When InvestComics called for submissions to their One and Done anthology, they received an overwhelming response. The assembled creators each drew a one-page story in which someone dies, shown or implied. One and Done is finally available, and proceeds from the sale of the book benefit CBLDF!

For more on the anthology and to get your own copy, visit InvestComics website here.

The official press release:

InvestComics Announces “One and Done” Anthology Available for Purchase Online

Charitable anthology of “deadly tales” features contributions from industry creators to support Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF)

(West Palm Beach, Florida; January 31, 2012) – Comic book and entertainment information website InvestComics is proud to announce that “One and Done” − a charitable anthology to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund − is now available for purchase on the Mira Publishing website at www.mirashartshop.com. “Today marks the beginning of InvestComics’ fight against censorship and the right for Freedom of Speech,” said Jay Katz, President of InvestComics. “We are proud to support such a great cause and will always be a strong supporter of CBLDF.”

Bob Heske, a graphic novelist, web columnist and editor on the anthology, added, “We’re thrilled to get a book out that features worldwide talent for such a great cause. The one-page graphic tales that each end in death are like a box of chocolates − you don’t know what you’ll get until you bite inside!”

“I am proud to be a part of such a fantastic charity like CBLDF” echoed Sebastian Piccione, also an editor on the book and a regular contributor to the InvestComics website. “The mix of stories and styles from accomplished and emerging creators makes this book unique and fun to read.”

InvestComics reached out to industry creators with a call for submissions on its website in June 2011. The rules were simple: Stories could be of any genre as long as they were one page in length and the last page ended in death (shown or implied).

According to InvestComics Katz the response was overwhelming. “This unique anthology asked creators to be generous in their submission and extremely creative in their content. And I’m proud to say they’ve stepped up to the plate big time and hit it out of the park,” says Katz in reference to the quality of submissions received. The InvestComics One and Done Anthology features contributors from all over the globe including established industry pros like Mark McKenna, Duncan Eagleson, Rob Jones, and Peter Palimotti and emerging talent on the cusp of being recognized. Nearly 50 “One and Done” tales were accepted. There is also a special section called “Killer Extras” featuring additional original works by Bob Heske, Duncan Eagleson, David Paul, and also a pinup page from cover artist Gary T. Becks.

Orders can be placed directly on line at http://www.mirasmartshop.com/ at this URL:

http://www.mirasmartshop.com/InvestComics-Presents-One-Done_p_322.html

Also, if you are in Florida, the One and Done Anthology can be purchased at Tate’s Comics in Lauderhill, Florida. Tate’s Comics web address is www.tatescomics.com.

InvestComics will announce random winners of prizes to be given out by Tate’s Comics as well as interviews to be carried on the InvestComics website and InvestComics TV website. The first interview will be posted the week of January 23rd featuring South African creators Arno Hurter and David Edwards who had five stories accepted for the book (the most of any creator team), and will appear in Bob Heske’s popular IndieCreator column.

About InvestComics

InvestComics™ started as a magazine in 2006; the first issue wasn’t released until June of 2007. The magazine was distributed as a free comic book Investment Guide throughout local comic shops in South Florida. It was also a giveaway on Ebay for any winning bid to receive with their order.

Although the InvestComics™ web site was on line in 2005, it wasn’t until 2007 the web site became the main focal point and the magazine ceased. InvestComics™ wanted to start reaching a broader audience and began to rapidly expand. InvestComics™ became the “Entertainment” Investment Guide as a result of covering many areas in the industry, focusing on entertainment as well as highlighting investment opportunities. Most recently the launch of InvestComics TV (ICTV) has made the site multi-media, attracting some of the biggest names in the industry to appear in a split-screen 10-12 minute interview format.

About Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals. If you wish to support CBLDF, you can visit their website at http://cbldf.org/.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

Last year, the state of Arizona passed HB 2281, a controversial bill that resulted in the termination of the highly praised Mexican American Studies program in the Tucson Independent School District. The program was ended despite an independent audit that advocated for its continuation.

Last week, TUSD released a list of books that would be removed from classrooms and put in indefinite storage. The banned books included contributions from a virtual who’s who of Mexican American and Native American authors and artists:

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, Rodolfo Acuña
Rethinking Columbus: The next 500 Years, Bill Bigelow
Critical Race Theory, Richard Delgado
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire
Message to AZTLAN, Rodolfo Gonzales
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures, Elizabeth Martinez (ed.)

