Even More Fund Comics

If you ever wanted a primer to Indy comics, creators and artists for the early 2000s, this is it! Dozens upon dozens of comic book talent came together to make this 2004 anthology benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Batton Lash's lawyers of Supernatural Law, The Cryptozoo Crew from Jerry Carr and Allan Gross, Mark McKenna's Banana Tail are just a few of the properties I've read and reviewed before. It was a lot of fun to get an all-new revisit to these characters that might not have gotten their due respect. 

There's also a slew of well known artists who contributed to the sketch book section of this book. Steve Rude, George Perez and Al Milgrom, along with Jim Lee, who drew to the Spider-Man/Green Goblin cover all make small donations of their time and God given gifts in this book. I'm thinking heavy hitters Marvel and DC weren't willing to let their superstars provide more than a single work of art least it interferes with their bottom line. But at least they were allowed to support the CBLDF!

There's at least one other volume out there similar to this. More Fund Comics, also by Sky Dog, benefits my favorite comic book charity. I'd assume with the title that there'd be a 'Fund Comics' out there too. Only, I can't find evidence of it. I'd like to read MFC. But if it's like this book, I'd probably sell it for something I really want. Thus, the first primer is something I will keep an eye out for but I'm not going to add it to my wish list.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Saga, Vol. One (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Brian K. Vaughn's Saga is the story of a family. From two warring sides, the horned Marko and the winged Alana have abandoned their posts. Already on the run for desertion, the pair have married and with a newborn in their arms, the stakes for their deaths or capture have increased their notoriety; for a hybrid child could very well destroy the war effort and disrupt the coffers of those who profit from the lucrative war machine. 

Saga has action, humor, and heart. There's also quite a bit of sex. To the point that its inclusion has gotten publisher Image and the book itself into a lot of trouble. 

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund lists two major occasions in which issues or trades of Saga were censored or challenged. The first incident was in 2013. Apple iOS and the Apple store made issue #12 temporarily unavailable due to two panels which showed scenes of explicit sex. The ban was due to ComiXology's misunderstanding of Apple's content policy. The issue was soon added to the app. But this wasn't ComiXology's first instance of restriction of content and it certainly hasn't been the company's last. 

The second instance of censorship reported by the CBLDF occurred over the year of 2014. Vol. One of Saga was listed #6 of the American Library Association's Top Ten Most List of Frequently Challenged Books. The ranking was due in large part to a challenge of the book by branch of the Oregon Public Library. The reasons for the challenge were 'over sexually explicit content — content that the complainant perceived to be age-inappropriate and propagating anti-family values.' Not much else about the challenge was disclosed, other than that the book was eventually returned to shelves. 

The reason for the challenge is probably due to the detour one of the bounty hunters hired to capture Marko and Alaina take. Known as The Will, the character heads to a pleasure planet where he encounters various acts of debauchery; the most heinous of which is being offered a 6 year old girl by a pimp. The Will attempts to free the girl but he must abandon his noble quest when his sidekick's life is held as ransom for the child's return.

The story of Saga was conceived by Brian K. Vaughn while he was a child. Over time in high school, he spent many of his math classes fleshing out this new universe with influences by Star Wars, Flash Gordon and his most inspiring influence, Silver Surfer. With artist Fiona Staples, Vaughn has produced 65 issues of the series, with a brief hiatus from 2018-2022. Issue #66 is set to debut in early August. 

Pardon the cliche, but the saga continues...

Completing this review completes Task #8 (Book that was Banned/Challenged (https://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

AND WITH THAT, my 2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge is COMPLETE!

A Madman Looks at the CBLDF and Banned Book Week... (A Family Comic Friday Extra)

 

Hello Dear Readers-

I've you've been following my blog, you will know that Banned Book Week is usually a very big deal to me. It still is, but this year was one of those times when life just got in the way. I've been super busy gearing up for the first week of classes next week and my blood sugars got out of whack after a nasty stomach bug. But writing unfortunately was the furthest thing from my mind.

I would have to say that reading as a close third- after eating. So I don't have a Family Comic Friday selection this week. But since I am feeling up to it, I decided to write an opinion piece on kids and banned books.

