No, it’s not ‘Cancel Culture’ run amok.

Without being asked, Scholastic Books is pulling from distribution a graphic novel spinoff of the popular Captain Underpants series from author Dav Pilkey, and the news has caused the value of the books to temporarily spike.

Scholastic announced that that it had halted distribution of The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, a graphic novel published in 2010, with the full cooperation of the author.

“I hope you, my readers, will forgive me, and learn from my mistakes that even unintentional and passive stereotypes and racism is harmful to everyone,” said Pilkey in a statement on YouTube on March 26th.

The graphic novel about a group of friends who save the world using kung fu actually was “intended to showcase diversity, equality and non-violent conflict resolution” but it ultimately backfired, he said. The book, written by Pilkey, is credited to ‘George Beard and Harold Hutchins’, characters from the Captain Underpants series.

“It was brought to my attention that this book also contains harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery,” Pilkey said. “It was and is wrong and harmful to my Asian readers, friends, and family, and to all Asian people.”

After that decision was first announced, copies of Ook and Gluk have since skyrocketed in price on secondhand marketplaces like eBay, where copies of the book, which was priced at $8.99 at Target, are listed with prices as high as $300. (Auctions with actual bids are sitting at considerably more reasonable prices.)

The move came after national attention to anti-Asian harassment and violent incidents, which have markedly increased in the past year, and followed the killing of eight people, including six Asian women, at Atlanta-area day spas, and calls from people to remove the book.

Billy Kim, a Korean-American father of two children who started a Change.org petition about the novel, noted several problematic instances in the book, including “dashes for eyes for the Asian characters, stereotypical Chinese proverbs, and a storyline that has the Kung Fu master rescued by the non-Asian protagonists using their Kung Fu skills.”

Earlier this month, the estate of Dr. Seuss decided to voluntarily remove of a handful of titles written decades ago by Dr. Seuss from publication due to racist and insensitive imagery. While many used this as an example of what they call ‘cancel culture’, this was a business decision made solely by those responsible for Seuss’ public image and bottom line.

According to Kim, simply pulling the books is not enough. “While it is appreciated that they are pulling the book from retailers, this is not enough,” Kim wrote in the petition. “The damage has been done. Every child who has read this book has been conditioned to accept this racist imagery as “okay” or even funny. It is this type of passive racism that has contributed to the continued hate and prejudice experienced by Asian Americans on a daily basis.”

Scholastic hasn’t said if it plans to do more, but Pilkey and his wife pledged to donate his advance and royalties from of this title to several non-profit organizations, among them groups that fight anti-Asian racism and violence and promote diversity in children’s books and publishing.

Scholastic stopped fulfillment of any outstanding orders and sought a return of all inventory, including from schools and libraries. “Together, we recognize that this book perpetuates passive racism,” Scholastic said in a statement. “We are deeply sorry for this serious mistake.”

Ironically, Captain Underpants books are among the American Library Association’s list of the top 100 most banned and challenged books from the past decade, due to complaints from parents about violent imagery.