Rio mayor yanks comic book showing kiss between male superheroes

File photo shows Rio de Janeiro's Mayor, Marcelo Crivella, May 20, 2019. [Photo: AFP/Mauro]

A comic book showing a kiss between two male superheroes sold out rapidly at Rio de Janeiro's book fair Friday after the city's evangelical mayor demanded it be withdrawn.

Copies of the book, "Young Avengers: the Children's Crusade," are "sold out," the organizers told AFP.

Ultra-conservative mayor Marcelo Crivella said Thursday he ordered the book removed from sale because of its "sexual content for minors."

"Books like this need to be wrapped in black, sealed plastic with a warning of the contents," Crivella wrote on Twitter.

Crivella -- a former bishop in the giant Universal Church of the Kingdom of God -- was elected Rio's mayor in 2016, promising to bring law and order to a city beset by crime.

The drawing that sparked the mayor's ire showed the Marvel superhero characters Wiccan and Hulkling exchanging a kiss, fully dressed.

The fair organizers said in a statement that Brazil's biggest literary event "gives voice to all audiences, without distinction, as it should be in a democracy. This is a pluralist festival."

During the weekend, the fair will hold discussion panels on trans and LGBTQA+ literature, it said.