The following titles have something in common:

Weird Science, Huckleberry Finn, Bone, Dragon Ball, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Wanna guess what that common denominator is? If you guessed that all of those books have been challenged in either a school board or court room setting in hopes of being banned from libraries nationwide- then make a star out of gold tin foil and give it to yourself. You are right!

Banning materials doesn't just have to be of books. It can be TV and movies, clothing, even toys and games. But when it comes to those items, it's a little harder to fight against their banning because those are items that can become a legitimate distraction at school.

Take the fidget spinner for instance. Does it help children with learning and attention deficits be able to focus better in class? Absolutely, However, when every kid in school has one because it has become the latest fad for all the students to have it; then becomes an item that distracts everyone. At that point, then some parent or teacher gets mad and decides that the item needs to been removed from school premises for the sake of learning.

I have a friend who is in his 30s and works full-time and is a stand up guy. But last year, he was banned from his child's school because he wore a Darth Vader t-shirt when picking his kids up. Vader happened to be welding his light saber, a weapon, and thus under the school's weapon policy, was considered a potential threat to the school. My God, if that's the case, I'd be on death row! Because I have picked my kid sister up from school with Princess Leia holding a blaster in her hands.

The argument about whether my friend's shirt was going promote someone to go on a rampage is clearly not as dangerous as if my friend actually brought a working light saber to the school. It's also a lot easier to ban clothing than it is a book. But people still try.

Here's the how and why:

1. So the school makes a ruling that weapons of any kind cannot be on school property. Whether this be real, toy, fake, or on clothing and other accessories.

2. Then someone gets the bright idea that books have weapons in them. Take the classic Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Why, that book is about a war. Wars have guns. People die in wars from guns. Thus, the Red Badge of Courage must be banned from school because it may influence little Timmy to reenact the battle of Gettysburg at recess one day.

Maybe this example is too extreme. So let's look at one that is hitting very close to home for many parents and students right now- racism. I think we can all agree that the N-word is a word that shouldn't be used- especially to describe someone. Well, I know this might shock you but some of the greatest works in American literature use the N-word. One of those books is my favorite book of all-time is To Kill A Mockingbird.

TKAM was written by a white Southern woman named Harper Lee. But when she used the word in her book it wasn't to glorify it. Instead, it was to illustrated the harsh way blacks were treated in the pre-Civil Rights era. Lee herself was a member of the PRO civil rights movement and very vocal against the use of prejudicial treatment against of those of color. Yet every year, as sure as corn grows tall in the field, at least one school board in the US must hold a hearing in which someone challenges the right for Lee's book to be available in school libraries.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a charity very near and dear to my heart. Even though the charity was formed to help provide legal representation for comic book creators and sellers who find themselves in hot water for selling 'offensive material', the CBLDF has fought against censorship of books in school and public libraries nationwide. They also bring awareness of oppression to creators in foreign lands such as Iraq and Singapore who have been imprisoned because their comics challenged the rule of regime-like leadership. The CBLDF supports the First Amendment and the right of freedom of speech. The CBLDF also supports the right to read and own such speech and they will put up a legal fight when those freedom's are challenged.

Before I close, I want to make something clear- what is the difference between censorship and advisement? When I write reviews on my blog Madman With a Book for my weekly Family Comic Friday post, I give said work a grade based on 1-10 stars. I also tell parents that a book may have foul language, nudity, violence, or scary imagery. But I do not let those elements affect my grade for the book. I grade a book on quality of artwork, story structure, cohesion in the plot, and other elements of good storytelling. So if I grade a book 7 out of 10 stars and also say it's scary and has swears, the grade isn't due to that but because I found a number of flaws in the book's readability.

The purpose of my Family Comic Friday posts are to help parents, guardians and adults looking to introduce children to comics and graphic novels. There's a lot of stuff starring Wolverine that is for kids and even more that isn't. It is up to the parent to decide what to buy or not buy for their child.

The CBLDF believes that it is the individual's right to determine what to read and not read. I feel the same way. But as an educator, I also understand that some adults are clueless as to what is age appropriate and need guidance sometimes. Heck, even librarians need help too- Watchmen should never be put in the kids graphic novel section- no matter hard hard you try to draw pants on all the images of Dr. Manhattan. Which a novice librarian's helper actually offered to do when I pointed out that it had been miscategorized.

