Did you know that next week is Banned Book week? Humble Bundle is of course happy to do their part in celebrating the freedom to read, by offering the Humble Forbidden Books Bundle, incorporating more than a fair share of controversial titles.

You might know the drill by know – there’s three tiers based on what you are willing to pay. On the first level you can pay as little as $1 for titles such as Liberty Annual 2008-2012 featuring comic book greats such as Neil Gaiman, Robert Kirkman, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis and Mike Mignola. This is certainly worth the cover price alone, but there’s six more titles, including Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen Vol 1, his harrowing account of surviving the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima when he was six.

On the next tier, $8 unlocks six more books, including the ever awesome Saga, Megahex, the story of a drug-addicted, depressed witch, and Gag On This: The Scrofulous Cartoons of Charles Rodrigues.  

To be honest, the $15 tier is where you actually want to be, for four specific books out of the six on offer. El Eternauta is a classic sci-fi comic that has its roots in Argentina. First appearing in 1957, the book’s writer Hector German Oesterheld is said to have “disappeared” in 1977 due to his involvement in groups opposed to the country’s military dictatorship.

The second title, Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America, basically does what is says on the cover, telling the story of the creative genius behind Mad, and no, we are not talking about Alfred E. Neuman.

The seminal Zap Comix blazed a path for the American underground comic scene. Its importance cannot be overstated, incorporating artists such as Robert Crumb, Robert Williams and Rick Griffin, inspiring already established comic book visionaries such as Mœbius, and later ones such as Daniel Clowes. On offer is Zap #16, the final bumper edition.

If Zap gets the creative juices flowing, you’re going to love Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, which follows 50 artists from 1967 to 1972, the golden age of underground comics in the States. Author Patrick Rosenkranz took 30 years to do all the research, interviewing major figures such as Crumb, Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith.

It goes without saying these books are of a controversial nature, so if you’ve got a squirmy stomach, are scared of scenes of a sexual nature and prefer to see the world in black and white, the Humble Forbidden Book Bundle is not for you.  

The Humble Forbidden Books Bundle supports the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organisation operating in the States to protect readers, creators, librarians, retailers, publishers and educators who face the threat of censorship.