Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

After a delayed trial, a panel of five judges convicted Nabil Karoui, the director of Tunisia’s Nessma television channel, of “disturbing public order” and “threatening public morals” for airing Persepolis, the animated film version of Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed graphic novel. The film has a brief depiction of God, which is considered offensive by many Muslims. Karoui has been fined the equivalent of $1,600 and two members of his staff, who played a role in the airing of the film, were each fined $800.

More on the story after the jump…

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Artists! If you’ve ever dreamed of illustrating a Neil Gaiman story, you still have one more day to submit your design to the Threadless Comics-On Tees Design Challenge! If you win, your t-shirt design will be released alongside shirts by Ben Templesmith (Fell, 30 Days of Night), Brandon Graham (Prophet, King City), and John Cassaday (Captain America, Planetary)!

For fans, several designs are already up, which you can view here. Threadless’s community of 1.8 million members will pick the final design, and the chosen shirt will be revealed at Comic-Con International in San Diego! When the four-part series is released, 25% of the proceeds will benefit CBLDF’s important First Amendment work.

Artists, you have only one more day! For more details on the contest, visit the Threadless Atrium here.

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The 37th Annual Long Island Library Conference takes place tomorrow, May 3, and CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein will be on hand to present “With Great Stories Comes Great Responsibility, a program that addresses the unique challenges that comics and graphic novels face in libraries. Brownstein will be speaking from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Melville Marriot (1350 Old Walt Whitman Road, Melville, New York 11747). You can register for this popular conference here.

Please join Brownstein and fellow library lovers for the 37th Annual Long Island Library Conference, an educational forum that provides instructive programming and networking opportunities to help improve the quality of libraries in the Long Island community!

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In April, the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board banned the sale of Dirty Bastard beer statewide because of the language used on the beer’s label. Beer and wine are common commodities on Alabama store shelves, and the beer was banned because of concerns over children seeing the language used on the label. The ban, while not applied to all consumer products, sets an uncomfortable and dangerous precedent with regard to the display of merchandise in Alabama.

More after the jump…

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