Volume 2, Issue 1 • Spring 2017
G. WILLOW WILSON:
CREATING A SYMBOL OF UNITY
RISKS AT THE BORDER WOMEN ON CENSORSHIP
DIRECTOR’S NOTE These are the times that the First Amendment was made for. In Donald J. Trump’s first weeks as president, the United States has become increasingly polarized. Concerns relating to freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion have all sprung up in the wake of the new president’s policies. Those concerns aren’t abstract for CBLDF. We’re keeping a close watch on the changing rights environment and speaking out on behalf of our community as threats arise. The first wave of concerns is happening at the border. On page 3, we identify how to protect yourself from new proposals and incidents that would require people entering the United States to turn over passwords and social media account information. In the past decade, CBLDF spent tens of thousands of dollars defending comics readers who were prosecuted for possessing manga. New scrutiny of devices and expressive content at borders could lead to more of those incidents. On page 5, we report on a statement we co-signed opposing the president’s executive order on immigration, which could prevent many of the world’s bravest cartoonists from entering the United States for legitimate scholarship or even asylum. While the federal government is still determining its posture toward the First Amendment, challenges continue to abound on state and local levels. On page 4, we recount recent victories and pending cases, including a victory in a case that would have reduced First Amendment protections for speech published on a website with advertising. Comics are in the crossfire, too. On page 6, we’re pleased to report that Mangaman by Barry Lyga and Colleen Doran survived a censorship attempt in Washington. While the First Amendment environment may be contentious, there’s still plenty of cause for optimism. The breadth of positive voices speaking out for the right to free expression has never been more vibrant in comics than it is right now. One of the most powerful speakers in that climate is G. Willow Wilson, who talks to us about how her work on Ms. Marvel encourages unity, starting on page 7. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we gathered inspirational remarks from some of the most influential female comics creators about how they fight censorship, starting on page 10. Finally, we look back in history to 1955, another difficult time for free expression, and relate how the ACLU spoke out for comics on page 12. While this is a challenging moment for free expression, we have rarely seen so many citizens willing to stand up for their rights. CBLDF stands vigilant beside them and is prepared to do what it takes to protect the community behind our vitally important medium! —Charles Brownstein, Executive Director
CBLDF thanks our Guardian Members:
James Wood Bailey, Grant Geissman, and Philip Harvey
CBLDF’s education program made possible with the generous support of the Gaiman Foundation and supporters like you! CORPORATE MEMBERS
COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, educators, and readers. CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.
STAFF
Charles Brownstein, Executive Director Alex Cox, Deputy Director Georgia Nelson, Development Manager Betsy Gomez, Editorial Director Maren Williams, Contributing Editor Robert Corn-Revere, Legal Counsel
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Larry Marder, President Milton Griepp, Vice President Jeff Abraham, Treasurer Dale Cendali, Secretary Jennifer L. Holm Christina Merkler Reginald Hudlin Chris Powell Katherine Keller Jeff Smith Paul Levitz
ADVISORY BOARD
Neil Gaiman & Denis Kitchen, Co-Chairs Susan Alston Louise Nemschoff Greg Goldstein Mike Richardson Matt Groening William Schanes Chip Kidd Jose Villarrubia Jim Lee Bob Wayne Frenchy Lunning Peter Welch Frank Miller
CREDITS
Betsy Gomez, Designer & Editor Charles Brownstein, Contributor Casey Gilly, Contributor Maren Williams, Contributor Defender logo designed by Brian Wood. Cover art by Jamie McKelvie. Courtesy Marvel Comics. Ms. Marvel © and ™ Marvel Comics. ©2017 Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and respective authors.
BORDERLINE RISKS NEW BORDER POLICIES THREATEN CREATORS & READERS
On January 30th, Sidd Bikkannavar, a natural born U.S. citizen working for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was detained at Houston’s George Bush Airport and pressured to provide the password for his government-issued cell phone. On February 7, comments made by Secretary John Kelly during a House Committee on Homeland Security Hearing suggested that the Department of Homeland Security could require noncitizens to provide their social media passwords as a condition of entering the United States. CBLDF examines how these invasive practices could harm creators and readers and how we’re fighting back.
