by Alex Cox
Those myriad and sundry supporters of Free Speech that reside in the great state of Colorado (and surrounding environs) will be excited to hear that the CBLDF will be available to you, in the proverbial flesh, at this weekend’s Denver Comic Con! We’ll be residing in booth 420 at the Denver Convention Center.
This is a rare visit by the Fund to one of the more beautiful vistas of our great United States, and we are excited to see our western mountain supporters in person. We will have our usual assorted array of classic graphic novels, signed by the artists and writers, to help us raise money for our continuing legal work.
With breaking news about comics by talents like Alan Moore being pulled from library shelves, we are given a bitter reminder why the Fund exists and why it is important. Prejudices and misconceptions still cling to this precious art form, like barnacles on a sailing ship, and CBLDF’s legal work and educational programs are a process of constant barnacle-scraping. Our defense work protects the art form, but it also hopefully helps it sail better going forward.
Nautical metaphors notwithstanding, this is going to be a beautiful weekend in the Denver area, and an awesome chance to get out and enjoy the great comic culture that will be in the Denver Convention Center for the next three days. This is the perfect time to join the Fund or to renew your membership, joining a movement that has protected comics from censorship for more than 25 years!
Colorado has a sweet spot on the shelf of comics history. As a collector in the 1980s, the fabled “Mile High Collection” was a holy grail, but a holy grail that had actually been found, making it all the more amazing. Chuck Rozanski’s Mile High Comics was a Xanadu for young collectors, seeing ads in their favorite comics, and he continues to be one of the iconic figures in the retail community. In fact, Mile Hugh Comics was so ingrained in my young psyche, I equated Denver with comics as much as New York City or Metropolis.
The show opens at 6:00 p.m. today and closes Sunday at 5:00 p.m, so you’ll have plenty of time to visit CBLDF at booth 420! You can get more information about the show here. I look forward to seeing the present-day comics world of Denver, and meeting current supporters, and bringing new supporters into the fold!
Alex Cox is the Deputy Director for CBLDF.