These aren’t the only books that TUSD has banned. The American Indian in Children’s Literature blog has a more comprehensive list of the banned books, including responses from some of the authors. Sherman Alexie’s response via Twitter is telling:

With the ban on ethnic studies, Arizona is now officially practicing American Apartheid.

When CBLDF announced earlier this week that it had joined a coalition of national organizations in writing a letter against Tucson’s censorship of books by Mexican American and Native American authors, some of you may have been wondering why CBLDF joined this particular fight. The list of banned books doesn’t include comics, so why did CBLDF sign on?

The fact is, any school system that is willing to ban books based on the ethnicity of their creators is just as likely to ban comic books for the same reason. If images of works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, or other Chicano artists can be banned (as was done with the removal of 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures), it doesn’t seem so far fetched that works by the Hernandez Brothers would become part of TUSD’s censorship spree.

CBLDF and the coalition it joined in defense of the banned books aren’t alone in their protest. Jeff Biggers at the Huffington Post wrote an article about a teach-in staged at schools across the nation, citing the letter that CBLDF signed. Participating schools taught lessons from the banned MAS program. Biggers spoke to a former MAS teacher about the teach-in:

“The national outpouring of support has been amazing and this website, this movement of solidarity, is proof of this,” said former Mexican American Studies literature teacher Curtis Acosta. “It is humbling to think of the hard work that our friends across the country have produced to keep our story and program alive in the minds and hearts of so many people. I believe the tide is turning due to the deplorable enforcement of the law by our district. Now it is clear what the agenda was truly about — banning books, censoring teachers, rolling back the decades of civil rights and equality all to appease the desires of egocentric politicians. The love and respect from fellow educators and citizens will lift the hearts of our students during these dark days. Now they will know that they are not alone.”

You can read the rest of Biggers’ article here. University of Arizona assistant professor Roberto “Dr. Cintli” Rodriguez, PhD, wrote a fascinating analysis of the censorship here.

Censorship is a slippery slope. If one book can be banned, then any book can be banned.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

Comics Should Be Good over at CBR is having some fun with Twitter in honor of CBLDF! Brian Cronin with The Line Is Drawn posted this week’s challenge, calling for entries from CSBG’s Twitter followers:

In honor of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund‘s 2012 Membership Drive, team-up various comic book characters with Lady Liberty, the symbol of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

Get the details on how you can enter your Lady Liberty dream team here!

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

CBLDF currently has a load of amazing signed books — including Elektra: Assassin, George R.R. Martin’s The Hedge Knight, Bloom County, a copy of the Halo graphic novel signed sketched by Moebius, Rasl, and more — up for bid. But your chance to take one home is coming to a close! The auctions end today, so head over to CBLDF’s eBay site to place your bids now!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

Last week, the CBLDF launched the first Member Appreciation events of 2012 in New Orleans with a party at Crescent City Comics and a booth at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con. The events raised a combined total of $2,600, and I got to meet scores of our loyal supporters from all over the south.

The events started on Friday night at Crescent City Comics whose crew hosted a Member Appreciation Party for CBLDF supporters. Crescent City is one of my favorite comic shops in the country because it has a great, knowledgeable crew that cares a lot about helping customers navigate their incredible inventory of comics, graphic novels, back issues, zines, and assorted weird cool stuff. They were all on hand providing warm hospitality for the full house of folks who came out to support the CBLDF. I got to give a short talk about the Fund’s current casework, and to talk to a bunch of the great people who came out for the party. Although the best part was probably giving away the raffle prizes. Check out the happy expression on grand prize winner Matt Ray:

Our other winners were just as chuffed:

Creators Andy Kuhn and Derec Donovan were there:

So was Caesar Meadows:

All told the event raised $300 for the CBLDF, including a generous contribution of 15% of the night’s sales from the store. We’re grateful to the great crew at Crescent City, who are pictured below, for putting it together.

Les Arceneaux and Leo McGovern:

Jill Carter & Clark Allen:

If you’re a retailer and would like to host a Member Appreciation event like this one at your store, please drop us a line. We can’t always send a staffer, but we can send raffle prizes and gifts for CBLDF members. We’ll also be happy to write it up on this website.

