Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest
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 Newspaper and Artwork - 2022
Alyson Piccione
Digital edition of the Jurgen Comics Contest broadsheet newspaper celebrating the 2022 Contest winners. The newspaper design and supplemental artwork was created by contest student editor Alyson Piccione. Supplemental promotional materials include poster, comic, and caricatures of historical figures who played a role in the censorship of James Branch Cabell's work Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice.
The 2022 Jurgen Comics Contest invited VCU students to explore some episode or aspect of the seizure and censorship of James Branch Cabell’s Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice in a single-page, multi-panel comic.
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A Silent Fate
Ty Campbell
Honorable mention in the 2022 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
This comic reimagines a statement by the Great Tumblebug in James Branch Cabell's satirical fable, "The Judging of Jurgen." Here, a character is given a book with a hidden message, "To make literature and to make trouble are synonyms."
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Cabell Walks into a Bar
Erin Crawford
Grand Prize winner in the 2022 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
Literary figures F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald make an appearance in this wry work calling to mind the Sunday comics of Winsor McCay. The Prohibition era story is told with a modern twist, as characters drink from juice boxes. Their heads are drawn as speech bubbles as a commentary on how we are all our thoughts and words/actions.
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Swear to It
Jay Crilley
Runner-up award in the 2022 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
This colorful comic draws from a newspaper account of the “Propriety and Impropriety in Literature” debate held at the National Arts Club on Nov. 8, 1922, only weeks after the case against Cabell's Jurgen was dismissed.
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Moral of the Story
Katy Hooper
Honorable mention in the 2022 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
A student works with laptop and sketchbook to develop insight into the events and issues surrounding the censorship of James Branch Cabell's book Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice. A drawing of a devil taunts the artist throughout the comic.
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The Banning of Jurgen
Hannah Smith
Honorable mention in the 2022 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
Inspired by the work of Frank C. Papé, one of the illustrators of Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice, this comic features a young Jurgen and numerous fanciful creatures surrounded by an angry crowd calling for them to be banned.
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The Judging of Jurgen
Tess Wladar
Runner-up award in the 2022 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.
Playing with sight gags and double-entendre, this comic refers to James Branch Cabell's own response to New York Society for the Suppression of Vice censor John S. Sumner. Cabell wrote a satirical fable called "The Judging of Jurgen," featuring a tumblebug, or dung beetle, who made accusations against King Jurgen in the court of Philistia.