“[Barefoot] Gen burned its way into my heated brain with the intensity of a fever dream” Art Spiegelman notes in his introduction to Barefoot Gen Vol. 1. Even without the fever, Spiegelman was experiencing through his first read, Keiji Nakazawa’s semi-autobiographical manga is sure…
Author: cbldf
Why Comics Are Banned
Every year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports of book challenges from around the country–that is, a request from an individual or group for a book to be restricted or removed from a library or…
2018 Banned Books Week Handbook Has Arrived!
BANNED BOOKS WEEK IS HERE — CELEBRATE WITH NEW HANDBOOK! Coalition Offers Free Publication to Support Annual Celebration of the Right to Read New York City, New York, September 19, 2018 — Banned Books Week kicks off on Sunday, and…
Forbidden Books Humble Bundle Benefits Banned Books Week & CBLDF!
Celebrate Banned Books Week in Humble Bundle style with the new Forbidden Books Bundle, a collection of banned and challenged books by some of the world’s most influential authors San Francisco, CA – September 19, 2018 – From The Color…
MAINE: Speak Up To Protect LGBTQ+ Graphic Novels From Ban Today
CBLDF has learned of an attempt to ban several books, including the LGBTQ themed graphic novels My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Nagata Kabi and Queer: A Graphic History by Meg John-Barker and Julia Scheele from the Rumford Public Library in Maine. Locals supporting…
Celebrate Banned Books Week At Your Library with Image Comics’ Library Livestreams
PORTLAND, OR, 09/13/2018 — Image Comics is celebrating Banned Books Week with Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and The Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table of the American Library Association by producing a week of Library Livestreams featuring creators Nick…
“Censorship of the Worst Kind”: The Suppression Blazing Combat During the Vietnam War
“Censorship of the Worst Kind”: The Suppression of Blazing Combat During the Vietnam War by Brian M. Puaca In the summer of 1965, the United States was escalating its involvement in Vietnam in order to prevent the Communist North from conquering…
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Announces Christina Merkler as New President
August 30, 2018 – The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the industry’s voice for free speech advocacy and education, is proud to announce that Christina Merkler has been named President of the CBLDF by unanimous vote of its board of directors. Merkler is…
Free Speech Groups Protest Presidential Intimidation of Simon & Schuster
CBLDF has joined a coalition of Free Speech advocacy groups in protesting President Trump’s legal intimidation of Simon & Schuster for the publication of Omorosa Manigault-Newman’s book Unhinged. The President threatened legal action against the publisher, asserting that it could…
From the CBLDF Archives: “Smut and Trash:” Comics Censorship in Germany
Germany announced that they will lift the across-the-board ban on swastikas in video games in favor of a more nuanced approach, similar to that of how they handle Nazi imagery in movies. The shift in policy signals an appreciation for…