Tag: history

Nell Brinkley, “Queen of Comics” to Join Comics Hall of Fame

Comic-Con International announced the inductees into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame for 2020 will include pre-Code “Queen of Comics” Nell Brinkley and cartoonist/illustrator E. Simms Campbell (Esquire, Life, Judge, Playboy, and more). Brinkly is profiled in CBLDF…

A History of Frequently Banned Comics

Though CBLDF has Case Studies of challenges and bans of comics that go back over twenty years, when it comes to the graphic novels being challenged in quantity, it’s a far more recent affair. This year’s ALA list of most…

Queer Comics Struggles, History, and Emergence: an Interview with Justin Hall

Justin Hall, who brought together the elegant and poignant queer comics anthology, No Straight Lines has been working on a new documentary by the same name with Peabody Award-winning director, Vivian Kleinman. The documentary is set to follow several groundbreaking LBGTQ…

In Their Own Words – Presidential Edition

“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be…

How Web Comics Revolutionized Free Speech

For decades, syndicated press was virtually the only means for cartoonists to have their works published and build their readership. With a combined rise in social and political limitations, though, the internet and web comics grew to be the champion of…

Mike Diana Case Still Resonates in CBLDF History

One of the key legal cases in CBLDF’s history is that of Mike Diana, who in 1994 was actually banned from drawing for three years after a jury in Pinellas County, Florida, convicted him of obscenity for his raunchy zine…

Celebrating Denis Kitchen

In 1986, Denis Kitchen helped defend the First Amendment rights of comic shops and creators who had become the targets of censors in an increasingly hostile consumer environment, laying the groundwork for what would become the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Today,…