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A Japanese comic book sold at a Scholastic book fair in the Norwin School District that contained questionable material is being pulled from the company's sales list, a spokeswoman said Monday.

The magazine, "Shonen Jump," an offshoot of the Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards and television cartoon popular among elementary and middle school students, showed a hero crediting his defeat of an opponent with the power he gained from smoking cigarettes.

Other story lines included mild profanity, violence, a character with a swastika on his forehead, and a female character who asks readers to pick up the next issue to see which "hot guy" would be the next to die.

"Certainly we're concerned. We're pulling the magazine," said Teryl McLane, meritor of publicity for Scholastic Inc.'s corporate office in Lake Mary, Fla.

The magazine was brought to the attention of Hillcrest Intermediate School Principal Rosemarie Dvorchak, who said she was stunned by the content.

The comic book was purchased by a fifth-grade student at a December book fair. It was unclear if other students also bought the magazine because the North Huntingdon Township school did not take inventory of the sales.

"This is a fifth- and sixth-grade building. These are 10- and 11-year-olds. It's against what we're teaching. It's against our DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) and the St. Vincent College prevention program," she said yesterday.

Once Dvorchak heard about the comic book, she said she immediately called Scholastic Inc.

"We do have an editorial board, and it's a very lengthy and challenging process. We try to be thorough, but there is a challenge with cultural differences. In Japanese culture, some of these things are acceptable," she said.

For example, McLane said, to the Japanese, the swastika is an ancient Hindu symbol of good will.

Scholastic distributed the magazine nationwide to book fairs for middle school students because of the popularity of the Japanese cartoon and trading cards.

"The students are intrigued by comic book style, and this was just introduced to book fairs very recently," she said. "We've been in touch with Hillcrest to resolve this matter. We will be reimbursing anyone who returns the magazine."

Dr. Jack Boylan, director of elementary education at Norwin, said the district trusted Scholastic to provide appropriate material to students.

"There is a sense of trust when they are promoting the books. This does happen, but it's rare. Some children's authors have started writing to upper reading levels, and once we are aware of them, we take action. Mrs. Dvorchak did the right thing. Sometimes, we get surprises," he said.

Dvorchak asked parents to pay attention to what the kids are reading.

"Parents need to be looking at this stuff. They need to be involved and start looking at what their kids are reading. I've pulled some books when I see they are adult authors or ones with questionable covers. This one got by," she said.

Maureen Burkey, sales consultant for the Scholastic's Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan region, which is based in Cleveland, apologized for the comic book's content.

"These are not the type of phone calls we want. We are definitely pulling this. We are not about this. We are about promoting reading and good literature," she said.

Principals and administrators contacted at other area schools said they had not received any complaints about any reading materials sold at Scholastic book fairs.

"I heard nothing about it. If something comes up, a principal would tell me about it. I'll be talking to my principals about it," said Thomas Yarabinetz, superintendent of Greensburg Salem School District.

Don McIlvaine, principal of Fort Allen Elementary School in Hempfield Township, said he was grateful for the information about the comic book, but did not hear any complaints from parents.

"Scholastic is usually reliable. They slipped up on this one," he said.

McIlvaine said he has had complaints about some books, such as the "Captain Underpants" series, but none was serious. "We set aside those books available for anyone who requested them."

Diane Ravis, principal of R.K. Mellon Elementary School in Ligonier, said the school does a lot of business with Scholastic and depends on them to provide quality material for students. She did not receive any complaints about the Yu-Gi-Oh comic book.

Dave Spudy, principal of Trafford Elementary-Middle School said he was aware of the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card phenomenon and banned students from bringing them to school. He said he did not think the magazine was sold at the fair because he heard no complaints.

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