A Nation Mourns*
In June, 2006, the nation was shocked by another tragic school shooting incident. William Jones III was an 18-year-old senior scheduled to graduate from Platteville High School in Wisconsin. On June 5th, at his school’s graduation ceremony, Jones, known by classmates as Kid Flash, opened fire on the assembled crowd of 300 using an automatic weapon he had purchased over the Internet and apparently concealed in a nearby locker room. Twenty-two people were killed in the incident, including 22 students, and another sixteen were injured. Jones eventually turned his weapon on himself. It was later reported that Jones was an avid comic book collector and that his gym locker contained, along with several hand guns and several boxes of ammunition, a 3 issue independent comic book titled School Slayer and several issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, Supergirl, and The Teen Titans. All the comics contained references to school fights, but School Slayer, published by Certified Cool Comics, depicted a graduation machine gun slaying scene. Certified Cool Comics Director David Henningsen said, in a written statement, “This incident is a tragedy, but our books are works of fiction sold for entertainment only. They have no relation to the event.”
Following the incident, the Christian conservative group Focus on the Family lobbied Congress to hold hearings on strengthening regulations on the publishing of comic books, magazines, books, and video games targeted at minors. They cited the declining of the influence of the once powerful Comics Code Authority. Focus on the Family wanted tighter controls on sales of offensive and violent material to anyone under the age of 18. Congressional Bill 007 The Comic Book Control Act is now before congress. This bill would prohibit comic books, magazines, books, and video games that contain extremely violent or offensive material from being sold to minors. Content would be regulated by a National Quality Control Board. President Bush has said he supports the legislation and wants it passed quickly. The bill currently has growing support in congress.
Your Task
- Select a partner with whom to work.
- Select a role related to this event. You may create any role you like. Some possible roles include:
- Family member of one of the school victims
- Member of the Platteville community
- Christian conservative group member
- Professional educator (teacher, principal, etc.)
- Comic book industry member (writer, artist, publisher, etc.)
- Publisher of books, magazines, or video games
- Average citizen
- Write a letter to Congress arguing for or against The Comic Book Control Act.
- Post this letter on the Internet and link it to each team member’s home page. (Be sure to ask for help if you can’t recall how to do this.)
* Reader Advisory: This is a fictional scenario to be used for educational purposes only. It is only for use by students in English 481: The Literature of Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Superheroes. Any similarities to real events, people, and organizations are purely co-incidental.