Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

The Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest is an annual student competition dedicated to telling the story of banned art – books, music, film and more – and encouraging discussion of the complex relationship between art and society. The contest is sponsored by VCU Libraries with generous support from the James Branch Cabell Library Associates.

The Jurgen Comics Contest is named after James Branch Cabell’s ribald and satirical fantasy, Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice. In 1920, Jurgen was declared a “certain offensive, lewd, lascivious and indecent book” by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Suppressed just as Prohibition took effect, "bookleggers" sold copies of Jurgen at exorbitant prices. Two years later, courts exonerated Cabell's work, and Jurgen was again available–reaching an even wider audience due to the interest generated by the sensational trial.

2025 Grand Prize: Ingo Taylor — The Red Scare
Artistry: Alyssa Hwee — Of Kings and Queens
Storytelling: Ana Gonzalez — Blacklisted. Hollywood 1950
Research: Naomy Cardoso Perez — To and From Guantanamo Bay
Honorable mention: Heciel — Carpetas. | 1. Vuelo Blanco; Winston Broiles — The Boondocks; Nathan Persson – The War on Degenerate Art

Fall 2023 Grand Prize: Wanda Felsenhardt — The Right to Read: Censorship in America’s Prisons
Artistry: Naomy Cardoso Perez and Gillian Grunenfelder — Monument Woman
Storytelling: Winston Broiles — Spider-Man, Terror of the Comics Code Authority
Research: Hannah Diment — Allegory of Artemisia
Honorable Mention: Cici Eltermann — America’s Sailor Moon; Ayla Bramblett — Dystopian University

2023 Grand Prize: Rena Bridge — A Quick History of Gay Batman
Runners-up: Alexander Tyree — Driven Underground; Emil George — Female Nudity
Honorable Mention: John Novak — Aftertaste; H. M. Smith — The Devil's Fire
First-Time Comic Creators: Daniel Lee — Behind the Scene; Sophia Shokraei — Malicious Compliance

2022 Grand Prize: Erin Crawford — Cabell Walks into a Bar
Runners-up: Jay Crilley — Swear to It; Tess Wladar — The Judging of Jurgen
Honorable Mention: Katy Hooper — Moral of the Story; Hannah Smith — The Banning of Jurgen;
Ty Campbell — A Silent Fate

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Jurgen Comics Contest Comic Book and Artwork - 2025

Minuet Curry

Digital cover art created by student editor Minuet Curry for the 2025 Jurgen Comics Contest comic book celebrating the contest winners. Winners' artwork was included in the print edition of this booklet. This cover art features "King Jurgen," who represents the contest's connection to James Branch Cabell's once-banned book Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice.

The 2025 Jurgen Comics Contest invited VCU students to create the cover artwork for an imagined comic book focused on a historical incident of art censorship.

Supplemental promotional materials presented here include a poster and exhibit label related to the 2025 theme.
The Boondocks

Winston Broiles

Honorable mention in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A controversial and over-the-top parody of the racist character trope, "The Story of Jimmy Rebel" became the only episode of the television show "The Boondocks" excluded in a 2020 streaming run.
Blacklisted. Hollywood 1950

Ana Gonzalez

Storytelling prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A successful screenwriter is falsely accused of being a Communist sympathizer and must endure suffocating censorship, surveillance and the struggle to preserve both his creativity and his freedom.
Of Kings and Queens

Alyssa Hwee

Artistry prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

Set against the backdrop of the Stonewall riots, this comic book cover highlights the role of drag kings and queens at the forefront of political activism and community organizing.
Carpetas. | 1. Vuelo Blanco

Heciel Nieves-Bonilla

Honorable mention in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

Set in a time when Puerto Rican nationalist sentiments were strongly suppressed and an FBI surveillance program known locally as "Carpetas" was carried out on the island, the children of censored and imprisoned artists, musicians, and poets navigate their restricted personal and communal identity.
To and From Guantanamo Bay

Naomy Cardoso Perez

Research prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A man's art becomes his only tether to the real world during his unlawful detention at Guantanamo Bay. When he is offered the opportunity to exhibit his work for a small nonprofit gallery, the Department of Defense forbids the artwork from leaving the compound.
The War on Degenerate Art

Nathan Persson

Honorable mention in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A dark historical tale about the modernist and avant-garde painters and sculptors whose art was attacked and derided in the Nazi Party's 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition
The Red Scare

Ingo Taylor

Grand prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

The Masked Moth, scourge of supervillains and protector of artists from censorship, battles his greatest foe yet—The Red Scare, who emits a scream so terrifying it sends people into a paranoid, anti-Communist frenzy.
Jurgen Comics Contest Newspaper and Artwork - Fall 2023

Julia Martinez

Digital edition of the Jurgen Comics Contest broadsheet newspaper celebrating the Fall 2023 Contest winners. The newspaper design and supplemental artwork were created by contest student editor Julia Martinez. Supplemental promotional materials include a poster for an online information session.

