The CBLDF and You

Originally published January 12, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1417

How many of you would like to work in a comic store?

Really. Truly. Wouldn’t it be the coolest place to work? You’d get to encounter all sorts of folks, from all backgrounds, all ages. Because you, as a fan, know that comics are not simply for kids, but for everybody.

You’d get a kick out of steering the youngest kids over to Powerpuff Girls or Batman Beyond. You could show the Star Wars fans the Lucasfilm-approved titles produced by Dark Horse. Young women—those rarest of the comic book reading breed—might well be intrigued by the Strangers in Paradise or Elfquest trade paperback you trot out. Then there’s the hardcore superhero fan—your closest interest—who’d want your opinion on various titles because he’d figure, hey, you work in a comics store, so you’d know, right?

So there you are in the store, minding your own business, and here comes the anime fan. He’s interested in obtaining copies of Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen and Legend of the Overfiend #1. He’s over eighteen. You’re over eighteen. No problem. As a conscientious comic book store guy, you’ve done everything right. You’re thoroughly familiar with community standards: There are adult bookstores throughout town carrying far more explicit material than any manga. You’ve got the material separated off into a separate section, marked “For Adults Only,” inaccessible to younger readers. You pull it off the shelf, hand it to the adult customer, take his money.

Congratulations. The guy’s an undercover cop. You’re busted.

Are you in a nightmare? A bizarro world? Nah. You’re in Dallas, Texas. And one woman—one woman—decided that she didn’t like that material in your store. A schoolteacher, she called a member of the PTA, who called his city councilwoman, who called the DA, who called the cops. Even better, when the DA’s office wasn’t acting with sufficient alacrity for the councilwoman, she applied even more pressure. And there was the clerk—or you yourself, if you’re really into the story by this point—standing there on new comics day, hauled away by the cops because of political expediency.

Charged with two counts of promoting obscenity to adults, the store manager’s first trial drew the support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Scott McCloud was flown in to testify as an expert on comics. A professor from the University of Texas, an expert on anime and Japanese pop culture, testified that the material had serious artistic merit. Pørņø magazines, freely available throughout Dallas, were introduced to indicate that the material was well within community standards. And then, according to the CBLDF, “The DA turned to the jury, winked her eye, and reminded them that, as we all know, comics are for kids. The jury took exactly 35 minutes to convict our clerk of promoting obscenity.”

Fun working in a comic store, huh? Guess what: If you’re that retailer, you’re now looking at two years of jail time and a $4000 fine. Fortunately, the CBLDF is working for you, with the first conviction on appeal. Hopefully the travesty will be set aside. Even better, the CBLDF has gotten the second charge (each comic sale was being tried separately), which was slated to go to trial, dismissed. How? An aggressive (and not inexpensive) campaign of subpoenas that were going to bring to light just how politically motivated the entire case was. Faced with that prospect, suddenly the DA dropped the second charged.

But hey, let’s say you don’t live in Dallas. You’ve got a job in a store somewhere else. Doesn’t matter where. There’s always going to be someone who has their own agenda and, sooner or later, you could find yourself with the police at your door. Naturally you’ll want to call the CBLDF to take your case, as we did in the Dallas, Texas instance. To have the CBLDF provide resources, lawyers, moral and legal support.

Guess what:

We can’t.

Not at this point, not at this stage of the game. Because the CBLDF’s financial resources are not where they should be. Not remotely. We had an active and high-profile fund raising year, but you know what? Lawyers’ fees are not going down, and there’s greater and greater cries for censorship—and actions to implement that censorship—every year.

At this moment in time, store owners all across America are operating without a net, because if another serious challenge is mounted, the CBLDF simply doesn’t have deep enough pockets. Certainly not pockets deep enough to match every city that decides adults don’t have the right to purchase adult comics. That comics are and should be purely the province of the child, and any store that disagrees with that philosophy is a potential target. The defense of the retailer in Texas alone ran us $25,000, and that’s before the appeal of the first conviction.

If you’re a retailer, you should be scared.

If you’re a reader, you should be outraged. If you’re not outraged… what the hëll is wrong with you?

Perhaps you don’t care about Overfiend. And since you figure it doesn’t directly affect you, it’s not your concern. Well, here’s a hot news flash: In the Dallas store, on the shelves right next to Overfiend, were Sin City, Preacher, Spawn, and the entirety of the Vertigo line. So how long do you wait until Those Who Want to Regulate Your Reading Habits get to a title that you do care about?

If you’re a fan of any of those titles, you should be doing something.

Are you a fan of Neil Gaiman? Well, guess what: Not only has Neil been tireless in his fund raising efforts for the CBLDF, but—and here’s the important announcement—Neil has agreed to join the Board of Directors. Yes, that’s right, Neil—past winner of the Defender of Liberty award—is on board to try and steer the direction of the CBLDF. We hope to benefit from his insight, guidance and ideas, which means that ideally you’ll be benefiting from them as well.

Fund raising efforts will naturally continue next year. Next year’s line-up for the cruise is headlined by Harlan Ellison (who has some devilishly clever shipboard plans afoot), not to mention such luminaries as Sergio Aragonés. Not only that, but I’m pleased (and, frankly, a bit afraid) to announce that Kathleen and I will be getting married on the 26^th of May and the cruise is going to serve as our honeymoon. When I doubtfully broached the notion to Kathleen and said, “Do you really want to spend your honeymoon on a ship with comic fans?” she replied, “Why not? I am a comic fan.” And no, she won’t be wearing the wedding dress on board. Well… maybe the veil…

The thing is, people tend not to sign up for cruises until the last minute. It makes sense: December you’re buying presents. January you’re broke. February you’re getting the charge bills for December. March you’re preparing for income tax in April. After April 15^th you know if you’re going to have cash available, and that’s when we get our heaviest enrollment.

In the meantime, from now through to the summer convention season, is our slowest fund-raising time. And what do you think the odds are that prosecutors are going to go easy on stores during that time because, hey, the CBLDF is cash light?

Hey, if you’ve got the wherewithal to sign on for the cruise now, great. But the CBLDF needs help today, right this minute, right as you’re reading this. Because at this very moment, for all you know, someone somewhere has decided to find offensive a comic that you find enjoyable. And naturally their opinion is going to be more important than yours unless the CBLDF is there to add weight to your concerns.

If every person reading this sends in $1… one lousy dollar… we’d have enough to pay some immediate bills. If every person reading this column sends in $10… ten bucks… we’d have enough to fight several court challenges and clear off all outstanding debt. And if every person reading this column actually joined the CBLDF… which runs $25 and gets you the quarterly newsletter (in which your name will be listed as a new member) and a specially designed membership card (the year 2000 card featured art by Evan Dorkin; last year’s was Frank Miller), we’d be ready, willing and able to handle whatever came our way. We’d build a fund so strong that we could withstand an army of overzealous prosecutors, politically motivated council members, and judgmental individuals who know better than you do what you should be allowed to read.

Not only should you not wait until censorship directly affects you… but the thing you may not understand is that it’s already affecting you. Every time a retailer has to second-guess his customers’ desires lest he carry material that could get him shut down… every time an artist has to censor himself because he’s worried about being hauled into court… that has an impact on you. Censorship is at its most insidious when it’s invisible.

The CBLDF is working to protect you and your hobby. But you’re going to have to start working to do so as well… or you may not have a hobby to protect. Last time I did a direct appeal like this, it brought in an amount in the high four figures. Let’s see if we can top that… before the censors top us.

Information on donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund can be found at www.cbldf.org.