Marc H. Greenberg, a professor at Golden Gate University’s School of Law has published an extensive case study of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and its important work in the Loyola Entertainment Law Review. On the occasion of its publication, Professor Greenberg has prepared remarks about the article and the organization it supports exclusively for CBLDF.org. Read on for Greenberg’s remarks and the full case study.
CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
Access Denied: Library Filter Fail
While researching a story about role-playing-game censorship for CBLDF.org at his local library, CBLDF blog volunteer Justin Brown encountered the cold slap of censorship himself as the result of aggressive filtering software. Brown discusses his experience, and the heritage of filtering laws that requires libraries like his to deny access to content or risk losing public funding after the jump.
New Neil Gaiman & David Mack Print Debuts!
The CBLDF is proud to offer our supporters an exciting new premium by Neil Gaiman & David Mack! This beautiful, exclusive print was contributed by our friends at Neverwear. Silk-screened in Austin, Texas these are the variant blue test run, created in very limited quantities prior to the standard edition grey run.
Printed on a gorgeous French paper called Madero Beach, a 70 weight 8.5 ” x 11″ recycled stock, the prints are full of flecks and bits. Creamy off-white, with 3 colors to show off David Mack’s luscious artwork and lettering.
They are hand-numbered, in an extremely limited artist/printer edition of 90. They are not available anywhere else!
Get yours today!
Censorship, Consequences and the Creative Process
by Christopher Schiller
Throughout the history of comics there are many brave examples of artists tackling controversial subject matter, which has been fodder for many stellar, ground breaking works. Often the tension of controversy is required to have a conversation of great substance with the audience. But there are those who attempt and often succeed in restricting these conversations through censorship, often with dire consequences. The novelist Salman Rushdie, no neophyte in the arena of censorship battles, has recently commented on the impact of censorship on both the works and their creators, pointing out that there is more lasting resonance in the consequences of the prior restraint of creative endeavors than is immediately apparent.
Click through for a discussion of Rushdie’s commentary on censorship and the chilling effect of censorship on the creative process.
BLOWN COVERS Reveals Controversial and Rejected New Yorker Covers
by Mark Bousquet
A recent Forbes article discusses some of The New Yorker‘s most controversial covers and reveals images that never made it to print. The subject of the piece is the recent release of Françoise Mouly’s book, Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See. Though typically drawing attention for their artistic and satirical merit, select New Yorker covers have also proven controversial, such as Barry Blitt’s July 2008 cover that depicted President Barack Obama and the First Lady exchanging a “terrorist fist-bump” in the Oval Office. Ms. Mouly’s book helps to illuminate the tension that exists between artistic expression and commercial interests.
Click through for more about covering The New Yorker and links to images of some of the most controversial covers.
Critical Fail: The Censorship of RPGs
by Justin Brown
Let’s say you’ve been reading up on the CBLDF coverage of the top 10 banned books of 2011, which included a graphic novel in the #2 spot, and you want to vent your frustrations by gathering with a group of friends to play a trending role-playing-game. You amble amongst local comic shops, book stores and libraries to obtain the newest player manual only to discover that it has been banned or censored to the point of being unplayable. (I mean, who wants to try to bewilder a bug-bear with a rubber-mallet-of-kindness? Ok, that scenario is a little farfetched, but you get the picture.) According to a recent article on ICv2, censorship has branched out to include RPGs for many of the same reasons that comic books have been challenged and censored.
More on RPG censorship after the jump.
Two Cartoonists to Receive CRNI Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning
by Maren Williams
Two political cartoonists who have courageously defied government censorship and brutality will be honored with the 2012 Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award from Cartoonists Rights Network International. Syrian Ali Ferzat and Indian Aseem Trivedi will receive the award on September 15, 2012 at George Washington University in Washington, DC, according to a post on CRNI’s website.
The annual award recognizes cartoonists who have “shown exemplary courage in the face of unrelenting threat, legal action or other pressure as punishment or disincentive for cartoons that are too powerful for some officials, sects, terrorists or demagogues.”
Click through for more on Ferzat and Trivedi’s groundbreaking work.
India Moves to Ban Cartoons from Textbooks
by Soyini A. Hamit
On May 14, one day after the 60th anniversary of the Indian Parliament, the government decided to ban textbooks from the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) for using cartoons that mock politicians. The government will also review NCERT textbooks, in addition to removing the offensive cartoons.
What began as an affront to famed cartoonist Shankar Pillai’s depiction of political leader B. R. Ambedkar has grown into an assault on the use of all cartoons in textbooks. Members of Parliament protested until the government relented and agreed to censor textbooks. The lone voice of dissent came from MP Sharifuddin Shariq, who felt that the cartoons should not upset politicians because they “reflected the reality.”
