Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a United States non-profit organization created in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal expenses.

It is supported by many big names of the industry; the board of directors includes Chris Staros, Peter David, and Neil Gaiman. "Fund Comics", "More Fund Comics", and "Even More Fund Comics" are compilations of short work by famous artists sold to support the CBLDF. Additionally, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab offers a line of perfumes whose profits go directly to the CBLDF ^[1].

1 History
2 Notable cases
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund began as a means to pay for the legal defense of Friendly Frank's comic shop manager Michael Correa, who was arrested in 1986 on charges of distributing obscenity. The comic books deemed obscene were Omaha the Cat Dancer, The Bodyssey, Weirdo, and Bizarre Sex. Kitchen Sink Press released an art portfolio of pieces donated by comics artists; proceeds were donated to Correa's defense. After Correa's conviction was subsequently overturned, Denis Kitchen officially incorporated the CBLDF in 1990 as a non-profit charitable organization with capital of $20,000 left over from Correa's defense fund.

The Fund publishes a quarterly newsletter called Busted! : the official newsletter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

[edit] Notable cases

The tense of this article or section is not suitable for an encyclopedia.
Please consider copy editing to past tense if historic, present tense if not time-based (e.g. fiction), or future tense if upcoming.

2005: Rome, Georgia comics retailer Gordon Lee is charged with distributing obscene material to a minor, after a child obtained an anthology comic containing brief nudity on Halloween. A mistrial was called in 2007, and the case was finally dismissed in April 2008. [1]

2000: Comic book artist Kieron Dwyer is sued by Starbucks Coffee for parodying their famous mermaid logo within his comic book Lowest Common Denominator. Dwyer is forced to comply with the ruling. [2]

1994: Florida-based underground comic book artist Mike Diana is charged with obscenity stemming from his self-published Boiled Angel. He is convicted in March, sentenced to three years probation, 1248 hours of community service, a $3000 fine, is not allowed to have contact with minors, and must undergo a journalistic ethics course and a psychiatric evaluation at his own expense. After relocating to New York to serve out his sentence, he performs his community service hours—working for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.[3]

1991: Comic artist Paul Mavrides protests against a resolution by the State of California to levy a sales tax on comic strips and comic books. He challengs the law in court, with assistance from the CBLDF, arguing that the comic strip is a communications medium that should be classed with books, magazines, and newspapers (which are not subject to sales taxes due to First Amendment provisions). [4] In 1997, a ruling in Mavrides' favor is handed down by the California State Board of Equalization. [5]

1986: Michael Correa, store manager at Friendly Frank's, a comic store in Lansing, Illinois, is charged with possession and sale of obscene material. He is convicted, but the conviction is overturned on appeal. [6]