RIGHTS ARE DIFFERENT AT BORDERS
Between 2008 and 2013, CBLDF defended several cases that cracked down on manga. Several of the cases resulted from domestic or foreign customs authorities’ scrutiny of personal electronic devices. While the Constitution limits search and seizure, those limits don’t apply at borders, where agents have broad authority to conduct searches without cause. Courts have found that searches conducted at the border are reasonable “simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border.” In a 2013 CBLDF advisory, we explained, “Under this ‘border search doctrine’ the luggage and possessions of a traveler entering or leaving the country may be searched at random without a warrant or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.”
DHS’ NEW CLAIMS ARE DANGEROUS AND INVASIVE
There’s no evidence that requiring citizens or visitors to provide passwords for their personal devices and social media accounts will improve security. On February 21, CBLDF joined a massive coalition of human rights and civil liberties organizations, trade associations, and experts in security, technology, and the law on a statement condemning John Kelly’s DHS proposal to demand passwords to enter the U.S. “Freedom of expression and press rights, access to information, rights of association, and religious liberty are all put at risk,” the statement warns. It would invade the privacy of foreign nationals and everyone in their social networks, including U.S. citizens, and could put U.S. citizens at risk as other nations emulate DHS’s practices by demanding the passwords of American citizens when they travel abroad. As the statement proclaims, “The first rule of online security is simple: Do not share your passwords. No government agency should undermine security, privacy and other rights with a blanket policy of demanding passwords from individuals.” (Read the full statement at: http://cbldf.org/?p=30121)
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
With policy and prosecution priorities at the border in a state of flux, travelers are best served by avoiding or minimizing the risk of search by customs officers. Here are a few helpful guidelines: ØØ Carry as little data as possible when crossing international borders. Avoid keeping personal information on your electronic devices. ØØ If traveling internationally to a known destination, such as a convention, send hard copy materials and artwork to your destination in advance via U.S. mail or its equivalent. ØØ Store the digital information you need for your trip online, and download it at your destination instead of keeping it on your devices. ØØ If you travel internationally with a laptop or other electronic storage device, back up your data before the trip. If you are subjected to a search and seizure at the U.S. border, seek out qualified legal counsel. CBLDF can help, too—call 1-800-99-CBLDF in a First Amendment emergency. by Charles Brownstein
Art by Peter Kuper
News Free Speech Arguments Prevail in Tobinick v. Novella Free speech prevailed in a case alleging that any speech published on a website with advertising should be treated as “commercial speech,” a category afforded less First Amendment protection. CBLDF and other members of the Media Coalition filed an amicus brief in the case, Tobinick v. Novella, when it was heard before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In the court’s decision, the three-judge panel agreed with our argument that speech hosted on a website that also displays ads does not automatically become commercial speech.
The case involves a dispute between two neurologists, Edward Tobinick and Steven Novella. After the latter published two blog posts critical of Tobinick’s off-label use of the drug Enbrel to treat strokes and Alzheimer’s disease, Tobinick sued him under the federal Lanham Act, alleging that the posts constituted commercial speech subject to truth-in-advertising and unfair competition rules. Tobinick’s lawsuit alleged that because Novella’s blog generates revenue from advertisements and sale of memberships and merchandise, anything published on the site qualifies as commercial speech. The amicus brief warned of the chilling effect that would result from accepting such a broad definition of commercial speech, and the 11th Circuit agreed with the argument. The court upheld a lower court’s ruling, pointing out that plenty of publications generate revenue through advertising and subscriptions, but that does not mean that a newspaper editorial, for instance, is commercial speech.
Art by Paul Guinan. From “Ida B. Wells,” CBLDF Liberty Annual 2016.
CENSORSHIP SCORECARD CBLDF joins coalition efforts to protect the freedom to read comics. Taking an active stand against all instances of censorship curbs precedent that could adversely affect the rights upon which comics readers depend. Here are a few of our latest cases...
The Suprem e C o u rt
DEVELOPING: The Supreme Court heard oral
arguments in Lee v. Tam, with most justices who spoke evincing some skepticism of the federal government’s argument that it may deny “disparaging” trademarks. In December, CBLDF joined a Cato Institute-led amicus brief asking, “Should the government get to decide what’s a slur?” in support of an Asian-American rock band that was denied a trademark for its chosen name: The Slants.