The Fall 2023 Jurgen Comics Contest invited VCU students to explore a specific historical incident of censorship or suppression of visual art, books, music, film or performance.
Dystopian University

Ayla Bramblett

Honorable Mention in the Fall 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

An evocative look at the conflict between student identify and artistic expression and the structure of an arts curriculum.
Spider-Man, Terror of the Comics Code Authority

Winston Broiles

Storytelling prize winner in the Fall 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

A humorous comic about how Spider-Man comics emboldened the comics industry to reject oversight and censorship by the C.C.A.
Monument Woman

Naomy Cardoso Perez and Gillian Grunenfelder

Artistry prize winner in the Fall 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

The story of Nazi attempts to control art and of the bravery of Rose Valland, a French art historian and member of the Resistance, who secretly documented Nazi art theft.
Allegory of Artemisia

Hannah Diment

Research prize winner in the Fall 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

A consideration of the challenges faced by the talented 17th-century woman painter, Artemisia Gentileschi.
America's Sailor Moon

Cici Eltermann

Honorable mention in the Fall 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A wry account of how the relationship of two queer characters in the Japanese anime “Sailor Moon” was changed for the English-language dub.
The Right to Read: Censorship in America’s Prisons

Wanda Felsenhardt

Grand Prize winner in the Fall 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

A surprising look into the vast number of titles banned by state prison systems and the many restrictions that keep books out of prisoners' hands.
The Blind Art Collector

Rabeeha Adnan

A wordless comic exploring literal and metaphorical blindness and the unwritten codes that influence the art market. Inspired by a story told by Fran Liebowitz. The Morse Code in the comic spells out B-L-I-N-D A-R-T C-O-L-L-E-C-T-O-R.
A Quick History of Gay Batman

Rena Bridge

Grand Prize winner in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A humorous look at ongoing discussions about the nature of Batman and Robin's relationship, beginning with Frederic Wertham's influential book, Seduction of the Innocent (1954).
Female Nudity

Emil Georges

Runner-up in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A nearly wordless comic conveying the emotional experience of an artist encountering gallery content restrictions.
New Queer Cinema: Fighting Censorship with Independent Film

Rowan Leary

A look at examples of the New Queer Cinema movement and how queer filmmakers rebelled against the lingering impact of the Hays Code, film industry standards and the MPAA rating system.
Behind the Scene

Daniel Lee

First-Time Comic Creator winner in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

This comic asks the question, "Do the words you hear really come from the person holding the microphone?"
Aftertaste

John Novak

Honorable mention in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A metaphorical consideration of the outsized impact a single censor can have on the larger community.
Malicious Compliance

Sophia Shokraei

First-Time Comic Creator winner in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

This comic depicts a musician's act of self-censorship and silent protest when faced with a broadcast network's performance restrictions. Inspired by real events.
The Devil's Fire

H. M. Smith

Honorable mention in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

This comic captures the drama of a 1979 vinyl record burning and counter-protest.
Jurgen Comics Contest Newspaper and Artwork - 2023

Jess Soffian

Digital edition of the Jurgen Comics Contest broadsheet newspaper celebrating the 2023 Contest winners. The newspaper design and supplemental artwork was created by contest student editor Jess Soffian. Supplemental promotional materials include a poster and comics related to the 2023 theme.

The 2023 Jurgen Comics Contest invited VCU students to explore codes, censorship and conflict in a single-page, multi-panel comic. Students could enter in either of two categories, Grand Prize ($1,000 top prize) or First-Time Comic Creator ($100 top prize).
Driven Underground

Alexander Tyree

Runner-up in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

This comic takes the reader on a journey beneath the streets while exploring the language of the 1954 Comics Code and its effect on the subsequent underground comix scene.