More after the jump…
Webcomic Takes a Stab at Indian Online Content Laws
by Joe Izenman
Only a few months have passed since political cartoonist Aseem Trivedi faced charges of treason for mocking the state. But that hasn’t stopped at least one webcomic artist from taking a sarcastic Mother’s Day shot at Indian Parliament’s year-old amendments to their Information Technology Act, which introduced an extraordinary set of restrictions and punishments for a broad range of online content violations.
Indian webcomic Crocodile In Water, Tiger On Land—a self-described purveyor of “below-the-belt cheap shots in comic form” has this to say in “thanks” to India’s lawmakers:
More details about the impact of India’s restrictive policies after the jump…
Big Wow Raises $1,500 for CBLDF!
by Betsy Gomez
I rolled an hour down the road this weekend for Big Wow! Comicfest, a regional show that’s seen quite a bit of growth since the last time I attended. In the years that have passed since my last outing to the show, it’s grown from a smallish collectors show (where I could fill in the gaps in my Jonah Hex and The Phantom collections) into a bustling event with an impressive guest list and a burgeoning artists alley. It was a genuine joy to see how the show has upped the ante. By the end of the convention, I had introduced many people to CBLDF and talked to many of our regular contributors, raising $1,500 for the cause!
Click through for more…
Join Charles Brownstein for a Discussion of Free Expression and the PROTECT Act This Wednesday
This Wednesday, you can join CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein for “Is Manga a Crime? Non-photographic images, Child Pornography and Freedom of Expression,” a program that discusses the impact of the PROTECT Act and the transportation of drawn images across international borders. The program is the Digital Media & Fine Arts Committees of the New York State Bar Association Entertainment, Arts, & Sports Law Section, and attorneys who attend can gain 1.5 MCLE credits in professional practice (pending approval).
More details after the jump.
Free Speech Advocates Score Victory in Utah
A victory for Free Speech was claimed yesterday when US District Judge Dee Benson issued an order ruling that people posting constitutionally-protected content on websites cannot be prosecuted for doing so and are not required to label the content they post. The ruling supports the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that opposed a Utah “harmful to minors” law that restricted free expression online. CBLDF was one of the organizations that opposed the law, joining fellow Media Coalition members the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, and the Freedom to Read Foundation. Additional plaintiffs included the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah; painter Nathan Florence, the Publishers Marketing Association, and the Sexual Health Network.
Read the official response from the Media Coalition after the jump.
Please help support CBLDF’s work to strike down unconstitutional censorship laws such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!
UPDATED: CBLDF Hits the West Coast with Big Wow ComicFest!
With Executive Director Charles Brownstein in Japan for a symposium on manga and censorship; Deputy Director Alex Cox in Portland, Maine, for the Maine Comics Arts Festival; and a charity auction and booth headed up by volunteer Diana Green at St. Paul, Minnesota’s Spring Con, CBLDF is all over the world this weekend. Lest the West Coast feel left out, CBLDF Web Editor Betsy Gomez will be on hand at the Big Wow! ComicFest in San Jose, California! Big Wow takes place May 19 – 20 in downtown San Jose at the San Jose Convention Center, Hall 2, and you’ll find CBLDF at booth #603.
More details after the jump!
Join CBLDF This Weekend at the Maine Comics Arts Festival!
CBLDF Deputy Director Alex Cox will be at the Maine Comics Arts Festival in Portland, Maine, all weekend. On Saturday, May 19, he will be presenting the CBLDF’s “History of Censorship in Comics” — a slideshow walk through oppression and small-mindedness from the 1930s to today! The presentation happens at the Portland Public Library Main Branch in the Rines Auditorium (5 Monument Square). On Sunday, May 20, from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., you’ll find him at the Ocean Gateway with a booth full of info about the Fund and awesome donation premiums!
Click through for more details about the show!
This Weekend’s SpringCon Charity Auction Benefits CBLDF
SpringCon, the annual comic book celebration produced by the Midwest Comic Book Association, takes place this weekend at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota. This amazing event takes place May 19 – 20 and gathers hundreds of creators and many more fans for a comic marketplace, programs, and a huge charity auction. This year’s charity auction takes place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, and all of the proceeds will be split between the Minnesota Lupus Foundation and CBLDF! In addition, the CBLDF will be there with a booth headed up by a local volunteer team lead by Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s Diana Green!
All of the details follow after the jump…