Virginia
DEVELOPING: The “Beloved bill” has been resurrect-
ed in the commonwealth’s General Assembly for the second year in a row. The legislation would require school districts to warn parents about undefined “sexually explicit” content, likely resulting in a chilling effect on curricula. CBLDF joined NCAC in opposition to the bill, which is currently in committee in the state Senate.
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N e w Hampshire
DEVELOPING: The state legislature is considering an
overly-broad parental notification bill that is intended for sex education but could be used to target materials in other courses. CBLDF is part of a coalition opposing the bill.
S outh Dakota
WIN: CBLDF joined a coalition of free-speech advo-
cates objecting to SB 55, a bill that weakens science education standards in the state by allowing teachers to advance their own views on scientific concepts such as evolution and climate change. The bill was effectively killed when the House Education Committee voted 11-4 to send the bill to the 41st day of the state’s 40-day legislative session.
D ubuque , Iowa
WIN: CBLDF joined NCAC in defending Stephen
Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower after a challenge over the depiction of sex and drug and alcohol use. A review committee voted unanimously to retain it.
CBLDF JOINS STATEMENT OPPOSING U.S. IMMIGRATION BAN
She Changed Comics Makes 2017 Amelia Bloomer List CBLDF is proud to announce that She Changed Comics, our resource collecting profiles of more than 60 women who transformed the landscape of free expression and expanded the comics art form, has been named to the 2017 Amelia Bloomer List of notable feminist literature for young people! We’re in great company on the list, which is compiled by the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association’s Social Responsibilities Round Table. The full list can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/zrqg5sv
Gene Luen Yang’s “Reading Without Walls” Goes Annual National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang’s “Reading Without Walls” has a simple but powerful directive: challenging young readers to choose diverse books in terms of content and format. Starting in April 2017, the diversity initiative will endure as a month-long annual event open to schools, libraries, and booksellers nationwide. It is sponsored by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, Every Child a Reader, the Children’s Book Council, and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Anyone interested in participating can get more information at http://tinyurl.com/z667gs6
Fight Over Capitol Painting Removal Heats Up Missouri Congressman William Lacy Clay has filed a lawsuit seeking to protect the First Amendment rights of his constituent David Pulphus, whose painting on the theme of police violence was repeatedly removed from the wall of a U.S. Capitol complex office building by other members of Congress. The painting had hung with other student art contest winners since last summer, but only recently became a political flashpoint. The Architect of the Capitol, who oversees the building grounds, acquiesced to a formal request from Speaker Paul Ryan to remove the painting, but Rep. Clay’s lawsuit maintains the ban was “unfair, arbitrary and unconstitutional” because the painting had already been approved under the contest rules last year. In January, CBLDF joined a letter condemning the removal.
Find out more about these stories and get the latest news every day at http://cbldf.org!
CBLDF joined more than 30 cultural institutions and human rights organizations around the world in issuing a joint statement opposing U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s immigration ban on nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ban is currently suspended by a court order, but if reinstated it will have a broad and far-reaching impact on artists’ freedom of movement and, as a result, will seriously inhibit creative freedom, collaboration, and the free flow of ideas. Under this ban, some of the bravest and most endangered dissident artists could be barred from entering the United States—let alone seeking asylum here if needed. Some have already been forced into exile; some have died in prison; and others remain in their native countries under constant threat of reprisal. Cartoonists who could be impacted by the ban include: Iran • • • • • • • • •
Eaten Fish Atena Farghadani Hadi Heidari Bozorgmehr Hosseinpour Nik Kowsar Mana Neyestani Kianoush Ramezani Marjane Satrapi Mahmoud Shokraye
Syria • • •
Learn more about these artists and read the full statement at http://cbldf.org /?p=30003
Youssef Abdelke Ali Ferzat Akram Raslan (died in prison)
Sudan • Khalid Albaih • Hashim Karouri
Somalia • Abduallahi Muhiaddin
Libya • Hasan Dhaimish • Nabil Fannoush
Iraq • Saad Murtadha
From Persepolis, p.CBLDF 3, by Marjane Satrapi. Defender | 5 Published by Pantheon.