For more information about the CBLDF and Banned Books Week, check out their web page here.

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 39

   Warning: This article may be considered too racy or controversial. Reading discretion is advised.)

Flynt (Left) and his attorney, during the 1977 indictment proceedings

    40 years ago today, Larry Flynt and his brother Jerry are indicted by the Ohio Attorney General's office for distribution of obscene materials. The Flynt boys founded Hustler magazine and the periodical was known for making Playboy look like a Disney movie. In other words, the state of Ohio arrested Larry and Jerry for selling porn. Flynt eventually fought the charge and they were dropped. But soon afterwards, Flynt was taken to court throughout the nation for his magazine.

    Over the next 18-months, Flynt became known not just as a peddler of smut but developed a reputation as a champion of free speech and defender of the First Amendment. However, some thought he was too dangerous always being in the public eye and in 1978, a white supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin tried to assassinate Flynt outside a Georgia court house. Ironically, Franklin wasn't quite upset over free speech as the fact that Flynt's publication recently ran an interracial photo shoot.

  The attempted murder left Flynt paralyzed from the waist down but it didn't damper his spirits. 
The attack seemed to awaken the publisher, as Flynt expanded his empire to include the burgeoning field of home video. Despite crippling pain and an addiction pain killers brought on by the assassination attempt and numerous surgeries, Flynt continued his fight for free speech. Over the next 8 or 9 years, Flynt's run-ins with the law would continue make headlines. He'd even make it to the Supreme Court against the Reverend Jerry Falwell over a parody interview in which Falwell 'admitted' to have sex with his mother. 

Flynt, surrounded by bodyguards,
arrives for a hearing of his attempted murderer,  JP Franklin.

     When I went to college in 1996 to study history, one of the first classes I took was Political Science. We studied Flynt's cases in depth, in particular the Flynt V Falwell case. Having been sheltered going to a private Christian school, I felt as the time that censorship was needed to prevent sin. But I learned that without free speech, my beliefs would be in just as much jeopardy as I was willing to put others in.
  
    The name of the Poly-Sci teacher I had might be forgotten but his argument that it's okay to be offended by another person's point of view but it is wrong to take that point of view away has stuck with me. It's one reason I am such a supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. In the 1950s, Congress tried to outlaw comic books but thankfully, a compromise was reached to prevent that. Even more thankful am I that the Comics Code Authority which was a result of said compromise is not defunct. 

        I am not in favor of Larry Flynt's publications and I'm not fond of some of the stunts he's pulled like wearing the American Flag as a diaper but he'd be the person I'd want on my side if my personal right to free speech was in danger. Honestly, I think we need him now more that ever as sadly in this day and age, free speech is being challenged in way unimaginable. Parents want books banned from schools is one thing; an irate parent goes in front of a school board and asks for the removal of Tom Sawyer or A Catcher in the Rye. But now, people are fighting one another (literally, not just with words or lawsuits) because of a point of view they put on Facebook or over who they voted for in the last election. 

#CBLDF

   Everyday's news is fraught with protests filling city streets because of the outrage that others think differently than their peers do. This sort of thing keeps getting worse and worse everyday as social media has given everyone a voice AND turned the populace into a sort of social justice Barney Fife in turn. It's called Freedom of Speech not Freedom FROM speech and America needs people of all backgrounds and belief's to defend it or that right will be gone permanently!

    Until tomorrow...

   

Bad Little Children's Books

     

Garbage Pail Kids...

     I remember how these irreverent parodies of Cabbage Patch Kids drove teachers and parents crazy. My mother oddly enough wasn't one of them. She didn't want me to become a Satanist by watching MTV or some 'drugged out hippie' and forbid me from listening to the Grateful Dead, but she actually bought me Garbage Pail Kids and loved them herself.

    Now jump ahead 20 years and there's a new version of Garbage Pail Kids. But it's not a series of trading cards and stickers. No, this generation's GPK is a little book called Bad Children's Books.

