The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 to defend the First Amendment rights of comic books and the people who create and sell them. Since its establishment, the Fund has defended dozens of retailers and artists in important First Amendment cases, and provided free legal advice and education to hundreds of others. The CBLDF's guiding principle is that comics should be accorded the same constitutional rights as literature, film, or any other form of expression.
CBLDF at NYCC '09
The CBLDF is rolling out a variety of cool stops for NYCC, and I hope you can cover some of them or just attend and have a grand time. Feel free to email me for further comment if you'd like.
New York Comic Con Welcome Party!
Kick Off NYCC with the CBLDF!
Join the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in kicking off the 2009 convention season at our New York Comic-Con Welcome Party on Thursday, February 5! Enjoy drinks, free sliders for early arrivals, and door prizes! This party is sponsored by Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics. Admission will be $5 and up for CBLDF members, $10 and up for non-members.
Attending artists will include: Colleen Doran, David Mack, Rantz Hoseley, Dean Haspiel, Mike Cavallero, Nikki Cook, Mahmud Asrar, Brahm Revel and many more!
What: The CBLDF's NYCC Welcome Party
Date: Thursday February 5, 2009
Time: 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Location: Side Bar
Street: 120 E. 15th Street (Near Union Square)
City: New York, NY
Donation : $5 & up for current CBLDF Members; $10 & up for non-members
NYCC Masters Workshops!
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study under comics masters at New York Comic Con!
The Fund & NYCC have teamed up to create a series of workshops focused on helping young and aspiring creators make the next step in their comics careers! Participating creators include Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Terry Moore, Brian Wood, Peter Steigerwald, & Vince Hernandez!
Stop by the CBLDF's table for three exclusive prints to benefit the cause
Dustin Nguyen's "The Adventures of Kozmo and Rerun the Cosmic Dog" Print. 8.5x11in on water color paper. This signed print is limited to 50 pieces, and everyone who purchases it will get a free headsketch on the print at his table in Artist's Alley. All proceeds benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Peter Kuper's "Free Speech" Print. 8.5x11in on water color paper. This signed print is limited to 100 pieces, and all proceeds benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Terry Moore's "Echo" print, from the cover of Issue #6. 11x14 on matte bond paper. This signed print is limited to 100 pieces, and all proceeds benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Peter Kuper's "Free Speech" print is also available to all donors who contribute $25 or more to the Fund before February 8 at http://www.cbldf.com/Donations_s/2.htm
CBLDF To Serve As Special Consultant In PROTECT Act Manga Case
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has signed on as a special consultant
to the defense of Chistopher Handley, an Iowa collector who faces up to
20 years in prison for possession of manga. The Fund adds its First
Amendment expertise to the case, managed by United Defense Group's Eric
Chase, and will also be providing monetary support towards obtaining
expert witnesses.
Handley,
38, faces penalties under the PROTECT Act (18 U.S.C. Section
1466A) for allegedly possessing manga that the government claims to be
obscene. The government alleges that the material includes drawings
that they claim appear to be depictions of minors engaging in sexual
conduct. No photographic content is at issue in Handley's case.
"Handley's case is deeply troubling, because the government is
prosecuting a private collector for possession of art," says CBLDF
Executive Director Charles Brownstein. "In the past, CBLDF has had to
defend the First Amendment rights of retailers and artists, but never
before have we experienced the Federal Government attempting to strip a
citizen of his freedom because he owned comic books. We will bring our
best resources to bear in aiding Mr. Handley's counsel as they defend
his freedom and the First Amendment rights of every art-loving citizen
in this country."
Mr. Handley's case began in May 2006 when he received an express mail package from
Japan that contained seven Japanese comic books. That package was intercepted by the Postal Inspector, who
applied for a search warrant after determining that the package
contained cartoon images of objectionable content. Unaware that his materials were searched, Handley drove away
from the post office and was followed by various law enforcement
officers, who pulled him over and followed him to his home. Once
there, agents from the Postal Inspector's office, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Agency, Special Agents from the Iowa Division of
Criminal Investigation, and officers from the Glenwood Police
Department seized Handley's collection of over 1,200 manga books or
publications; and hundreds of DVDs, VHS tapes, laser disks; seven
computers, and other documents. Though Handley's collection was
comprised of hundreds of comics covering a wide spectrum of manga,
the government is prosecuting images appearing in a small handful.
Putting the case into context, Burton Joseph, CBLDF's Legal Counsel
says, "In the lengthy time in which I have represented CBLDF and its
clients, I have never encountered a situation where criminal
prosecution was brought against a private consumer for possession of
material for personal use in his own home. This prosecution has
profound implications in limiting the First Amendment for art and
artists, and comics in particular, that are on the cutting edge of
creativity. It misunderstands the nature of avant-garde art in its
historical perspective and is a perversion of anti-obscenity laws."
Eric Chase and his team at the United Defense Group have been
vigorously defending Handley, and scored a major First Amendment
victory earlier this year when the judge found portions of the PROTECT
Act unconstitutional in his ruling on a motion to dismiss. District
Judge Gritzner of the Southern District of Iowa found that subsections
1466(a)(2) and (b)(2) of 18 U.S.C. 1466A unconstitutional. Those
sections make it a crime to knowingly produce, distribute, receive, or
possess with intent to distribute, "a visual depiction of any kind,
including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting," that "is, or
appears to be" a minor engaged in sexual conduct. Judge Gritzner
found that those sections restrict protected speech and are
constitutionally infirm.
Handley now faces charges under the surviving sections of 1466A, which
will require a jury to determine whether the drawings at issue are
legally obscene. The material cannot be deemed obscene unless it meets
all three of the criteria of the Miller test for obscenity: "(a)
whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards
would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient
interest; (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently
offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable
state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." The jury must
answer all three questions in the affirmative in order to convict.
Eric Chase recognized the importance of the case, and of the CBLDF's
contribution to it, in a statement to the CBLDF: "This case represents
the latest in a string of efforts by the Department of Justice to
encroach on free speech. The United Defense Group is committed to
fighting to maintain the protections guaranteed in the Constitution,
and we appreciate the CBLDF's support in this fight."
Support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and help preserve comics as a vital medium for the next century. Everyone in the comics community, from fans to pros to retailers, has a vital interest in preserving the medium's ability to grow, and by joining the CBLDF, you'd be helping protect First Amendment rights of the comics you love.
Purchase signed & rare graphic novels, prints and more! Leading creators in comics have donated signed & unsigned copies of their work to benefit the fund. Take some of these items home for your enjoyment and you'll be fighting censorship at the same time.
Thank you for being our friend! Please visit our new site for free downloads of independent comics, eBooks, artwork & magazines: www. literatemachine. com
Thank you for allowing me the pleasure and honour of your friendship. It fucks me right off when some prick attempts to censor an artists comic or manga. I'm sure if the artists/writers intended for blur outs of anatomical parts, blood becoming green instead of red and all the cuss words removed they would have decided so at the editing stage. So in closing stay protecting creators rights and work to appear in the form it was initially INTENDED to be put out in, before the politically correct fools get their self-rightous grubby little mits on it. May fate smile favourably on you and have a pleasant evening.