Mangaman Retained After Challenge in Washington After coming across one instance of pixelated genitals in the YA graphic novel Mangaman, Shirley Lopez requested that the book be removed or restricted in the library at her son’s high school in Issaquah, Washington. In addition to filing a formal challenge, Lopez also attacked the book during a televised news report. Written by Barry Lyga and illustrated by Colleen Doran, Mangaman tells the story of Ryoko, a manga character who falls through a dimensional rift into a real-world American high school. In the clever metanarrative of Mangaman, Ryoko has trouble fitting in at his new school because he brought with him various manga conventions: heart eyes, speed lines, and perhaps most embarrassing of all, pixelated genitals. On the page that parent Lopez flagged as objectionable, Ryoko assures his paramour that “it’s there, you just can’t see it” and cites Article 175 of Japan’s Criminal Code, which forbids the depiction of genitalia. There’s no nudity otherwise, and within a few panels, Ryoko and his girlfriend realize they aren’t ready to have sex anyway. The book was retained after passing through a review committee, public forum, and the school board. Mangaman was saved because the Issaquah School District scrupulously followed every step in its challenge policy.
Nothing to see here: A parent in Washington tried to ban Mangaman over this single panel. (© Barry Lyga and Colleen Doran. Used with permission.)
REPLACING THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LISTS With the recent suspension of The New York Times bestseller lists for graphic books and manga, many educators, librarians, and retailers are left without a valuable tool for selecting and defending comics. Here are a few suggestions for alternate resources: Bestseller lists: ØØ Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/pw-bestsellers/xgraphic.html
Reviews and resources: ØØ Diamond Bookshelf: http://www.diamondbookshelf.com/ ØØ Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/graphic-novels-comic-books/ ØØ No Flying No Tights: http://noflyingnotights.com/ ØØ School Library Journal’s Good Comics for Kids: http://blogs.slj.com/goodcomicsforkids/
Awards and lists: ØØ ALA Graphic Novels Reading Lists: http://www.ala.org/alsc/graphicnovels2016 ØØ The Eisner Awards: http://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards-current-info ØØ YALSA Great Graphic Novels: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/great-graphic-novels
Librarian resources: ØØ Edelweiss: http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com/ ØØ EBSCO Graphic Novels Core Collection: https://www.ebscohost.com/public/graphic-novels-core-collection
CBLDF resources: ØØ Using Graphic Novels in Education: http://cbldf.org/using-graphic-novels/ ØØ Adding Graphic Novels to Your Library or Classroom Collection: http://cbldf.org/adding-graphic-novels/ ØØ Banned & Challenged Comics: http://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/
CBLDF is here to help! At the first sign of a First Amendment emergency, call us at 1-800-99-CBLDF or email info@cbldf.org!
From Ms. Marvel #1 (2014). Art by Adrian Alphona. Courtesy Marvel Comics.
G. WILLOW WILSON: CREATING A SYMBOL OF UNITY After spending her early twenties in Egypt reporting on turbulent changes at the end of the Mubarak regime, G. Willow Wilson turned her pen towards fiction. She developed broadly-acclaimed comics and the World Fantasy Award–winning novel Alif the Unseen. She is in the midst of writing what may be her most influential creation: Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, the first mainstream Muslim-American superhero, who has become a symbol of hope in the face of prejudice.
Let’s talk about Kamala Khan, one of the most beloved new characters of the last few years. She has definitely changed perceptions, stereotypes, and potential for leading women. How has it felt being part of the team to bring her into the world? It’s been incredible. It feels so unreal that I still pinch myself. All of us on Team Kamala have put our absolute best work into this series—myself, editor Sana Amanat, the amazing Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, Nico Leon, Jamie McKelvie, who did the original character design, our stalwart colorist, Ian Herring—we pulled out all the stops. But I really have to credit the fans for carrying this character on their shoulders. They are the ones whose enthusiasm and support overcame the very low expectations we were originally saddled with. Kamala is part of a rich tradition of teenage superheroes. What is important about teenage superheroes? Why do teenagers fit so well with the superhero story? Being a teenager is all about figuring out who you are on your own terms. You’re slowly decoupling CBLDF Defender | 7