     The book itself looks like a Little Golden Book and inside is over 100 pages of very familar looking 'kid-lit parodies... shameless spoofs... and offensively tweaked covers.' That's not my words- that's actually what's on the cover. 

   On the book's Amazon page are several reviews from what are considered some very liberal publications. From their blurbs, you can tell that they on in on the joke. From a majority of the customer reviews, you can tell that some readers were in on the joke. (In fact, the one negative review that this book got wasn't about content but that the print wasn't easy to read!) 

    But in mid-December of last year, a social media flurry of complaints moved author and illustrator Arthur C. Gackley (Not his real name, it's a pseudonym)  to request that publisher Harry N. Abrams to not only cancel a second print scheduled for later this year, but to pull all copies from shelves as well. The main complaints were that the book targeted people of different races, religions, and orientations. (Yes, the book makes fun of a lot of things, including what I just mentioned but it doesn't target anyone.)

    As a result, the book has instead of going the way dinosaur has in fact become a cult classic. It's sold out on Amazon and you can only get the book from independent sellers who now price the book anywhere from $30 (on Amazon) to $2000+ on eBay. Even my favorite charity, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has come to the Bad Little Children's Book aid and is in talks to helping publish a second edition despite cries for the book's demise.

    Bad Little Children's Books has become a bit of a cult classic in this Madman's family as well. In late November, I was at Barnes and Noble with my wife, mother-in-law, and wife's sister. I saw the book on display, flipped it a few times and then showed it to my wife. In turn, my wife showed it to her mom and sister and for the next hour, they all 3 sat at a table in the store, taking pictures of pages and telling everyone they knew about this crazy book. They didn't buy the book that day, but when we found out that the book was being discontinued, my wife and I ended up buying several copies for family members. Needless to say, the book has become a legend and source of much needed non-PC laughs.

    Should this book be required reading in schools or colleges? No, it's not appropriate for that. Should parents use discretion with the book around children? Yes, Yes YES! But there's more to it than just a few hurt feelings. When the call to censor this book hit Twitter people on social media weren't just asking the publisher to stop the second print. No, some folks on social media as went so far as to call for all existing copies to be seized (from homes and stores) and destroyed! Even though a book (that clearly marks itself as parody) maybe be offensive to some, it in no way should be banned or worse, burned! But we seem to go through this every couple of weeks with some social justice warrior believing that they have to save the world from what they deem to be in poor taste.

  I have a very dark sense of humor. It's who I am. After a day filled with social anxiety, I need some absurdity and craziness in my life to help take the edge off. That's why I find a book like this funny. It's also why I shared it with my bride as her job as a social worker requires her to let off a little steam with a healthy helping of the bizarre. Bad taste can often be what helps those in tough situations or places of employment get through another day.

    
    Besides, anything that can help brighten my wife or her family's day with a giggle or two is alright with me.

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

    

Banned Books Week 2015- What Gives a Book a Bad Name?

 
   Yesterday we looked at the people who asked for books to be banned. Today, we're going to look at the factors that give a book a bad name.

  So, just what gets a book banned?

    The answer: Just about anything. From depictions of sexual situations to drug and alcohol use. Accounts of homosexuality to portrayals of religions- both Christain and not. Offensive language, violence, and rape are other reasons people demand a book be banned from schools, stores, and libraries. My favorite reason is differing political viewpoints.

    Well, folks, if these were the reasons to ban a book then you'd never be able to get you hands on a copy of the Bible, Torah, Koran, or most other religious texts. (And this insight is coming from a Christian!!!)

   Another reason books are banned are because people violate the number #1 of selecting a book: They judge it by its cover. Take the book I am reading right now. As you can see on the cover of Maus, it depicts 2 mice huddling under a poster of a cat that looks an awful lot like Hitler. There is also a swastika behind the Hitler-cat. Well, I posted this exact picture yesterday (see right) and my mother-in-law flipped. She thought I was reading a pro-Nazi text.

    She hasn't been the only one ever to do this. Art Spiegelman's Maus has been challenged numerous times because people see the cover and think 'Oh, my God! Someone is making the Nazis kid friendly. I must stop this." But in reality the artist used Mice to represent the Jews and Cats as the Nazis to show how Hitler referred to the Jews- as vermin that needed to be extinguished! And what is nature's most perfect exterminator of mice? Why, it's a cat! Click here to read more...

