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!
This week, the print edition of the Chicago Tribune chose not to run Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury comic strip because it did not meet their “standards of fairness.” The strip included excerpts from Joe McGinniss’s upcoming biography of Sarah Palin, and the move by the Tribune has many decrying the silencing of satire.
First Amendment Center President Ken Paulson offered his opinion in a recent column for the First Amendment Center website.
CBLDF wasn’t the only group to have a stellar Small Press Expo — Heidi McDonald and Calvin Reid reported on the event for Publishers Weekly, noting SPX’s record-breaking attendance and great sales!
PW cited the attendance of comics superstars Chester Brown and Craig Thompson, the latter of which debuted advance copies of his new graphic novel Habibi to benefit the CBLDF, as a large part of the reason SPX was so successful this year. You can read PW’s full report, including coverage of CBLDF’s attendance at the show, here.
Help support free speech by picking up Cryptozoic Entertainment’s CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards, in stores NOW!
Hi, Friends of Liberty!
After a year of collaboration, preparation and production with Cryptozoic Entertainment, I finally had the finished product in my hands: factory sealed, unopened boxes of CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards.
Like any project I’ve ever worked on, there is always that nervous moment when you take the product out of its shipping case and are about to discover if everything actually came out the way it was intended.
I decided to open up five boxes and see what treasures were hidden inside.
Keep reading for pictures of the cards Larry discovered in his boxes!
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is proud to premiere Craig Thompson’s eagerly awaited graphic novel Habibi! Through a special arrangement with Random House, benefit preview editions of 100 signed and numbered copies of the graphic novel are available to donors who contribute $100 or more to the CBLDF. Habibi hits stores on September 20.
These exclusive editions were first available at the Small Press Expo in 2011, and come with a beautiful letterpress bookplate, designed by Mr. Thompson.
Craig Thompson says, “It’s very exciting to be able to launch HABIBI at SPX in a way that gives back to the CBLDF. I got my start in small press comics, and have always been supportive of the CBLDF. Being able to help out in this way, and to appear at the show with Habibi feels like a homecoming.”
Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, HABIBI tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, circumstance, and love. We follow them as their lives unfold together and apart; as they struggle to make a place for themselves in a world fueled by fear and greed.
At once contemporary and timeless, Habibi gives us a love story of astounding resonance; a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and the magic of storytelling.
All proceeds from these exclusive editions will immediately benefit the First Amendment legal work of the CBLDF.
Last weekend the art comics world stepped up their support for CBLDF by contributing $12,500 towards our program work during SPX 2011!
Comics royalty, including Craig Thompson, Roz Chast, and Sara Varon, performed exclusive fundraisers for the Fund. Thompson premiered his new magnum opus Habibi in a special signed and numbered preview edition of 100. Varon signed her brand new graphic novel Bake Sale, and Chast made original drawings to benefit the CBLDF and the SPX Graphic Novel Gift Program. The Fund also hosted the first Jeff Alexander Memorial Benefit auction, which raised $2,200. A limited number of copies of the Habibi preview edition are available now in the CBLDF Rewards Zone, along with copies of Bake Sale.
Readers from across the United States and around the world are demonstrating their support for free speech by participating in a virtual read-out of banned and challenged books that will culminate during the 29th annual Banned Books Week (Sept. 24-Oct. 1), the only national celebration of the freedom to read. Individuals, libraries and bookstores are uploading videos to a special channel on YouTube, submitting either a reading of up to two minutes or a description of a local book challenge of up to three minutes.
CBLDF is a sponsor of Banned Books Week. Keep reading for more about the virtual read-out.