Long Island library accidentally gives out pornographic comic to families

ByKristin Thorne WABC logo

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

FARMINGDALE, Long Island (WABC) -- A library on Long Island is apologizing for accidentally putting a pornographic comic book in a free giveaway bag to families.

The Farmingdale Public Library gave it out Saturday, Aug. 14, during Free Comic Book Day, an annual nationwide event.

"I'm glad that the parent brought it to our attention," library director Debbie Podolski said. "It was a mistake. It slipped through."

The cover of the comic, "Tales of a Grown-Up Nothing," shows a teenage girl skateboarding and makes no allusion to the pornographic material inside.

The comic features pictures of people in various sexual positions and one woman using a sex toy. It also features a picture of a man appearing to kill a police officer with the words "The Antifa Super-Soldier Cookbook" above it.

Eyewitness News exchanged emails with one local father who said his child looked at the pornographic comic. The father was upset, but did not want to be identified or do an interview with Eyewitness News. He said he was aware of one other child who was also given the comic book as part of the giveaway.

Podolski said after the father made the library aware of the comic book, the library removed two other questionable titles from the comic books it received from Diamond Comic Distributors - the company which sponsors Free Comic Book Day. Podolski said the other comics featured foul language. She said they were all thrown out.

Podolski said in the six years the library has participated in Free Comic Book Day, the library never received mature material from Diamond Comic Distributors.

"Each participating library orders the age-related titles they would like to receive (All Ages, Teen, Mature) and then receives an assortment of titles based on the requested age-ratings," Ashton Greenwood, Diamond spokesperson, said in a statement to Eyewitness News. "Given this mishap by the library, we are reviewing guidelines going forward."

Podolski said the library separated the titles in the giveaway bag with a piece of paper to identify the comic for children, teens and adults.

Laurie Rozakis, Vice President of the library's Board of Trustees, applauded the way Podolski handed the situation after Podolski realized the pornographic comic had accidentally been distributed.

"I think our library handled this masterfully," Rozakis said.

Podolski said the library will not participate in Free Comic Book Day again.

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