This weekend (March 30 – April 1), Alex Cox is excited to represent the CBLDF at EMERALD CITY COMICON in Seattle, Washington! Continuing CBLDF’s cross-country marathon of fundraising, we will be in booth #1007 at the Washington State Convention Center. Deputy Director Alex Cox walks you through our plans for signings, incentives, and Membership appreciation items!
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!
IDW Announces Redshirt Contest Winner!
Late last year, IDW Publishing announced the “Be a Redshirt” contest, asking comics fans to make the ultimate Star Trek sacrifice to save their favorite retailer from censorship! Fans boldly went to bat for their favorite shops, explaining why their local comic shop is important to them and their communities. The winner of the contest has been announced: Coarey Trim, from St. Charles, Missouri! He defended his favorite comic book store, The Fantasy Shop, owned by Mike Brodeur. Trim and Brodeur will be featured on a special upcoming variant cover of the Star Trek comic book. Only 300 copies will be printed, 100 of which will go to CBLDF to help us raise the funds we need to fight for your First Amendment rights!
Click through for the official press release…
THIS WEEKEND ONLY: Becky Cloonan & Brian Wood Thank CBLDF Members With A Free CONAN Print!
Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan are thanking CBLDF members by offering this signed, CBLDF exclusive letterpress print featuring work from their run on Conan!
This weekend only, members joining (or rejoining) at the Supporter level, will receive, along with the standard Membership package, this exclusive print, signed by artist Becky Cloonan, and writer Brian Wood, while supplies last. An article about the creation of this beautiful, hand-pressed print can be found here. Quantities are limited, and this thank you offer ends Monday at midnight, or when supplies run out, so join now!
Doonesbury Censorship Fosters Outrage, Debate
In response to the controversial nature of last week’s Doonesbury strips — which dealt with Texas’s mandatory sonogram law — many newspapers moved the strips to the editorial page or online only, or they declined to publish the strips entirely. In response, people across the nation have decried the move, arguing that newspapers should not be allowed to decide what they can or cannot read. Editors across the nation have had to defend their decisions, and several newspaper and online editorials have protested the censorship.
Excerpts from various editorials follow after the jump…
News Roundup: The Ryan Matheson Case
Last week, CBLDF announced that Canadian criminal charges against American comics fan Ryan Matheson had been dropped. In turn, Matheson spoke out on his own behalf in a lengthy statement about how he was treated by Canadian authorities, a statement that imparted the indignation and confusion any innocent comics fan would feel after being exonerated from a crime he or she did not commit.
Click through for a round up of some of the coverage of the story.
Know Your Rights — Tools For Travelers Crossing International Borders
Last week, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund announced that criminal charges had been dropped in R. v. Matheson, a case involving an American manga reader who was wrongly accused of importing child pornography into Canada because of comic book images on his laptop. Ryan was extensively, wrongfully searched and detained by the Canadian government who charged him with a crime before he even entered the country. Read the story in his own words here. The CBLDF provided financial and substantive legal support in his case, and is currently fundraising to help restore Ryan’s $45,000 legal debt.
While the good news is that Ryan’s ordeal is now over, the bad news is that this kind of prosecution can happen again. To help travelers crossing borders with comics, the CBLDF is pleased to offer important resources that you should read before you cross a foreign border. These tools aren’t designed to take the place of your lawyer. Nothing in them is intended as legal advice. But they are important overviews of the concerns travelers now face when crossing borders with comic art in printed form and on their digital devices, and must reading for everyone in those situations.