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 ...

New Jersey Considers Motion to Chuck Huckleberry Finn

March 25, 2019
By
New Jersey Considers Motion to Chuck Huckleberry Finn

Lawmakers have proposed a resolution in New Jersey politely asking schools to ban Huckleberry Finn from their curriculum due to the excess of racist language in the book. The classic by Mark Twain is...

Read more »

The Magicians Demonstrates Library Shelving is a Crucial Form of Speech

March 22, 2019
By
The Magicians Demonstrates Library Shelving is a Crucial Form of Speech

“That’s why these books are so important; they’re such a gift. They can allow you to see other points of view.” – Penny 23, The Magicians on SyFy Last month, a long-fought victory in a Kansas library allowed the continued shelving of LGBTQIA kids books with other...

Read more »

Educational GNs Signed by Scott McCloud, Dave Gibbons, & More Benefit CBLDF!

March 21, 2019
By
Educational GNs Signed by Scott McCloud, Dave Gibbons, & More Benefit CBLDF!

This week CBLDF is featuring a host of educational graphic novels and resources for our donors! We’ve got some great donation premiums, including signed books about the art of comics: Understanding Comics, signed by Scott McCloud and How Comics Work, signed by Dave Gibbons! We’ve also got great graphic novels including March Book One, signed by Andrew...

Read more »

She Changed Comics: Marjane Satrapi

March 20, 2019
By
She Changed Comics: Marjane Satrapi

In the early 2000s, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis set a new standard for graphic memoirs. Taking an inside look at the brutality and absurdity that overtook her native Iran in the early 1980s, Satrapi’s book met with resounding success amount casual readers as well as educators and librarians who embraced its capacity for increasing...

Read more »

Destructive Legislation Explained by Florida Education Defenders

March 19, 2019
By
Destructive Legislation Explained by Florida Education Defenders

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, as proud members of Florida Education Defenders, has released a fact sheet about the devastating new legislation currently in the Florida state legislature. These bills are a blatant attempt from Florida Citizens Alliance to control educational materials and agendas,...

Read more »

South Carolina Principal Presented Intellectual Freedom Award

March 18, 2019
By
South Carolina Principal Presented Intellectual Freedom Award

In recognition of standing up for her students and their right to read, South Carolina Association of School Librarians gave Wando High School Principal, Dr. Sherry Eppelsheimer, the Intellectual Freedom Award. This stems from an incident...

Read more »

Anime Censorship in the 90s and Early 2000s

March 18, 2019
By
Anime Censorship in the 90s and Early 2000s

If you happened to watch the American dub of the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! back in the early 2000s, you might have noticed a few things were off. Characters would go out of their way to dramatically point at one another. They drank...

Read more »

Retailer Spotlight: Cosmic Monkey Comics

March 15, 2019
By
Retailer Spotlight: Cosmic Monkey Comics

Across town in Portland, Oregon from Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, on a busy street sits Cosmic Monkey Comics. The outside windows are painted in bright colors featuring neat caricatures of a monkey (obviously), an alien, a robot, and a dinosaur –...

Read more »

Victory for EBSCO and Colorado Libraries May Still Chill Speech

March 15, 2019
By
Victory for EBSCO and Colorado Libraries May Still Chill Speech

The preposterous lawsuit against the Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) and EBSCO, a media aggregate database company, purporting the two conspired to traffic pornography to school children, has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can not be brought refiled. While this seems a victory for...

Read more »

Student Stands Up for LGBTQIA Community and Her Own First Amendment Rights

March 14, 2019
By
Student Stands Up for LGBTQIA Community and Her Own First Amendment Rights

A Fourth Grader in South Carolina is suing her school district for infringing on her First Amendment rights after they refused to accept her essay on LGBTQIA rights. The assignment was to craft a letter “to...

Read more »

Image Comics Benefit CBLDF! GNs Signed by Marjorie Liu, Robert Kirkman, Brian K. Vaughan, & More!

March 14, 2019
By
Image Comics Benefit CBLDF! GNs Signed by Marjorie Liu, Robert Kirkman, Brian K. Vaughan, & More!

This week CBLDF is offering our donors the chance to grab some incredible Image graphic novels signed by their creators to benefit CBLDF! We’ve got a great selection of some of their most successful titles, including: Monstress Volume One TP, signed by Marjorie Liu; Saga Volume One Hardcover and Softcover Editions, signed by Brian K....

Read more »

Seattle! Get Ready for CBLDF at Emerald City!

March 13, 2019
By
Seattle! Get Ready for CBLDF at Emerald City!

Are you ready for Emerald City Comicon? It kicks off tomorrow March 14, and runs through March 17. Make CBLDF your first stop at Booth #2004. We’re bringing a killer selection rewards for donations to help CBLDF fight on the front lines of free expression. So make sure you...

Read more »

Revisiting Preludes & Nocturnes At 30

March 13, 2019
By
Revisiting Preludes & Nocturnes At 30

In November, CBLDF marked the 30th Anniversary of Sandman Issue #1 by a look back at both the praise and censorship that the series has received. The series as a whole stands as one of the most lauded works in comics,...

Read more »

Unparalleled Editor, Karen Berger – She Changed Comics

March 12, 2019
By
Unparalleled Editor, Karen Berger – She Changed Comics

Karen Berger profile by Caitlin McCabe From modern masterpieces like Y: The Last Man, Fables, and The Invisibles, to seminal classics like V for Vendetta, Preacher, and Sandman, in a time when superheroes glutted the newsstand and comic shops,...

Read more »

Daring Works, Community Standards, and Obscenity – A Legal Perspective

March 11, 2019
By
Daring Works, Community Standards, and Obscenity – A Legal Perspective

Editorial Note: This article originally appeared on CreatorLaw.com. Due the complex nature of obscenity laws, we thought it would be interesting for CBLDF readers to get further insight into what these standards mean. To understand how the complexity can be easily misunderstood, even by those that write legislation, check out a...

Read more »