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CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
Chris Wilson with The Graphic Classroom, a website dedicated to “promoting the use of high-quality comic literature in the elementary, middle school, and high school classroom,” shared a story over the weekend about a third grader in Alaska who used his science fair project to overcome his teacher’s ban on comics in the classroom.
Click through for more about third-grader Sam and the science fair project that opened a teacher’s mind to comics…
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!
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.
ABC 15, an Arizona affiliate is reporting that a sweeping electronic media censorship bill passed by the state’s legislature last week and headed to Governor Jan Brewer’s desk for signature has been pulled back in the wake of public outcry. Last week, CBLDF called attention to the bill and its constitutional deficiencies, helping to spark a wave of media coverage that turned the tide against the bill.
Lawmakers intended the law to protect people from online stalkers and bullies, but the law was so broadly worded that it would apply to the internet as a whole, not one-to-one communications, and the legislation does a poor job of defining the material that would run afoul of the law. As a result, anyone posting constitutionally-protected material could face charges if an individual deemed the material was intended to “annoy,” “offend,” “harass,” or “terrify.”
Read more about Arizona House Bill 2549 after the jump…
Last weekend, comics fans and creators gathered at the Harbor Lights Restaurant in New York City for the launch of Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran’s new graphic novel Gone to Amerikay.
The star-studded party raised donations for CBLDF and several comics creators were in attendance, including McCullock, Doran, Paul Levitz, John Cassaday, Stuart Moore, and Jose Villarrubia, just to name a few. The Beat‘s Heidi McDonald and Torsten Adair also joined the party. Attendees had the chance to view original artwork, enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeurves, and picked up signed copies of the book.
Click through for a gallery of photos from the party…
CBLDF and other free speech advocates won an important victory last year when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. EMA, striking down a California law that restricted the sale of video games to minors based on specious evidence that violence in video games causes violence in children. The law would have made violent speech a new category of unprotected speech, alongside obscenity.
A law proposed by Representatives Joe Baca and Frank Wolf has raised free speech concerns again. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has raised the issue.
More after the jump…