This weekend, CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein will represent the organization at the Stumptown Comics Festival, where we’ll have signings from Craig Thompson, Dan Piraro, and Ron Randall, as well as a huge array of signed comics and graphic novels that you can get for making a donation in support of our important work! Stumptown is one of the great American independent comics festivals. In addition to the action on the convention floor, the entire Portland comics community goes all out hosting a wide variety of parties, art exhibits and special events showcasing the city’s unique comics culture. Read on for the full scoop on CBLDF’s activities and all the special events happening at the show!
Author: cbldf
LA Times Festival of Books Tells A Success Story For CBLDF!
Last weekend, Deputy Director Alex Cox traveled to Los Angeles to represent the CBLDF at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. It was a terrific weekend, featuring signings by Sam Humphries (left) and Lev Grossman. The CBLDF raised $3,000 for our important work protecting free speech, and got a glance of a small sliver of what the LA comics scene has to offer. Read on for Alex’s adventures after the jump!
CBLDF’s History of Comics Censorship Presentation, Annotated by Joe Sergi’s Cup of Geek
Joe Sergi, blogger for Cup of Geek went to the CBLDF presentation The History (And Future) of Comics Censorship at C2E2 last weekend and wrote an extensive recap of the panel, with additional research and annotations by the author. CBLDF is pleased to represent Sergi’s post in full as a resource for our members and supporters. Read Sergi’s post after the jump.
Chicago Shows Huge Support At C2E2!
Last weekend the CBLDF team was at C2E2 in Chicago where we launched a huge t-shirt project with Threadless, delivered a presentation on the history of comics censorship, signed up over 30 new members, and raised more than $7,300 for our important work. CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein recaps the festivities after the jump!
Threadless Design Challenge Opens Submissions to Comics-On Tees Vol. 6 by Neil Gaiman!
Threadless kicked off the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) last night with a benefit party for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at Threadless Headquarters where a new fundraising effort for the non-profit organization was announced. In July, Threadless will launch Comics-On Tees Vol. 6, a series of four tees based on the poem The Day the Saucers Came, written by bestselling author and CBLDF board member Neil Gaiman. Artists have a chance to design the first tee in the four-part series, and 25% of the proceeds from the chosen design will benefit CBLDF.
Submissions for the first The Day the Saucers Came t-shirt will be scored by the Threadless community, and its 1.8 million community members will help pick the final chosen design. Designs can be submitted through Threadless, and the chosen shirt will be revealed at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The other three tees in the series will feature art from John Cassaday (Planetary, Astonishing X-Men), Ben Templesmith (Fell, 30 Days of Night), and Brandon Graham (King City, Prophet). To submit designs & learn more about this project please visit: http://atrium.threadless.com/cbldf/
CBLDF Blows Into The Windy City For C2E2!
This weekend the CBLDF takes to the road once more for C2E2 and the Diamond Retailer Summit in Chicago! The Fund has great rewards planned for card-carrying CBLDF Members, including a big open bar welcome bash hosted by CBLDF Corporate Member THREADLESS on Friday night and copies of the CBLDF Exclusive edition of Glory #23 signed by Joe Keatinge or Liberty Annual 2011 signed by Frank Quitely both COMPLETELY FREE for card-carrying CBLDF members. Beyond these membership thank you’s, we’re also delivering a presentation on the history of comics censorship on Sunday morning, and have a booth loaded with amazing signed books, prints and more to support our important First Amendment legal work! Read on for full details about what CBLDF has in store for you in Chicago!
Anime Detour Hosts A Warm Welcome for Ryan Matheson & CBLDF!
Last weekend Anime Detour welcomed 5,000 fans of anime and manga to one of the Midwest’s longest running and most well organized conventions, and for the first time, CBLDF was there! We were graciously welcomed by the convention organizers, who provided a spot for an information table, and a programming spot on Saturday morning where Ryan Matheson spoke in person about his ordeal for the first time alongside con guests of honor Greg Ayres, Richard and Shannon Townsend and Kim Pridemore from Studio O-n-Y, and Frenchy Lunning, editor of Mechademia and an important expert contributor to CBLDF casework. CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein recounts the weekend after the jump!
Thank You Seattle! The CBLDF at Emerald City Comic-Con
Emerald City Comic Con took place last weekend, and it was three days of infectious enthusiasm, excited mobs, and great comics of all varieties. The CBLDF was on hand, excited to talk to all the fans and creators that populate the Pacific Northwest. ECCC was a terrific show; well-organized, well-attended, and well-programmed.
Click through for Deputy Director Alex Cox’s re-cap of a great convention, one that earned a much-needed $6,536, to help fund our continued education work and will assist in paying down the legal fees for Ryan “Brandon X” Matheson.
Arizona Legislature Passes Sweeping Electronic Speech Censorship Bill
Yesterday, the Arizona legislature passed Arizona House Bill 2549, which would update the state’s telephone harassment law to apply to the Internet and other electronic communications. The bill is sweepingly broad, and would make it a crime to communicate via electronic means speech that is intended to “annoy,” “offend,” “harass” or “terrify,” as well as certain sexual speech. Because the bill is not limited to one-to-one communications, H.B. 2549 would apply to the Internet as a whole, thus criminalizing all manner of writing, cartoons, and other protected material the state finds offensive or annoying. The Bill is currently on Governor Jan Brewer’s desk awaiting her decision on whether to veto or sign the bill.
Media Coalition, a trade association protecting the First Amendment rights of content industries, whose membership includes CBLDF, has been active in opposing the bill. On March 14, Media Coalition sent a memo to the Senate Rules Committee regarding constitutional infirmities in H.B. 2549. Yesterday they sent a letter to Governor Brewer urging her to veto the bill.
If passed, the law could create vulnerabilities for cartoonists and publishers who publish material online intended to shock, satirize, and criticize. Beyond the example of the Mohammad cartoons listed in the Media Coalition letter, the taboo-pushing work of cartoonists like R. Crumb, Johnny Ryan, and Ivan Brunetti would potentially be vulnerable to prosecution, as could incendiary works such as Frank Miller’s Holy Terror and Dave Sim’s Cerebus. Similarly, the culture of message boards, within and beyond comics, would be imperiled. With more titles released digitally each week, and an extremely active online ecosystem of professional and fan exchange, laws like this one are extremely worrisome for the creators, publishers, and readers of comics.
CBLDF Attends Anime Detour in Minneapolis This Weekend!
This weekend the CBLDF will be setting up at Anime Detour in Minneapolis, where we’ll be presenting a talk on manga censorship, as well as setting up a table to distribute literature and accept donations. CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein will represent the Fund, and host the panel, which is set to happen on Saturday morning at 10:30 AM. He’ll be joined by Ryan Matheson, who courageously spoke out for the first time about his legal ordeal in Canada earlier this month after we announced that all criminal charges against him had been dropped. They’ll be joined on the panel by Greg Ayres and Studio OnY.
Please come by the dealers room and say hello. We’ll have a booth set up offering incentives including the “Manga Is Not A Crime” button and a raffle for signed items from Yoshitaka Amano, Camilla d’Errico and more!
Anime Detour starts on Friday, March 30 and runs through Sunday, April 2 at the Doubletree by Hilton in Bloomington, MN.