from your family, developing your own ideas and tastes and goals. And at the same time, you’re physically changing, growing into your adult body. That’s a LOT to deal with at once. So, it makes sense that the superhero origin story, which is often about suddenly discovering you are not who you thought you were, physically or emotionally, resonates powerfully with that archetypal coming-of-age narrative. When you get right down to it, a superhero origin story is really just a coming-of-age story with turbo-boosters. What kinds of things was Marvel looking for when they were developing Kamala and her family? What were the conversations with Marvel like when you were going through that process? It was a completely blank slate. She had no name, no power set, no backstory. Marvel was ready to let me do pretty much anything. For a time, I was considering making the character Somali-American and setting the story in Seattle, where I live. What I nailed down first was actually the setting—by putting the book in Jersey City, we could send a very particular message. This is a new, untested character from a city and a state that are often used as punchlines. So, this was going to be an underdog story. And I built out from that. JC has a large, thriving Indo-Pakistani community, so there was her cultural background. The absolute hardest thing to nail down—and this was what took us a solid six months to figure out—was her power set and how she acquired those powers. Sana had a huge amount of input at this phase. I was originally going to give her a kind of ironic, more destructive power set, which would have really altered the tone of the story. Sana encouraged me to drill down and find something a little more primal and symbolic. That’s how we eventually arrived at the idea
Read more interviews with women who are changing the face of free expression in She Changed Comics! http://tinyurl.com /hxunq9z
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of making Kamala a polymorph. Obviously Kamala’s Islamic heritage is an important part of her character, but readers probably get even more of a view into the lives and lifestyles of modern American Muslims through her family. Why is it important to make Kamala’s home life such a big part of the book? There’s nothing worse than peopling a comic book series with supporting characters who are only there to walk on to the page, dispense cryptic wisdom, die in order to move the story forward, and then walk off again. I gave myself a rule: I had to know enough about each major supporting character to write a 3-issue story arc from his or her point of view, if necessary. So, I spent a ton of time figuring out not only the backstories of each character, but their relationships to the other characters as well. A superhero doesn’t exist in a vacuum. They are shaped by the communities they serve. And I think that is doubly true for a young, untested character like Kamala. So, her community, and her family in particular, had to be very central. CBLDF has seen a number of attempts to ban comics, such as Persepolis, and some children’s books due to Islamophobia. How would you respond to this censorship? I mop up my tears with royalty checks. Honestly, I don’t know why anybody bothers to try to censor books anymore. Haven’t they learned? Attempting to censor books sends sales through the roof. When you tell people a book is too risqué or dangerous to read, they will go out of their way to read that book, because now it has the appeal of something forbidden. Persepolis is on the NYT graphic books bestseller list every single week. You can’t contain a story once it’s out there. What concerns did you have releasing Kamala into a culture in which hate against Muslims is so prevalent? How has the reception of Kamala compared to those concerns? I thought Marvel would have to hire an intern just to open all the hate mail. But the tidal wave of hatred I expected never happened. Instead, Kamala quickly became a symbol of unity. She shows up graffitied on racist bus ads. Whenever something terrible happens, that “save one person, save all of mankind” Kamala meme resurfaces on Tumblr and Twitter and Face-
book. She’s taken on a life of her own. It’s been life-changing to watch all this happen. There have been a lot of high profile diversity initiatives in comics over the last few years, of which Kamala is arguably a standout example. What has been the effect of these initiatives? What are companies getting right? What progress still needs to be made? I think publishers everywhere have seen the writing on the wall—they know the audience is changing rapidly, and they can either adapt or face obsolescence. When I look at the overwhelming success of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ revival of Black Panther, or the devoted fan base of Captain Marvel, or the impact of a character like Valiant’s Faith, that tells me something. One, the old industry math, which says books led by women or minorities are doomed to fail, is becoming obsolete. Two, the decisionmakers—the editors, the publicists—have as
important a role to play in shaping the future of the industry as creators and fans do. My great hope is that we will see more diversity not only in the books themselves, but also in the writers’ room and on the editorial masthead. What do you see as the future of comics? What are you hearing from the young readers you’re reaching because of Ms. Marvel? Comics are the zeitgeist. They are stories we tell ourselves about who we are as a culture, and that changes year to year, decade to decade. So, I’m hesitant to say I know what the future of comics will be. It’s totally open. Whatever cultural conversation we’re having in ten years— about politics, about money, about gender, about relationships, about race, about power— is the conversation we’ll be having in the pages of comic books in ten years. That’s the beauty of the medium. We use fixed images to describe an unfixed world.
From Ms. Marvel #5 (2014). Art by Adrian Alphona. Courtesy Marvel Comics.
by Casey Gilly
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WOMEN ON Censorship attempts disproportionately impact books and comics created by women and featuring female primary characters. We gathered quotes from women creators about censorship and the importance of free expression.
