The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, based in Northampton, Mass., was founded in 1986 and is dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics industry, its retailers and its customers.
There have been some changes in the fund's board of directors this year. The organization's founder, cartoonist, agent and publisher Denis Kitchen, and longtime distribution professional John Davis, both decided to step down. Kitchen recommended that Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros replace him as chairman, and the board unanimously agreed; other positions have been filled by Diamond Distribution president Steve Geppi and DC Comics publisher Paul Levitz.
"Our board of directors really does represent the practical reality of today's comics business," notes executive director Charles Brownstein. "It includes the largest publisher of comics and one of the most aggressive new literary publishers, as well as our preeminent distributor, retailers and creators."
At a panel at this year's Small Press Expo in Baltimore, Brownstein updated the audience on recent actions by the CBLDF. He said that while there have not been any high-profile legal cases directly involving comics and First Amendment issues this year, the fund has been concentrating on raising its public image and filing briefs of support in legal cases that might affect comics in the future. Brownstein drew attention to a number of state laws on materials judged to be harmful to minors that prohibit the "visual depiction of sadomasochistic abuse. " He also noted other laws that ban the depiction of torture or bondage involving "a person clad in undergarments, in a revealing costume, a mask or bizarre costume," which drew a big laugh from the comics crowd. "We've seen a couple of things happen in the video pornography industry that could open up legal challenges for any media," Brownstein said.
The fund has also been involved in advocacy and right-of-publicity cases, notably The People of the State of California v. George T., in which a teenager who wrote a violent poem was sent to juvenile hall for 40 days, and The Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor v. John Ashcroft, a challenge to the Patriot Act's provision to impose gag orders on the seizure of bookstore records. He also noted the Video Software Dealers' Association's protest against a Washington State law that said any material that includes the depiction of violence against any uniformed law enforcement personnel cannot be sold to minors.
"Does that include Nazis?" Brownstein asked. "Can you not read Maus? Can you not read Sgt. Rock?" He also cited the Perfect Storm case, in which the real people who appeared as characters in Sebastian Junger's book are suing Warner Bros.. claiming that their appearance in the movie is a violation of their publicity rights.
One audience member asked Brownstein why the CBLDF would support corporate giants like Warner Bros. and the Motion Picture Association of America in these disputes. Brownstein replied that the case threatens the whole area of historical fiction and unauthorized biography.
"It's not about whether the plaintiff is a big gun or a little gun," said Brownstein. "Warner Bros. has the same First Amendment rights as anyone else."
