Many people know about the great comic book scare in the late ’40s and early ’50s. You know the one that started with individuals like Dr. Fredric Wertham and Senator Robert C. Hendrickson and ended with the creation of the…
CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
TFAW Posts SDCC Auction Images: The Marvel Edition!
For the past three years, Things From Another World has played a pivotal role in collecting original artwork for CBLDF’s annual Comic-Con International charity auction, helping the Fund raise more than $75,000 in the process. If you head over to their blog, they posted The Marvel Edition of the auction preview: six amazing pieces of art featuring some of our favorite Marvel characters, from Black Widow to Thor. The pieces are by Cat Farris, Francesco Francavilla, Jeffrey Brown, Natalie Nourigat, Patric Reynolds, and Rahsan Ekedal, and they will be auctioned off Saturday, July 14, in room Sapphire AB at the Hilton Bayfront, starting at 8:00 p.m. All proceeds benefit the important First Amendment work of CBLDF!
The image you see here is just a teaser! You can view the rest of the images here. If you’re curious about who’s donated to the auction so far, you can view the list and see their pieces here.
Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!
CBLDF Contributes Additional $10,000 to Ryan Matheson’s $75,000 Legal Defense Costs Thanks To Donors!
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is pleased to announce that thanks to the support of its contributors, the organization has disbursed an additional $10,000 to Ryan Matheson to help pay off the $75,000 legal defense costs that he incurred defending himself against false charges brought by Canada Customs in a case involving manga comics on his laptop computer.
Earlier this year, charges against Matheson were dropped in a case where Canada Customs illegally detained and wrongly charged the American with importation of child pornography for humor and fantasy manga on his laptop. The CBLDF came to Ryan’s aid in 2011, providing substantive and financial support for his case, including arranging expert testimony that contributed to the charges being dropped. With this most recent disbursal, the CBLDF has provided $30,000 to Ryan’s $75,000 legal defense costs. Last year, Canada’s Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund contributed $11,000 towards Ryan’s defense. CBLDF seeks contributions to help pay off Ryan’s remaining $34,000 in legal expenses.
In a message to CBLDF supporters, Matheson says, “Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the CBLDF! The donations raised so far have given me enough financial stability to finally get back on my feet and live my life normally instead of worrying about money so much. It’s really encouraging to know that there are so many people out there that want to help stand up for comics and manga. I used to feel so isolated and alone but now I’ve realized that the comics and manga community is definitely one that cares about the things we love and is willing to stand up for our rights. Your donations really do help a lot and I am so grateful for all the support I’ve received so far. Thank you!”
This summer, Matheson will be appearing on panels at San Diego Comic-Con and Otakon to discuss his case, where CBLDF will also be distributing literature advising convention goers of their rights.
Please make a donation to CBLDF to help the organization continue to pay off Matheson’s legal defense costs and to support their important work raising awareness of the rights facing comics and manga readers. To learn more about Ryan’s case, please visit the CBLDF Case File R. v. Matheson, which includes the original defense documents, and special advisories for travelers crossing borders with comics books.
CBLDF Applauds Supreme Court’s Defense of Free Speech In Rejecting “Stolen Valor” Act
The Supreme Court today held that the Stolen Valor Act, a federal law that makes it a crime to lie about having received military honors, violates the free speech protections of the First Amendment.
“Fundamental constitutional principles require that laws enacted to honor the brave must be consistent with the precepts of the Constitution for which they fought,” Justice Kennedy wrote in a plurality decision.
Earlier this year, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case by Media Coalition, a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of mainstream media. The brief argued that while defamation and fraud are recognized historic exceptions to the First Amendment, there has never been an exception for false speech. In his opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote, “The Court has never endorsed the categorical rule the Government advances: that false statements receive no First Amendment protection. Our prior decisions have not confronted a measure, like the Stolen Valor Act, that targets falsity and nothing more.”
LGBT Characters and the Comics Code Authority
The last decade has seen a spate of LGBT characters introduced, ‘outed,’ or united in marriage with same-sex partners in mainstream comics. Unfortunately, these LGBT storylines have drawn criticism and calls for censorship from some quarters, particularly the group One Million Moms, a subsidiary of the American Family Association. The moms have pressured retailer Toys ‘R’ Us not to stock the Life With Archie issue featuring Kevin Keller’s wedding, and later blacklisted both DC and Marvel for “placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light,” according to a post from ICv2. But as Alan Kistler points out in an extensive post for Comic Book Resources, LGBT characters and themes have a long history in comics, despite the self-censorship that ruled the industry for decades. CBLDF blogger Maren Williams takes a look at Kistler’s article after the jump.
New Hampshire Senate Fails to Override Governor’s Veto of S.B. 175
On June 12, 2012, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch vetoed S.B. 175, a senate bill that would have made it illegal to use an individual’s likeness for 70 years after his or her death. This week, the New Hampshire Senate voted on the bill again in an attempt to override the governor’s veto. Only 13 of the 16 votes needed to override the veto were obtained, so the veto was upheld.
More after the jump…
Chopped By The Cleaver: One Cartoonist’s Contributions to Libyan Revolution
by Joe Izenman
Freedom of speech is easy to take for granted in the United States. For all the effort we must spend protecting expression in some areas, political cartooning and the ability to poke fun at our own government officials are an accepted fact of life.