ALISON BECHDEL
© Alison Bechdel
My first reaction [to being banned] is: What a great honor! My second reaction is, it’s a very interesting situation, and it’s all about the power of images, which I think is something people need to talk about. I can understand why people wouldn’t want their children to accidentally think this was a funny comic book and pick it up and see pictures of people having sex. I can understand that. I think banning books is the wrong approach. (Source: The Comics Journal) Alison Bechdel’s acclaimed Fun Home is one of the most frequently challenged graphic novels.
ATENA FARGHADANI Some people think that art is not important, but the responsibility of an artist is to challenge authority and to be challenged. Sometimes the price for an artist is imprisonment, but do not forget that artists have responsibilities. (Source: My Stealthy Freedom)
© Cece Bell
Atena Farghadani served 18 months in Iranian prison for drawing a cartoon critical of the country’s legislature.
From Atena Fraghadani’s Facebook page.
CECE BELL
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When we censor ideas and viewpoints and stories, especially those that come from unique voices, we stifle the imagination. When imagination cannot flourish, neither can the development of an empathetic spirit. We must have imagination in order to have empathy—how else can we picture how it might feel to flee a scary place, or fear a permanent separation from one’s family, or lose a vital sense? Artists must be encouraged to write and speak and draw—freely—so that we may all be free. Cece Bell’s El Deafo was the first graphic novel to be shortlisted for the Newbery Medal.
CENSORSHIP MARIKO TAMAKI © Rokudenashiko
If you pull a book from a library shelf, it’s not available to the kid who gets their books at the library. So, you’re impacting that library as a resource to the readers who depend on it. (Source: She
ROKUDENASHIKO
Changed Comics)
Since I started my work in Manko art, I’ve been fighting back against the old men who complain about it. I’ve decided to keep making even more ridiculous work, with all seriousness. Though this was kind of a joke at first, now I am joking around with every ounce of my body and soul.
Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer was the first graphic novel to earn the Caldecott Honor. CBLDF defended the graphic novel from censorship on several occasions.
(Source: Introduction to English edition of What Is Obscenity)
Mangaka Megumi Igarashi, or Rokudenashiko (good-for-nothing girl), has been convicted of obscenity in Japan for her manko, or pussy, art.
© Jillian and Mariko Tamaki
KANIKA MISHRA People in power like to have a society which does not ask questions, and whenever anybody does it, they fear that they will lose control. They try to control people in the name of gender, religion, caste, and race, and then censorship comes [into] the picture. I strongly feel that there should be no censorship of any kind... Suppression only leads to violence, hate, and chaos, while freedom leads to love, peace, and harmony. Cartoonist Kanika Mishra has been threatened and censored in her native India.
WENDY PINI
© and ™ Warp Graphics, Inc.
Throughout the ages, women of all cultures, stations, and stripes have known what it is to be told to shut up. Women have always had to fight to be heard. A great number of them have given their lives to express their truths their way. Now, in our current atavistically sexist political climate, women who work in the comics industry are fortunate to have a platform and a medium that, by and large, seems to welcome subversive content. Ordinary feminine acts that have heretofore been considered taboo (or at least too “icky” for public consumption)—menstruation, giving birth, etc.—are now being acknowledged as acts of power. I take heart that, as millions and millions continue to demonstrate against America’s current, loathsome anti-women’s rights administration, girls will find inspiration and courage in the well-conceived, multi-dimensional female comic characters that we female creators proudly and defiantly put forth. Wendy Pini is the co-creator of Elfquest. A depiction of childbirth in the series led to obscenity charges that were dismissed thanks to CBLDF.
