chosen not to scour every page.
The library isn't planning to change its screening process, said library spokeswoman Angela Haigler.
Still, officials apologized to the Spivocks for the library's role in the caper, and offered a refund.
“Comic books just happen to be an item that seem not a serious thing,” said Rhonda Pinkney, manager of South County Regional Library. “I don't know how that eased in.”
DC Comics, which publishes Batman Confidential, said the series is designed for people age 16 and above – and isn't intended for young children. The company often places a star on the cover of kid-friendly comics.
A spokesperson said the company sometimes gets complaints about content, but haven't heard them about the No. 18 issue.
But the Spivocks say DC should do more to warn parents of potentially offensive material.
“They trap you with the Batman name, and I don't know what their underlying mission is,” Yvette Spivock said. “I was outraged.”
Bill Spivock said: “We're not religious people or anything – we're rather liberal – but this goes beyond all acceptability.”
Their timing coincides with the comic book convention that opened in Charlotte Friday. An artist for the Batman Confidential series is expected to appear, and issues will likely be available.
The Spivocks say they'll likely keep their peculiar Batman comic book.
“Who knows,” said Bill Spivock, “in the end they might actually be worth something.”