The next morning Wizard World’s New Orleans Comic Con kicked off, bringing a very busy crowd to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. I spoke to supporters from all over the Gulf who were coming out to get sketches, fill in their collections, and get autographs from the celebs on hand. I also spoke to supporters from even farther away, including one fellow from Germany and a lady from Australia, who was sent up for a corporate conference and was excited to find out that a comic book show was happening right across the street from her hotel. I pointed them to our Advisory about traveling with comics, because if there’s one thing the Brandon X case proves it’s that you can never be too careful when dealing with customs.

Attendance at the show was solid, and we were slammed from about noon til five on Saturday, and through the middle part of Sunday. I gave away a lot of copies of About Comics’ 24 Hour Comics collection to members who showed up with their membership cards to claim this appreciation reward. I also collected a lot of donations from folks who were excited by the range of books we had from supporting pros. I ran out of books by Robert Kirkman, Neil Gaiman and Dave Gibbons pretty early on Saturday, which means I underestimated the demand for these items. Shame on me. If you were there and missed out on one of these killer donation rewards, you can get most of them in our Rewards Zone. Ditto the CBLDF Grab Bags, which was hands down our most popular item. I brought 60 of these to offer as a thank you for folks donating $20 and ran out of them about an hour before the show closed on Sunday.

The Wizard World team did a fine job putting this con together. The floor had a positive energy and attracted a really solid mix of comic book fans, cosplay fans, and pop culture fans. This was good for the CBLDF, because we got to meet supporters from a region we don’t frequently reach, and we were able to introduce a lot of people to our work for the first time. This show wasn’t wall-to-wall comics the way a show like HeroesCon or Baltimore Comic-Con is, but it was wall-to-wall fandom. Before Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead became the phenomenons they are, it was easier to make a case against the co-mingling of comics and media under the banner of a Comic Con. But today that case is becoming as outmoded as the stereotype that comics conventions are smelly affairs full of sad dudes in wrinkled t-shirts. Today fandom is mainstream, and this show embraced that in a positive way.

I’m grateful to the team at Wizard World who donated our space to exhibit, to Les, Leo, Jill & Clark at Crescent City, and especially to the hundreds of you who stopped by the table and talked with me about the First Amendment and made a contribution to our important work.

Next up for the CBLDF is the ComicsPro meeting in Dallas, where Deputy Director Alex Cox will be conducting events to thank the retail community supporting the Fund. My next trip will be to Image Expo in Oakland, where we’ve lined up an extremely cool Member Appreciation giveaway that I can’t wait to announce. If you see us at one of these shows, please come by and say hello!

Charles Brownstein is the Executive Director for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Jill Carter contributed photography to this article.

Early comic book censorship in the United States was fueled by fears many adults had over a burgeoning youth culture that they could not understand and that they perceived as violent. Even today, would-be censors continually — and incorrectly — argue that comic books and other media are bad for children, something that has yet to be proven by valid scientific study.

The fear of youth culture as a driver for censorship isn’t unique to the United States, as a recent AFP article over at The Raw Story makes clear. The article relates how the banning of books in Vietnam, in particular books and comics aimed at youth culture, has actually driven sales of the books rather than keeping them out of readers’ hands. AFP interviewed a comic book creator about the banning of his book:

Nguyen Thanh Phong, whose collection of comic rhyming slang was recently banned, said his illustration of two gormless-looking soldiers kicking a grenade to each other may have caused the censors’ ire.

The caption reads “Being a soldier you must always get noticed”, an attempt to poke fun at the inflated, heroic image of the country’s military.

“I just thought it was funny,” said Phong.

The 26-year-old artist said censorship only increased people’s desire to read the book, entitled “The murderer with a pus-filled head”, which aims to reflect the street patois of Vietnam’s youth.

Phong went on to tell AFP that illegal copies of his book are now selling for twice their cover price. Edmund Malesky, Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego, and an expert on Vietnam, further explained that many people who would have never looked at the book picked it up because of the controversy over its content. This is a clear case in which censors tried to keep books away from readers only to end up driving more people to the material. For more, visit The Raw Story here.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

CBLDF Deputy Director Alex Cox and co-founder of the Comics Should Be Good blog at Comic Book Resources took a moment to explain why people should join the CBLDF on today’s CSBG blog. Head over to CBR to get the low down on CBLDF, comic book censorship, and how CBLDF protects your right to make, sell, buy, and read comics!