1955: THE ACLU GOES TO BAT FOR COMIC BOOKS When Bill Gaines testified in defense of comics before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in 1954, he was staking out a lonely position to say the least. The establishment view of comics ranged from bemused indulgence to outright fearmongering à la Fredric Wertham, but hardly anyone entertained the notion that they were worth defending on First Amendment grounds. Decades before the establishment of CBLDF, though, one familiar ally was already speaking up on their behalf: the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU had been founded three decades earlier to defend the civil liberties of World War I-era dissenters, including conscientious objectors and radicals of all stripes. Subsequently, it had taken principled but often unpopular stands in high-profile cases such as the Scopes “Monkey Trial” and was the only national organization to speak out against the federal government’s internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In the very same year that the Senate was preoccupied with the alleged evils of comics, the ACLU and the NAACP won a landmark victory in Brown v. Board of Education. It’s not so surprising, then, that the ACLU took up a lonely defense of comics alongside Gaines and other industry insiders. The organization’s statement to the Senate Subcommittee was expanded and published in 1955 as a 15-page pamphlet titled Censorship of Comic Books: A Statement in Opposition on Civil Liberties Grounds. While Gaines’ memorable testimony concentrated on the horror comics that were EC’s bread and butter, the ACLU’s argument focused instead on the crime genre. The whole point of the Senate hearings, after all, was to determine whether comics had the power to turn children into hardened criminals. Like horror comics, the crime variety was unabashedly lurid and sensationalistic. Among the most popular was Crime Does Not Pay, which managed to give lip service to moralism while also communicating through its title design that the appeal of the book was, in fact, the crime. But as the ACLU pointed out, no researcher had been able to definitively establish a link between readership of crime comics and juvenile delinquency. Without such evidence, they found “no justification for cutting into a basic right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, a free press unhampered by governmental influence.” This debate undoubtedly seems familiar to modern-day gamers—a fact not lost on CBLDF or the ACLU. Another similarity lies in the 1955 pamphlet’s repudiation of the idea that children were the sole audience for comics: [I]t is unreal to discuss the problems of censorship of comic books in a context which implies that only children would be affected. There is ample evidence that a large part of the comic book readership is adult. The ACLU is opposed to the prior censorship of reading material for adults, even if children may obtain access to such material, for we believe that the First Amendment flatly prohibits it. To condone pre-censorship for children is to risk abandonment of all material to the censor, since in one way or another youngsters are apt to obtain any book at some time. The ACLU also dismissed the idea of a sales ban for minors at the retail level, which would place an undue burden on shopkeepers and probably spur a brisk black market in any case: There is ample evidence that a prohibition always heightens interest in the banned product, and it can be expected that ‘bootleg’ sales will spring up, especially as children will realize that comics are legally unobtainable… It is common knowledge that comic books are passed from one child to another and if one undesirable comic book gets into the hands of a single child, a great number of children will be exposed to it. [In communities that have such laws], each bookseller is faced with the task of determining who is a qualified buyer, and deciding which comic book is outside the pale. This law may be more difficult to administer than the law forbidding the sale of liquor to minors.
Also on the subject of retailers, the pamphlet condemned local police raids similar to the one that would lead to the founding of CBLDF in 1986: We are opposed to the wholly improper procedure of certain law enforcement officers who, instead of commencing prosecutions against the publishers and wholesale distributors of magazines—businessmen economically able to defend themselves against lawsuits—rather threaten the small, local retail booksellers who are in no position to resist official coercion. What happens in these cases, in effect, is that a ban on particular books results without any hearing on the merits of the book itself and the protection of a jury trial… Between the time of the Senate hearings in April 1954 and the ACLU pamphlet’s publication in 1955, the industry self-imposed the Comics Code in a desperate attempt to stave off government censorship. The ACLU also took a dim view of that forced conformity, however: Collective adherence to a single set of principles in a code has the effect of limiting different points of views, because individual publishers—as well as writers—are fearful of departing from the accepted norm lest they be held up to scorn or attack and suffer economic loss. (The ‘seal of approval’ granted by the Code to approved publications also places economic pressure on local distributors, who are also under surveillance by local pressure groups.) But the variety of ideas is the lifeblood of a free society. To sum up their argument, the authors of the pamphlet borrowed a stirring passage from ACLU Executive Director Patrick Murphy Malin’s testimony before another notorious Congressional committee, the 1952-53 House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials: There may be, in the absence of censorship, some risk that some persons along the line may possibly get hurt. But our life is founded upon risk. There is risk—and indeed certainty—that every day many people will be killed by automobiles, and yet we leave automobiles on our streets. I suggest to you that the institution of free speech is surely just as vital to our society as the automobile. Risk there is in all life, and we must take this risk on the side of freedom. That is the glory of our way of life. Censorship is abhorrent to Americanism. There is much more to be found in the full text of the pamphlet, which can be viewed online at goo.gl/qaXZJo. Three cheers for the ACLU of yesterday and today!
by Maren Williams
Unpublished photo taken by LIFE photographer Yale Joel. CBLDF Defender | 13
Fundraising
COMING SOON
UPCOMING EVENTS March 2–5, 2017: Emerald City Comicon
Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, Washington www.emeraldcitycomicon.com
March 31–April 2, 2017: WonderCon Anaheim
Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California www.comic-con.org/wca
April 21–23, 2017: C2E2
South Building at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois www.c2e2.com Schedule subject to change. Visit cbldf.org for updates.
