IRWIN, Pa. -- A comic book whose hero is empowered by smoking cigarettes is being filtered out by the Florida company that sells it through school book fairs.

Scholastic Inc. stopped selling the Japanese comic "Shonen Jump," which is an offshoot of Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards, after a complaint from the Norwin School District in Westmoreland County, the Lake Mary, Fla.-based company said Monday.

The company sells books to students to promote interest in reading, and officials there said they understands concern about the book, which was included on its sales list because the related trading cards are popular with preteens.

The comic book in question was purchased by a fifth-grader at Hillcrest Intermediate School in December. The school principal, Rosemarie Dvorchak, was stunned by its content.

"This is a fifth- and sixth-grade building," Dvorchak said.

"These are 10- and 11-year-olds. It's against what we're teaching, it's against our DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)" program.

In addition to the cigarette-smoking hero, the comic included mild profanity, a character with a swastika on his forehead and a female character who asks readers to buy the comic again so they can see which "hot guy" would die in the next issue.

"We do have an editorial board, and it's a very lengthy and challenging process," said Teryl McLane, a publicity official for Scholastic Inc. "We try to be thorough, but there is a challenge with cultural differences. In Japanese culture, some of these things are acceptable." In Japan, for example, a swastika is seen as an ancient Hindu symbol of goodwill, she said. The company said they'll reimburse anyone who bought the book, but it's unclear how many were sold in the district.