This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin. One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, Watchmen has been studied on college campuses across the nation. This hardcover edition is signed by illustrator Dave Gibbons.
In December, CBLDF and the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom wrote a letter to the superintendent of the Dixfield, Maine, school system in order to prevent the removal of the anthology Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from library shelves. On Monday, the school board voted to leave the book on library shelves with the caveat the students must have parental permission to check out the book.
Stuck in the Middle was edited by Ariel Schrag and includes contributions from acclaimed graphic novelists Daniel Clowes, Dash Shaw, Gabrielle Bell, Lauren Weinstein, and more. The book received praise from Booklist, New York Times, and Publishers Weekly, and it was selected for New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age” list in 2008.
“While we’re pleased to see the book retained in the library’s collection, we’re very disappointed that it is retained with restrictions,” CBLDF’s Executive Director Charles Brownstein said.
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Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!
As each year begins, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression “awards” individuals and organizations around the country with Jefferson Muzzles “as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment.”
The 2011 Muzzles have been awarded, and recipients include the Obama Administration, BP, the TSA, and more, but one recipient in particular ties in with CBLDF’s work to protect books and comics in libraries. Keep reading…
Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!
In 1986 — the same year CBLDF was established — Mike Richardson founded Dark Horse Comics, which has since grown into one of the largest and most influential comics publishers in the world. From Aliens to Hellboy to Sin City and more, Dark Horse has released some of the most beloved — and occasionally controversial — books in comics.
Inexorably energetic, Richardson isn’t content to only preside over a comics publishing company. He writes, produces films, and owns popular comics retailer Things From Another World. Towering close to seven feet tall, Richardson exudes the same aura held by some of the superheroes found in the books he publishes. But his heroism is all too real: He is one of CBLDF’s most devout supporters.
In celebrating more than 25 years of both the CBLDF and Dark Horse Comics, CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein sat down with Richardson to talk about censorship and his experience as a publisher for this edition of The Good Fighters.
The Amazing Arizona Comic Convention debuted to huge crowds last year, and it looks to be even bigger in 2012, with superstar guests Robert Kirkman, Rob Leifeld, Greg Capullo, Scott Lobdell, and more! This year, CBLDF will be part of the first comic convention of 2012, exhibiting at booth #123!
The Amazing Arizona Comic Con takes place January 6 – 8, at the Mesa Convention Center (263 N. Center Street, Mesa, AZ 85211). Come on out and use get the gifts you really want and support Free Speech from the CBLDF! We’ve got a great array of grab bags, signed comics, signed graphic novels, and more! Get the best collectibles for a great cause from CBLDF at booth #123 during Amazing Arizona Comic Con, this weekend in Mesa, Arizona!
In addition to protecting our right to free speech, the First Amendment also guarantees freedom of religion, including the ability to find information on various faiths. Today, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed a lawsuit charging the Salem Public Library with unconstitutional censorship for blocking access to information about minority religions. In particular, information about Native American practices and Wicca were blocked because they were classified as “occult” or “criminal.”
In their press release, the ACLU justifies their action:
“The library has no business blocking these websites as “occult’ or ‘criminal” in the first place and certainly shouldn’t be making arbitrary follow-up decisions based on the personal predilections of library staff,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “Public libraries should be facilitating access to educational information, not blocking it.”
Such censorship by libraries has chilling implications, as the blocking of material could be extended to impact other legitimate educational material, including comics. You can find ACLU’s official press release here.
Thanks to the generous help of The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation, CBLDF has had a wonderful holiday season with The Spirit of Giving drive!
Throughout the drive, The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation has made a contribution of $1 for every donation and gift order placed on CBLDF’s website. Today marks the end of the $1 contributions, so be sure to order gifts for your friends and family (or yourself)! If you’re not sure what to get for the comic fan in your life, check out CBLDF’s gift guide here.
Through December 31, The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation is also donating $5 for every new or renewed membership. You can join the fight by becoming a member, or conscript your friends by getting a gift membership today!
A carton of hate. A wedge of spite. A comic book of idiotic genius. The Eisner Award-winning dairy duo returns in this deluxe hardcover collecting every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2010, along with a sh*t-ton of supplemental awesomeness. This has everything you need! Don’t judge it — love it! Or else!
This 240 page hardcover is a must-have for fans of humor, and dairy violence. It is signed by the cartoonist, Mr. Evan Dorkin!
A modern classic co-written by superstar author (and CBLDF Board Member) Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the comedic novel Good Omens is available for aficionados both old and new!
On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker).
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times).
Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us. This modern masterpiece is signed by the author on a specialty bookplate.