Jeffrey Brown Creates 2019 CBLDF Member Art!

CBLDF is excited to announce that award-winning  cartoonist and longtime supporter Jeffrey Brown (Darth Vader & Son, Clumsy, Lucy & Andy Neanderthal) has created this year’s CBLDF membership art! His design is featured on a slew of members-only gear, including: a membership card, rin ...

Watch Image Library LiveStreams Anytime

  Watch the Image Library Livestreams Anytime In 2018, Image Comics celebrated 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 Dragotta (Ea ...

On the Front Lines of Free Expression: CBLDF Annual Report 2018

Free expression withstood a wide range of attacks in 2018. Thanks to donors like you, CBLDF was at the forefront, protecting our community from an increasing tempo of challenges to comics and other expressive material. From providing legal aid and expertise to protecting access to valuable books, CB ...

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 the co-founder of Discount Comic Book Ser ...

OUT TODAY: Panel Power, CBLDF’s New Resource for Parents, Educators, Librarians, and Retailers!

Inspire kids to become lifelong readers with Panel Power, a CBLDF resource that provides an introduction to comics and background on why they’re good for kids! You can find the issue at comic book stores across the nation, on comiXology, and below! You can also get bundles for your store, scho ...

AVAILABLE NOW: She Changed Comics!

Women have been making comics since the beginning, but there was an important story that hadn’t been told: how women changed free expression in comics. CBLDF tells that story in She Changed Comics, out today around the country! Kickstarter orders are on their way, and CBLDF will have copies of t ...

Radio Free Comix: The CBLDF Podcast

In support of our ongoing education work, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is now part of the audio-sphere! A mix of interviews, discussions about current Free Speech events, convention panels recordings, and archival materials, the CBLDF Podcast will be a monthly event, from our keyboards to your ...

CBLDF Protects The First Amendment!

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics medium. Our work takes us into courtrooms, classrooms, conventions and libraries all over the United States where we provide legal aid, education, and advocacy to protect th ...

CBLDF Kicks off New Webinar Series with Gene Luen Yang Leading Teaching Tolerance & Understanding

May 2, 2019
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CBLDF Kicks off New Webinar Series with Gene Luen Yang Leading Teaching Tolerance & Understanding

On May 23, 2019 at 4:00 pm PDT, educators and librarians are invited to join Gene Luen Yang, the National Book Award-nominated author of American Born Chinese, in a discussion of how comics help teach tolerance and understanding.    How can...

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CA Teacher Stands Up for Students Despite Threat of Dismissal

May 1, 2019
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CA Teacher Stands Up for Students Despite Threat of Dismissal

After almost three decades of helping students put together the high school newspaper, a CA teacher is facing possible termination for standing up for her students’ First Amendment rights. It all began in April, when Kathi Duffel received a letter from the school district...

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Get Personalized Comics from Chew’s John Layman!

April 30, 2019
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Get Personalized Comics from Chew’s John Layman!

John Layman, the creative mastermind behind the hit series Chew & Outer Darkness is showing his support for CBLDF by personalizing limited edition art bookplates for CBLDF Supporters to benefit our First Amendment work! For a limited time only, we’re offering the chance to have John Layman inscribe one of his great graphic novels!  Don’t miss out...

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CBLDF & Dark Horse Comics Announce Selling Comics

April 30, 2019
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CBLDF & Dark Horse Comics Announce Selling Comics

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Dark Horse Comics announce SELLING COMICS, a practical guide to the nuts and bolts of modern comics retailing. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Dark...

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Celebrate 100 Years of Children’s Literacy with Comics

April 29, 2019
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Celebrate 100 Years of Children’s Literacy with Comics

2019 marks the Centennial Children’s Book Week, beginning today April 27th and Running through May 5. This year’s theme – Read Now. Read Forever. – draws into focus the past, present, and crucial future of children’s literature. Celebrations can be found at bookstores, libraries,...

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Cartoonist Musa Kart in Prison Unjustly, Again

April 29, 2019
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Cartoonist Musa Kart in Prison Unjustly, Again

Almost exactly one year after award-winning editorial cartoonist was released from prison to await appeal, he has turned himself in to serve a sentence for “supporting terrorism” with his colleagues from the Turkish paper Cumhuriyet. The official charge leveled against 14 journalists for Cumhuriyet...

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Schanes & Schanes Art Portfolio Archives Auction To Benefit CBLDF

April 26, 2019
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Schanes & Schanes Art Portfolio Archives Auction To Benefit CBLDF

CBLDF is proud to offer our donors the chance to get file copies of rare art portfolios from the collection of industry legend Bill Schanes!  Schanes is the co-founder of Pacific Comics, the groundbreaking west coast independent comics publisher. These portfolios are Schanes’ personal file copies, and most are signed with very low numbers! CBLDF is...

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CBLDF Defends Students’ Right to Read in NJ!

April 26, 2019
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CBLDF Defends Students’ Right to Read in NJ!

Mere weeks after the graphic novel Fun Home was restored in a New Jersey school district, the policy (2530) that ushered in that victory was rewritten to drastically change the power for future decisions and remove all language in support of free speech. The new policy removes references...

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Support The CBLDF With American Gods Volume 2: My Ainsel Signed By Neil Gaiman!

April 25, 2019
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Support The CBLDF With American Gods Volume 2: My Ainsel Signed By Neil Gaiman!

This week CBLDF is proud to celebrate the release of Neil Gaiman’s second American Gods Graphic Novel Installment, American Gods Volume 2: My Ainsel! Donors can pick up a signed hardcover of American Gods Volume 2: My Ainsel or  American Gods Volume 1: Shadows signed by Neil Gaiman today! Don’t wait–donate today to grab...

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Myanmar Rejects Appeal for Imprisoned Journalists

April 25, 2019
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Myanmar Rejects Appeal for Imprisoned Journalists

The Supreme Court of Myanmar has denied the appeal of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, the Reuters journalists currently serving seven year sentences after a police set-up. The court’s decision comes on the heals of Lone and Soe Oo being awarded the ...

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Barcelona School Purges 200 Kids’ Books

April 24, 2019
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Barcelona School Purges 200 Kids’ Books

The Tàber school in Barcelona recently reviewed its 600 volume children’s library and determined that a third of the collection was sexist and without pedagogical merit, including classic fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood and the legend of St. George....

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Start a Book Club with CBLDF’s Help!

April 23, 2019
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Start a Book Club with CBLDF’s Help!

Whether you’re planning activities for Banned Books Week, trying to read more, or looking to engage with others during the spring and summer, there are few things that bring as much joy as starting a comic book club. Check out this post for free resources...

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U.S. Identified as “Problematic” for Journalists

April 22, 2019
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U.S. Identified as “Problematic” for Journalists

The 2019 World Press Freedom Index has been released and continues the narrative of previous years as animosity towards the press erodes into hostility and violence, fostering an environment of fear for journalists around the globe. The United States has fallen three more places...

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Policy Change in NJ School District Paves Way for Censors

April 19, 2019
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Policy Change in NJ School District Paves Way for Censors

Earlier this year, two high schools in the North Hunterdon-Voorhees School District in New Jersey restricted access to Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home against their own policies. The restriction was overturned at the end of February after CBLDF, co-sponsors of National...

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A History of Frequently Banned Comics

April 19, 2019
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A History of Frequently Banned Comics

Though CBLDF has Case Studies of challenges and bans of comics that go back over twenty years, when it comes to the graphic novels being challenged in quantity, it’s a far more recent affair. This year’s ALA list of most frequently challenged and banned...

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