    After I explained all of this to my mother-in-law (and mentioned that it takes place in her ancestral home of Poland), I think I came ever so close to convincing her to actually read a graphic novel!!!

    Anyway, my point to this article is is that so many times a book gets banned or a bad reputation is because someone looks at the cover, is repulsed, and automatically calls for its censor. But if people would just research the book, a lot of the legal tie-ups about censorship would be erased from dockets nationwide.

    One neat thing my library does every Banned Book Week is that they take a number of books on the list, wrap them in brown paper, and only tell the patron what things got the book banned. I think it's brilliant as it erases the stigma of judging books by their cover and lets the reader go into the book with very little prejudice.

    Now, if you were to see from the listing of grievances that one of those books dealt with something you didn't like- such as violence or homosexuality; here's my advice: don't check it out! Get something else. No one is forcing you to read this stuff... TO BE CONTINUED...

   (coming Friday:  A Family Comic Friday Special Report- Banned Books in School: Assignment Vs. Parental Control.)

Banned Book Week 2015: So Who Bans a Book Anyway?

I went to my local library today to drop out some books due. I'm on staycation, so I thought I'd check out their Banned Books Weeks display. It was a fairly decent little display, 6-sided, but nothing really eye-catching- except for a very information info sheet on the top of the display.

   I was very surprised to learn that of the challenges to books in the past year, only 18% of those who sought to ban a particular book were politicians, religious groups/ clergy, pressure groups, or other governing bodies. The majority of people who attempted to have a book banned were patrons/ customer and parents at 58%.

    To be fair, almost a quarter of legal challenges to banned books were kept confidential or of another criteria that didn't fit in any other category, so there could be some pressure groups or senators or priests lurking in that category unaccounted for. But still, it's a lot smaller percentage than I thought it would be.

  I think the reason behind this is that the news is more likely to cover a story about censorship if it involves a politician or religious group. Why is this? Mostly because sensationalism brings in viewers and readers. CNN doesn't want to devote time to a patron who bought a book and didn't like it and is trying to get it removed from stores. The media would rather cover a group of angry politicians and preachers seeking to have a book not just banned but burnt to a crisp than over a group of mothers irate that little Johnny saw Dr. Manhattan's dingle when he read Watchmen.

  Another issue that makes Banned Book week so important is that there were more challenges toward banning books last year than in any other year in the past decade. So what is the cause for this?

I think it can be broken down into 5 ways:

1. Public mores has changed. Alternative lifestyles are more accepted. Also, People are way more sensitive towards discrimination than ever before. and that leads into #2
2. We are a social media culture. It's a lot easier to get people to rally behind a cause like Black Lives Matter because you have the internet to spread your message more quickly. That leads to #3
3. Companies are afraid of losing money more than ever before. When a variant cover depicting the Joker holding Batgirl hostage, people went to their mobile devices and started a campaign demanding that DC Comics cancel the cover or face a financial boycott. The economy might be better than it was a decade ago, but one major slip in profits is enough for a media giant like DC to have nightmares.
4. Speaking of nightmares- parenting is another reason for why we see so many challenges in the legal system about banning books. Parents, these days are either A) not engaged enough or B) too engaged to the point that they put their child in a bubble. (I was more of a B-child, my sister 12-years younger than I, was more of an A-child.) Anyway, you get these hyperactive parents who see things in books like Harry Potter practicing witchcraft or an alien mom breastfeeding her child and parents go nuts. This leads to my final point...
5. There aren't enough people trying to educate readers on age appropriateness. 

    A favorite story I like to tell folks is how I found a copy of the ground-breaking miniseries Watchmen in the all-ages section of my local library. The book contains nudity, sex, and lots of swears. There's also some violence, but compared to other comics out in the 80s, it's mild. 

   See, I know from experience what's in this book! But the librarian who processed it did n;t. She thought because it was about superheroes, published by DC, and soon to become a movie, then it was okay for all readers. Interestingly enough, she thought I wanted the book banned. I just wanted it put in a more age appropriate place so that we could avoid this from being an issue when a child brought this home to a family who would petition for the book to be banned from the library. 

