Graphitti Designs Protects Free Speech As CBLDF’s Newest Corporate Member

GraphittiD_logo_red.TMThe Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is proud to welcome Graphitti Designs, the trailblazing manufacturer of pop culture and comics-related merchandise, as the organization’s newest corporate member! Building on a long history of support for the organization, Graphitti Designs joins CBLDF on the eve of Comic-Con International: San Diego, where they are offering the CBLDF’s first ever official Comic-Con souvenir shirt, featuring Jeff Smith’s beloved character Bone proclaiming “Free Speech is Patriotic!”

Graphitti Designs president Bob Chapman says, “The CBLDF’s work is so important to ensuring that the fans, creators, and businesses of comics can continue to do what they do best. I’m proud to deepen Graphitti Designs’ relationship with the organization and to be counted among my peers in the business community who take the stand that CBLDF’s work isn’t just important — it’s an investment in our community and its future.”

An innovative force in the comics field, Graphitti Designs was founded in 1982 as the first company to produce licensed comics merchandise specifically for the comics specialty market. The company was the first to create t-shirts, limited edition hardcover books, and cold-cast statues, while also producing a range of products that includes action figures, prints, and cloisonné pins. Later this year, Graphitti Designs will return to publishing luxury books with Gallery Editions, a series of deluxe hardcover books faithfully producing the original art from landmark comics. The line debuts this year with Kelley Jones’ Batman and Frank Miller’s Ronin. Future installments will include Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Neal Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

CBLDF provides legal and educational resources to protect the freedom to read comics. The organization is a partner in Banned Books Week, the Kids’ Right to Read Project, Free Comic Book Day, and other national institutions that support intellectual freedom and literacy. CBLDF’s work extends from courtrooms to classrooms to conventions, providing letters of support in book challenges, challenging unconstitutional legislation, and delivering lectures and programs about current and historical censorship to audiences all over the world.

Graphitti Designs stands beside Abrams, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Boom! Studios, ComiXology, Dark Horse, DC Entertainment, DCBS.com, Diamond Comic Distributors, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Random House, Scholastic, Valiant, and TFAW.com as a corporate member supporting CBLDF’s important work.

About Graphitti Designs

Founded in 1982, Graphitti Designs has been one of the leading producers of pop culture and comics related merchandise for over two decades. Focusing on everything from apparel to collectibles, Graphitti Designs also specializes in deluxe limited edition hardcovers like Mike Allred’s Madman and hard-to-find trade paperbacks like Sergio Aragones’s The Life of Groo and Kevin Smith’s Jay & Silent Bob series.

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. CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.