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CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.