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

In response to an Arizona state law banning the teaching of ethnic studies courses, the Tucson Unified School District released a list of books that have been banned from the classroom. Popular textbooks, novels, and collections by revered Mexican American and Native American authors were among the titles removed from classrooms. CBLDF has joined a coalition of organizations — including the ACLU of Arizona, ABFFE, ALA’s Freedom to Read Coalition, and many more — in a joint statement decrying this censorship.

The coalition sent the following letter to TUSD:

JOINT STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO BOOK CENSORSHIP
IN THE TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
January 30, 2012

The undersigned organizations are committed to protecting free speech and intellectual freedom. We write to express our deep concern about the removal of books used in the Mexican-American Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School District. This occurred in response to a determination by Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal that the program “contained content promoting resentment toward a race or class of people” and that “materials repeatedly reference white people as being ‘oppressors….’ in violation of state law.” The books have been boxed up and put in storage; their fate and that of the program remain in limbo.

The First Amendment is grounded on the fundamental rule that government officials, including public school administrators, may not suppress “an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” School officials have a great deal of authority and discretion to determine the curriculum, the subject of courses, and even methods of instruction. They are restrained only by the constitutional obligation to base their decisions on sound educational grounds, and not on ideology or political or other personal beliefs. Thus, school officials are free to debate the merits of any educational program, but that debate does not justify the wholesale removal of books, especially when the avowed purpose is to suppress unwelcome information and viewpoints.

School officials have insisted that the books haven’t been banned because they are still available in school libraries. It is irrelevant that the books are available in the library – or at the local bookstore. School officials have removed materials from the curriculum, effectively banning them from certain classes, solely because of their content and the messages they contain. The effort to “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, [or] religion” is the essence of censorship, whether the impact results in removal of all the books in a classroom, seven books, or only one.

Students deserve an education that provides exposure to a wide range of topics and perspectives, including those that are controversial. Their education has already suffered from this political and ideological donnybrook, which has caused massive disruption in their classes and will wreak more havoc as teachers struggle to fill the educational vacuum that has been created.

Book-banning and thought control are antithetical to American law, tradition and values. In Justice Louis Brandeis’s famous words, the First Amendment is founded on the belief:

that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that, without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile; … that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination …. Believing in the power of reason as applied through public discussion, [the Framers] eschewed silence coerced by law …. Recognizing the occasional tyrannies of governing majorities, they amended the Constitution so that free speech and assembly should be guaranteed.

The First Amendment right to read, speak and think freely applies to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, or national origin. We strongly urge Arizona school officials to take this commitment seriously and to return all books to classrooms and remove all restrictions on ideas that can be addressed in class.

American Association of University Professors
Cary Nelson, President
1133 19th St., NW, Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20036
202-737-5900
cnelson@illinois.edu

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
Chris Finan, President
19 Fulton Street, Suite 407
New York, NY 10038
212-587-4025
chris@abffe.org

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona
Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director
P.O. Box 17148
Phoenix, AZ 85011-0148
602-773-6006
ameetze@acluaz.org

Antigone Books
Trudy Mills and Kate Randall, Owners
411 N. 4th Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85705
520-792-3715
info@antigonebooks.com

Association of American Publishers
Judith Platt
Director, Free Expression Advocacy
455 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
202-220-4551
jplatt@publishers.org

Association of American University Presses
Peter Givler, Executive Director
28 West 36th Street, Suite 602
New York, NY 10018
212-989-1010
pgivler@aaupnet.org

Atalanta’s Music & Books
Joan Werner, Owner
38 Main Street
Bisbee, AZ 85603
520-432-9976

Authors Guild
Paul Aiken, Executive Director
31 East 32nd Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212-563-5904
PAiken@authorsguild.org

Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking
Dr. Kathryn F. Whitmore, President
N275 Lindquist Center
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
319-335-5434
Kathryn-whitemore@uiowa.edu

Changing Hands Bookstore
Gayle Shanks, Bob Sommer and Cindy Dach, Owners
6428 S McClintock Drive
Tempe, AZ 85283
480-730-0205
inbox@changinghands.com

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Charles Brownstein, Executive Director
255 West 36th Street, Suite 501
New York, NY 10018
212-679-7151
charles.brownstein@cbldf.org

