The Authority #27 -- written by Mark Millar, pencilled by Arthur Adams, and published by DC / Wildstorm in December 2001 -- was censored in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack upon the United States of America. The attack, which left many Americans seriously shaken and disturbed, led to a change in virtually all kinds of art. While Americans were often told and often repeated the mantra that "the terrorists win" if their lives were altered because of the terrorist action, a simultaneous concern about being "insensitive" -- or receiving bad press -- led many companies to tone down violence, particularly terrorist or urban violence. The trailers for the movie Spider-Man featured criminals caught in a web spun between the two World Trade Center towers -- which, of course, were no longer there; the trailer was pulled and portions of the film reshot. Such reactions, or perhaps overreactions, were common. The Authority: Widescreen, a special that featured a battle in New York City, was postponed, and The Authority #27 (as well as subsequent issues) was delayed. (In fact, the issue had already been greatly delayed because of a other circumstances.) When The Authority #27 was finally published, a number of panels were altered, with some having to be redrawn altogether. Sexual content was censored as well as violent content, so not all of the instances could be attributed to 11 September; in fact, a number of instances probably would have occured anyway. But the fact that Arthur Adams had already drawn the issue before this censorship occured -- thus making this page possible -- suggests a problem within the editorial ranks at DC / Wildstorm, who let the issue in its original form get as far as it did. Many suspected that Wildstorm had approved the contents, at least in script form, but that DC, Wildstorm's parent company through purchase, had stepped in to force the changes. And, indeed, some changes made sense from a commercial standpoint: The Authority was neither approved by the Comics Code, the censoring body established by the major comics companies in the 1950s in the wake of popular criticism (and the published theoretically sound but morally indignant articles of Dr. Wertham), nor labelled "suggested for mature readers" like DC's Vertigo line. Necrophilia just wasn't going to fly in any case; the mere suggested desire to the same had been controvertial in Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut, and even DC's Vertigo imprint had not ventured so far. Avatar Press, a relatively small independent publisher, might have published a former character, and star of a recent mini-series, being used as a necrophilic object, but DC certainly would not. In any case, the extent of the censorship, as well as the leaking of the panels included here, spawned a number of conspiracy theories by fans of the title, who already felt outraged by the long delay the issue had already suffered. In fact, censorship of The Authority went back at least to Millar's first issue, #13 (cover-dated May 2000), as Millar himself acknowledged after panels in #14 were censored as well. Moreover, censorship would continue after the controversy surrounding #27 as well. Provided below are side-by-side comparisons showing printed and censored versions, including some material that, while not outright censored, simply never saw print. Censorship of The Authority went back at least to Millar's first issue, #13, which originally specified the nation and its leader that the Authority invaded and toppled: Jakarta and President Habibe, then in the news for crimes against the population. Apparently, DC thought that the appearance of a murder fantasy against a living president was going too far, but thought few people would recognize the president to change his visage. At right, the top of the original version of page 2 from The Authority #13, naming the nation as Jakarta. Larger Version Available At right, the top of the original version of page 4 from The Authority #13, naming President Habibe. Larger Version Available At right, the main section of the original cover to The Authority #14 (as it was solicited in Previews X.2 [February 2000; page 85]), showing a version of the Captain America analogue, The Commander, that looks decisively more like the original. Larger Version Available At right, page 16 from The Authority #14 showing The Engineer's killing of the character analogous to the Hulk. In the bottom panel of the original, The Engineer gives the middle finger to her foe's corpse. The original was changed to the British "two finger salute" for the printed version, a change easily discernable because the raised finger was simply copied and pasted to create a second raised finger. There seems no reason for this change, given that The Engineer is not British, except perhaps to emphasize that Mark Millar is British, which has considerable cache since the British invasion of comic book writers (including Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman) in the 1980s. Additional changes occured in #14 as obscuring red filters were placed on a few panels showing the Authority kill. Larger Version Available At right, the cover to The Authority: Widescreen, cancelled in the wake of the 11 September attacks because it featured carnage, including people being pulled out from under wrecked buildings, in New York City. Reports vary as to how much of the contents for Widescreen were complete at the time of its cancellation. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the covers to The Authority #23, #9, and #27, respectively, as they were printed. The first, #23, contained the first chapter of "Transfer of Power," the four-issue fill-in storyline featuring the "new" Authority that replaced the team in #22. This change has been reflected in the logo and in the cover, which is an homage to that of #9, the cover of which is the second at left. #27, the third issue at left, contained the second chapter to Mark Millar's "Brave New World" storyline, the first chapter of which appeared in #22 and was illustrated by Frank Quitely just before he quit. At right, the cover (printed on the letters page of #22) that would have been that to the second chapter of "Brave New World" if Frank Quitely had not quit, in which case it would have been published in The Authority #23. Note that the logo was scheduled to change to reflect the new team prior to the fill-in storyline. While not an homage to any particular issue, Quitely's cancelled cover is reminiscent of several earlier covers for The Authority that featured the entire team. Quitely's cover was not censored and was probably not used for contractual reasons. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the main section to the cover of The Authority #27, sans titles and indicia, as it was printed. At right, an earlier (though, as far as anyone knows, not censored but simply redrawn) version by Arthur Adams. (The "X"s, of course, are common comics illustrators' vernacular to indicate that an inker should fill the area with solid black.) Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, a portion of page 4 from The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the same portion of page 4 as Arthur Adams originally drew it based on Mark Millar's script. Just as Authority #1 introduced the original team by showing them in combat accompanied by introductory captions, so Millar cleverly introduced the new Authority. Here Teuton, the German replacement for Apollo, is introduced; in the entirely redrawn printed version, he throws some 30th-century teenagers to their deaths, but in the original he used himself as a projectile -- much as the terrorists used commercial flights filled with civilians as projectiles in the devastating 11 September attack. