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• From Batman to the Bible, potential new Florida law opens door to a single complaint banning graphic novels or manga in state schools, libraries, and even reading lists

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Some Florida senators are aiming to renew the state government's attack on comics.

A potential new criminal law on its way towards a vote in the Sunshine state could, if its backers get its way, further restrict access to some comics by those under the age of 18. As noted by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Florida Senate's Criminal Justice committee has approved a new bill titled 'Florida Senate Bill 1692' along a 6-3 party line vote by the committee’s Republican leadership.

The revised bill would seeks to limit students’ ability to specific reading material in school settings, removing previously included provisions based on Supreme Court principles that requires that potentially obscene works must be judged in context with the entire book - and not for, say, one solitary instance of "nudity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement" - and that no works can be absolved for passing "literary, artistic, political, or scientific" standards. This could apply to anything from the sexual conduct in Maia Kobabe's oft-challenged Gender Queer to the nudity depicted in the popular Action Bible series.

Florida Senate Bill 1692 would also allow for defacto temporary banning of a work if any work the local government decides isn't objectionable if it receives a single subsequent complaint, pending a review and appeal that would need to be funded by the local school systems. If passed, any Florida school district that doesn't immediately comply with SB1692 could have their state funding pulled, among other penalties.

Related: Four ways to take action against book bans

The CBLDF notes that SB1692 differs from other, similar, bills and laws across the country in that it lacks any mention of contextualization. While Virginia courts ultimately dismissed a lawsuit against Oni Press’s Gender Queer on the grounds that, taken as a whole, the book was clearly not pornographic nor obscene, Florida’s SB1692 allows for one single image in any context to be enough evidence of a book’s supposed obscenity. “Under the SB1692 rule, graphic novels and manga could be deemed harmful to minors on the basis of a single image regardless of its significance in context,” the CBLDF warn.

Florida SB1692 has not yet made it to the Senate for consideration, although it is moving increasingly closer with great speed; the bill was only initially introduced in late February 2025 but states its goal to take affect on July 1, 2025.

Keep your eyes on Popverse as we update this story with new developments.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.