So it is easy to forget that even these seemingly basic freedoms — such as the ability to draw a caricature or to create a mocking internet meme out of your head of state — can be a truly remarkable and powerful tool in a dictatorial state. In a recent profile Chris York wrote for Huffington Post UK, longtime Libyan exile and cartoonist Hasan Dhaimish — also known as Alsature, or The Cleaver — talks about the life that led him to a career of political irreverence. Click through for excerpts from the article…
In Defense of Alan Moore’s NEONOMICON, NCAC Reminds People That Comic Books Are Not Just For Kids
by Mark Bousquet
While the National Coalition Against Censorship’s recent headline, “Graphic Novels and Comic Books, They’re Not Just for Kids” feels anachronistic to fans of the medium, a recent complaint filed against Alan Moore’s Neonomicon (Avatar Press) at a public library in Greenville, South Carolina, reminds us that such reminders are still needed. Despite Neonomicon being correctly shelved in the adult section of the library, a patron recently filed an official challenge against the book after it was checked out of the library by her 14-year old daughter, even though her daughter had both a library card that allowed her access to the library’s adult material and her mother’s permission to take the book home. At the heart of the mother’s complaint is the common misconception that graphic novels and comic books are a medium only for children.
More after the jump…
Codifying Obscenity in Japan
A 40-year-old man from Kobe, Japan was arrested by the Okayama Prefectural Police on Monday for allegedly selling obscene illustrations from his website. He reportedly plead guilty to the crime, saying that he was motivated by the desire for money. CBLDF blogger takes a look at the case and at the prosecution of obscenity in Japan after the jump…
Remembering Ray Bradbury: Author, Dreamer, and Champion of Free Speech
In losing Ray Bradbury, we lost not only a great author and spirit, but a man dedicated to the preservation of creative expression. In remembering Bradbury’s contribution to speculative fiction, CBLDF blogger Joe Sergi takes a moment to talk about the time he met Bradbury at SDCC and to share the anti-censorship legacy Bradbury left behind.
Click through for Sergi’s remembrance of Bradbury…
Is A Person’s Commercial Identity Inheritable? New Hampshire Legislature Says Yes, Governor Says No
On Wednesday, June 12, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch vetoed Senate Bill 175, which would have extended an individual’s right to commercially control their own identity beyond their own death by making identity an inheritable commodity. As written, S.B. 175 states that “individuals who are domiciled in New Hampshire at the time of death retain a protectable right regarding the commercial use of their identities that is descendible to their heirs or successors,” and that this right “endures for a term consisting of the death of the person plus 70 years after his or her death.” Of greatest concern to First Amendment advocates like the Media Coalition and the First Amendment Center is that the final version of S.B. 175 that was passed by the state legislature stripped out protections for journalistic and artistic endeavors, which are protected by state and federal Constitutions.
CBLDF blogger Mark Bousquet takes a look at the bill and its implications for artistic expression after the jump.
‘Alarming’ Increase in Google Censorship Requests
The internet search engine Google has been subject to an “alarming” increase in requests to censor and block certain search results and content over the last six months of 2011, according to recent articles from the Huffington Post and The Washington Post.
Blogger Justin Brown takes a look at the increase in censorship requests around the world and from the United States after the jump.
CBLDF Meets The Library World At The ALA Annual!
This weekend, CBLDF President Larry Marder and Executive Director Charles Brownstein will be in Anaheim, California for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. The Fund will be set up on the Exhibit Hall floor handing out information about our work all weekend in Booth 786 in the Graphic Novel Pavilion! Come visit our table to learn about how you can can get involved with this year’s Banned Books Week, and take a look at our vast array of thank you items for supporting our work.
In addition to giving away great gifts to our contributors, we’re hosting a raffle where we’re going to give away Neil Gaiman’s signed badge from the 2009 Annual Conference, where he received the prestigious Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book!
On top of our space in the Graphic Novel Pavilion, the CBLDF will also be hosting a special presentation on the Graphic Novel stage on Monday morning at 10:00 AM about how graphic novel censorship happens in libraries and what the CBLDF does to help.
The CBLDF’s recent letter in defense of Alan Moore’s Neonomicon emphasizes that challenges to take graphic novels off of library shelves are still happening, and the Fund is committed to assisting whenever the medium is under attack. Come support our work to protect them, and join the dialogue about what we all can do to protect comics and the First Amendment at the CBLDF booth at the ALA Annual!
The CBLDF Hits North Carolina, Celebrates 30 years of HEROES CON!
by Alex Cox
This weekend (June 22-24), CBLDF is excited to be attending HEROES CON 2012, joining an insane roster of writers, artists, and comic legends, all celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest regional shows in the comics world!
Heroes Con is is a spectacular show; it is not only a labor of love by Shelton Drum and his amazing staff, but a living, breathing testament to how one store can create a vibrant community that stretches nationwide. The Heroes Con show floor is all about Comics, with a capital “C”, boasting an artist’s alley that truly represents a top-notch cross-section of the best and brightest talent working today. I have yet encountered a fan or creator that has anything less than a heart full of love for this terrific show, and I include myself in that list.
Click through for a sneak peek of our new T-shirt!
Facebook Removes Israeli Artist’s Cartoons
According to an online journal covering Palestinian and Israeli affairs, Facebook removed cartoons against racism and capitalism drawn by Tel Aviv illustrator and animator Mysh, whose work often critiques the Israeli government. At least one of the images has since been re-uploaded, with an apology from the company.
Click through for more on the story…