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the bottom panel of page 5 from The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the same panel of page 5 as Arthur Adams originally drew it. The introductory sequence concludes with the Colonel, an English football hooligan who serves as replacement for Jenny Sparks. The printed and original versions are the same except that the details of the head being used as a football were obscured for publication. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, a selection from the bottom panel of page 6 from The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the same area of page 6 as Arthur Adams originally drew it. Note the nipple in Adams's original. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the bottom of page 8 of The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the bottom of page 8 as Arthur Adams originally drew it based on Mark Millar's script. The egoism shown in the printed version of the Colonel's personalization of the beer can-strewn entrance to his room felt amusing but fettered. And indeed it was; in the original, it was covered with derogatory expressions of every sort (except of course for lesbiens, who are welcomed). But the real shocker here is the Colonel's perks, provided after he mentioned he fancied the dead Jenny Sparks. In the utterly redrawn printed version, he is provided with three look-alikes, beautifully shown half-dressed and clearly well-used. In the original, however, the powers-that-be dug up Jenny's corpse, letting the Colonel have his object of desire more directly -- and having necrophilia committed upon a valorized dead central character! Though the replacement here was nice, the issue's theme was that the new Authority has utterly conquered and humiliated the originals, and this theme is considerably lessened by not extending it to the humiliated originals' dead leader. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the top of page 13 of The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the top of page 13 as Arthur Adams originally drew it based on Mark Millar's script. Both versions have the domesticated Swift in the kitchen. Whereas in the entirely re-drawn printed version she (formerly a vegetarian) is slaving over an elaborate meal of chicken, in the original she was doing the dishes -- with her tongue. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the top of page 13 of The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the top of page 13 as Arthur Adams originally drew it based on Mark Millar's script. In both versions, the domesticated Swift interacts with her new master. In the entirely re-drawn printed version, he brushes off her cooking, putting his cigar out in it. In the original, he calls her over (probably in a word balloon in what became a silent panel) and uses her mouth as an ashtray in a shot that is heavily reminiscent of oral sex. Indeed, the original version has a remarkable orality: Swift's mouth is used as a garbage disposal and an ashtray, leaving us to wonder what else it has received. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, a panel from page 18 of The Authority #27 as it was printed. At right, the same panel as Arthur Adams originally drew it based on Mark Millar's script. The original clearly features George W. Bush, the newly-elected President of the United Sates known for his corporate sponsorship. Speculation raged, after this panel was released in January 2002, that Bush's visage had been removed because criticizing him had been deemed unpatriotic in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks, especially since the cowardly word balloon assigned to him would recall his criticized fleeing the Eastern seaboard and his administration's evacuation of the White House on the day of the attacks. Compare this alteration with the depersonalization of President Habibe in #13 and the explicit depiction of President Clinton in the same issue. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available At left, the main section of the cover, sans titles and indicia, of The Authority #28, containing the third chapter of "Brave New World" as it was printed. At right, the main section of the cover, sans titles and indicia, that would have been that of The Authority #24, which would have contained the third chapter of "Brave New World," if Frank Quitely had not quit. Both covers show Apollo and Midnighter fighting Seth. Quitely's cover was not censored and was probably not used for contractual reasons. Larger Version Available Larger Version Available This censorship continued into The Authority #28 (published in February 2002), though apparently to a lesser extent because Millar and Adams had adjusted the script and illustration in the wake of their experience on the preceding issue. Here Teuton confesses his plan to sexually experiment with Apollo before the latter's demise. The central two panels have been entirely redrawn. In the first of the two, Teuton originally had actually begun to molest Apollo. In the second, The Midnighter's shooting Teuton through the head was originally caught a moment later, allowing for greater detail of the carnage -- which seems to include a nail, which implies that The Midnighter is using a high-power nail gun. This is exactly the sort of "problem" that was solved by a red, detail-obscuring filter in Millar's earliest issues. (In any case, how a nail gun -- or even a plasma blaster -- could, to use a suggestive expression, penetrate Teuton's head is left unexplained.) Larger Version Available NOTE: The use of the word "censored" as opposed to "edited" can be troublesome, though I reject the notion that a publisher, even as the owner of the artistic property in question, should be said to "edit" when the same action, taken by a governmental institution or a distributor, would be called "censorship." I generally prefer lack of censorship for moral and artistic reasons, although I recognize a publisher's need to censor in certain circumstances as well as the fact that the result, especially when generated as a compromise by the artists, may sometimes be superior to the original, censored version. But let's call a spade a shovel, shall we? On The Continuity Pages: The Authority The Continuity Page for The Authority, featuring my analysis and many graphics for The Authority, including unpublished covers for #9 and more. "Mark Millar's The Authority and the Polemic over Iraq" An essay by Julian Darius on the relationship between the unilateral interventionist super-hero team and the polarizing debate over the 2003 war in Iraq. INTRA/VIEW: Mark Millar / Julian Darius Concerning rape, censorship, and super-heroics. Conducted after the publication of The Authority #14. The Continuity Pages: Mark Millar The Continuity Page for Mark Millar's miscellaneous work, including all relevant links. INTRA/VIEW: Rich Johnston / Julian Darius An interview of Rich Johnston, whose column first published many of these graphics. Off-Site Please be aware that the continued quality, and even existence, of these sites cannot be guaranteed. Silver Bullet Comics Home of "All the Rage," an online comics gossip column that, while penned by Rich Johnston, originally posted a number of these images. DC Comics You gotta give DC Comics credit for its continued tolerance of web sites republishing portions of its copyrighted material, including sites less scholarly than this. PersianCaesar The website of author Julian Darius, creator of The Continuity Pages. Please support (y)our site.