Freedom to Read Foundation, an affiliate of the American Library Association
Barbara M. Jones, Executive Director
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
312-280-4226
bjones@ala.org

International Reading Association
Richard M. Long, Ed.D.,
Director, Government Relations
444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 524
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 624-8801
rlong@reading.org

Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association
Laura Ayrey, Executive Director
8020 Springshire Drive
Park City, UT 84098
435-649-6079
laura@mountainsplains.org

National Coalition Against Censorship
Joan Bertin, Executive Director
19 Fulton Street, Suite 407
New York, NY 10038
212-807-6242
bertin@ncac.org

National Council for the Social Studies
Susan Griffin, Executive Director
8555 16th St, Ste 500
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301.588.1800 x 103
sgriffin@ncss.org

National Council of Teachers of English
Millie Davis
Senior Developer, Affiliated Groups and Public Outreach
1111 West Kenyan Road
Urbana, IL 61801
800-369-6283 ext. 3634
mdavis@ncte.org

National Youth Rights Association
Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Executive Director
1101 15th Street, NW Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005
202-835-1739
akpalicz@youthrights.org

PEN American Center
Larry Siems, Director, Freedom to Write & International Programs
588 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
212-334-1660 ext. 105
lsiems@pen.org

PEN Center USA
Adam Somers, Executive Director
P.O. Box 6037
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
323-424-4939
adam@penusa.org

People For the American Way
Debbie Liu, General Counsel
1101 15th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-467-4999
dliu@pfaw.org

Reach Out and Read
Anne-Marie Fitzgerald
Senior Director of National and State Programs
56 Roland Street, Suite 100D
Boston, MA 02129
618-455-0600

Reading is Fundamental, Inc.
Carol Hampton Rasco, President/CEO
1255 23rd Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037
202-536-3500

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
Lin Oliver, Executive Director
8271 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
323-782-1010
linoliver@scbwi.org

Spark Teacher Education Institute
Educational Praxis, Inc.
P.O. Box 409
Putney, Vermont 05346
802-258-9212

Student Press Law Center
Frank LoMonte, Executive Director
1101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209-2275 USA
703-807-1904
flomonte@splc.org

TESOL International Association
John Segota, CAE
Associate Executive Director for Public Policy & Professional Relations
1925 Ballenger Ave., Suite 550
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-518-2513
jsegota@tesol.org

Fight Censorship! Celebrate Liberty! Join the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

Over the weekend, more than 400 people were taken in during a mass arrest in response to the latest Occupy Oakland protests. Cartoonist Susie Cagle, who was arrested during protests in November, was one of several credential journalists taken in during the mass arrest despite Oakland Police Department policy that members of the media never be targeted because of their status as journalists. This time, Cagle was released on site, when an officer recognized Cagle from her last arrest. Cagle was told that they were doing her a “favor” upon her release.

The Daily Cartoonist has a rundown of Cagle’s tweets during the arrest and release here. Cagle wrote an article for AlterNet a few days before the latest protests, outlining OPD’s new policies regarding protests. Gavin Aronsen with Mother Jones, another journalist arrested during the protests, details his experience — which seems to contravene the policy OPD laid out for Cagle — here.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues like this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.

Comics Alliance sat down with superstar artist Cliff Chiang to talk about the gorgeous original artwork he created for the 2012 member card. Chiang told Comics Alliance about his motivation:

“I wanted the membership card art to evoke patriotism and reflect our proud legacy of free speech, while also reminding us of the need to defend it vigorously,” Chiang told ComicsAlliance. “Free speech is the cornerstone of our industry, so it’s vitally important to support the efforts of the CBLDF.”

CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein also spoke with Comics Alliance:

“We love the image that Cliff created for our 2012 member card!” said CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “He has created a modern take on the classic image of Liberty and placed her in a context that says everything about the CBLDF’s important work. We’re proud to have this image to reward our members for signing up and elated that Cliff was able to create such a flawless visual statement about what the CBLDF stands for.”

You can read more about the artwork and view exclusive behind-the-scenes images at ComicsAlliance.com.

Fight Censorship! Celebrate Liberty! Join the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today, and get your own membership card, featuring a stunning and exclusive portrait of Lady Liberty by Cliff Chiang! Join today!

Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.