IL R A T E E B R MEM CBLDF’s work is possible because of our members, which include comics retailers around the country. In this issue of CBLDF Defender, we spoke with longtime CBLDF retail supporter Chris Brady of 4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga, California, about why he fights censorship.
Defend Comics FCBD 2017 Edition Art & story: various
For 30 years, CBLDF has fought to protect your right to read and make comics. This anthology features a new Lucy & Andy Neanderthal story from superstar Jeffrey Brown, along with many more terrific all-ages comics! Find it at your favorite comic book retailer on Free Comic Book Day, May 6, 2017!
What are some of the things you do to engage your community with comics? Our mission statement is to engage our community with comics. We take this seriously and go out to many community events throughout the year, with free comics to everyone. We participate in school events, with how to create a comic cover, library read days, superhero days at the community center, Star Wars day at the library main branch, summer reading programs, comics for grades, and a comic boot camp is planned for this summer. Why do you support CBLDF? Well I support CBLDF for a couple of reasons, not all of them altruistic. I do believe in free speech. I am a disabled military veteran and believe those that fought before me (my grandfathers included) fought for our right to say and do as we please if it doesn’t physically harm another. But to that extent I also believe in monetary protest (i.e. boycott). The businesses that you boycott have the right to do or say what they want also. The second reason is after learning about CBLDF and Gordon Lee’s situation [see http://cbldf.org/?p=914] it is always good to know that someone has your back. Why is the fight against censorship important to you? We fight censorship to remember. It sounds strange but I will fight for the right of someone to have a copy of Mein Kampf. I disagree with the things inside, but to censor the things “we” don’t like, to edit our history to forget the terrible things that happen or the things we don’t agree with does a disservice to the next generations.
JOIN THE FIGHT! We have membership plans for donors in every budget, and all of them are taxdeductible: ØØ $100 Member CBLDF membership card, CBLDF button set, CBLDF sticker set, CBLDF member patch, and EXCLUSIVE member-only t-shirt featuring art by Vanesa R. Del Rey! ØØ Associate Member Name your donation, as low as $5! Comes with the CBLDF membership card. ØØ $50 Supporter Member CBLDF membership card, CBLDF button set, CBLDF sticker set, and CBLDF member patch. ØØ $250 Defender Member All of the above, plus the CBLDF water bottle and CBLDF Presents: She Changed Comics! ØØ $500 Protector Member All of the above, plus the CBLDF embossed executive journal! ØØ $1,000 Champion Member All of the above, plus recognition in CBLDF Liberty Annual 2018 and the CBLDF tote bag! ØØ $2,500 Guardian Member All of the above, plus special recognition in select CBLDF publications throughout 2018!
Use the signup form on the back cover of this magazine or visit http://cbldf.myshopify.com/collections /memberships to join today!
Art by Vanesa R. Del Rey
RADIO FREE COMIX! A mix of interviews, discussions about censorship, convention panel recordings, and archival materials, the CBLDF Podcast is a monthly event, from our keyboards to your ears. Lay your ears on interviews with some of the biggest names in comics! The CBLDF Podcast is made possible in part by a donation from the Gaiman Foundation and member support.
Listen at http://cbldf.org/podcast CBLDF Defender | 15
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FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO READ — JOIN CBLDF TODAY! CBLDF’s important work defending the freedom to read is only possible because of the support of individuals like you. Show your support for our work protecting the freedom to read by making a tax-deductible membership contribution today! We have membership plans for donors in every budget! (For descriptions of the membership incentives, turn to the inside back cover.)
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CBLDF is recognized by the IRS as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 institution, and donations are tax-deductible in the year in which they are given. Please contact us for information on deductible amounts for CBLDF premiums, and consult your tax advisor as to the extent to which your donation is tax deductible.