The medium is the massacre in the epic finale of U.S v. Comics: The Senate Effort to Censor Comic Books, which examines how televised U.S. Senate comic book hearings in 1954 led to the creation of the infamous Comics Code.…
Tag: history
Part 5: U.S. v. Comics
Recent attempts to censor graphic novels and manga have resurrected the claim that comics are bad for kids’ mental health. Today’s episode of U.S. v. Comics examines the origins of this assertion in what was once considered to be cutting-edge…
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…
Daring Works, Community Standards, and Obscenity – A Legal Perspective
Editorial Note: This article originally appeared on CreatorLaw.com. Due the complex nature of obscenity laws, we thought it would be interesting for CBLDF readers to get further insight into what these standards mean. To understand how the complexity can be…
A Tale of Two Kitties (and Two Annes): The Censorship of Anne Frank
Author’s Note: Thanks to Carlotta at 360 Amsterdam and employees of the Anne Frank Fonds working at the Anne Frank House, who answered my many questions. All mistakes are the authors. “I live in a crazy time” –Anne Frank The…
How the Comics Code Erased LGBTQ Characters from Mainstream Comics
Fredric Wertham’s attack on comics in the early 1950s is probably most remembered today for his concern about over-the-top horror and violence from the likes of EC. But there was another aspect that preoccupied Wertham just as much: the potential…
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…