   So, I encourage you adults out there to please look at the books out there on the market and review them for age appropriateness. That's completely fine to say that my 6-year-old can read Batman Adventures but must be 14 before I'll let them read The Killing Joke. Just don't look at a book and say that because it doesn't fit you views that the book should be outlawed. 

   You may not agree with Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto, but this is a country where freedom of speech is protected. Plus, the countries where those works were published had a lengthy and bloody history on banning books and eventually began targeting those who thought differently to those viewpoints with imprisonment, torture, and death.

     Remember folks, when we fail to remember history, we are more than likely doomed to repeat it.
  
   Just a little food for thought on this Tuesday of Banned Books Week, 2015.

  Happy Reading!!!

Banned Books Week, 2015: Some Suggested Readings

Today marks the beginning of Banned Books Week. It's one of my favorite weeks of the year as it gives me a chance to speak out against censorship while pointing out some great books that you might have overlooked. I'll be posting more about BBW, with links, suggestions, and more. 

   Today, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund issued a list of banned graphic novels that fans of the comic book medium might have overlooked. Below is a link to the suggested titles that the CBLDF listed on their Facebook page. 

   Thanks to them and their ideas, I think this might very well be the week I finally read Art Speigelman's Maus (#15) a comic account of the Holocaust in which Jews are portrayed as Mice and the Nazis as Cats. 

   Happy Reading!!!

 

#jesuischarlie

Tales to Offend #1

 The cover to this book looks like those old EC Comics that I just adore. That's why I picked it up. Up until then, I'd never heard of this book and I thought at first that  it was a just a parody of those old comics from the 50s published by Dark Horse Comics. But to dig under the surface, I learned that this 1997 one-shot was so much more.

   The comic was written and penciled by comics legend Frank Miller. His cover story is a series of sci-fi short stories starting a character named Lance Blastoff. This is the first time I've ever heard of Lance, but from trolling the web and Facebook, he's sort of a cult hero. Lance is rude, crude, and likes to have his way with the ladies. He's a lot like Lobo without the bloodshed or Han Solo without the heart of gold. He's serviced in more ways than one by a squad of sex-starved, busty fembots while he tours the galaxy in search of a quick buck.

   This book also features a short story set in Miller's Sin City universe. It's got all of Miller's great black and white artwork, along with a sick twist ending and lots of grit, sex, and dames to die for- literally.

   The book may seem very rough around the edges. With a title like 'Tales to Offend,' you could think that Miller's got this "Who gives a F#@%?" mentality. That is until you get to the last page. There, you uncover yet another layer to this book. Miller explains that this comic is his gift to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. As you know, I'm a big supporter of the CBLDF and it's work to oppose censorship in the comics industry. When I have a chance, I donate money. But often I use my time and energies spreading the word of this important charity. For someone like Miller to devote his time and talents and not get a dime is so Miller and as kick-ass as Blastoff himself.

    Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

I read Banned Books (Comic Book Edition)

Tomorrow is the beginning of the annual American Library Association event Banned Books Week. This year, the ALA is focusing on comic books and graphic novels. Their reason is ' "despite their serious literary merit and popularity as a genre, they are often subject to censorship,” said Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee.'

  All week, I'll be reading and reviewing selections from my favorite banned comics of all-time; the EC Comics. Considered gory, brutal, and undeserving of any merit, these comics have stood more than the test of time- the withstood perhaps one o the greatest witch hunts of the 20th Century- the comic book scare of the 1950s.

   EC Comics were the primary target of the Juvenile Delinquency Senate hearings of 1954. A quack psychologist named Fredric Wertham in his book "Seduction of the Innocent" blamed comic books on just about anything wrong with kids and teens in the 1950s. His accusations were based on doctored data and led to a majority of publishers, writers, and artists of the comic book genre to lose their jobs and their passion- as many of these workers never worked in comics again.

 
   I'll be controversial to suggest that the fact that Wertham was German and the majority of the comic book working class was Jewish at the time, is not lost on me. the pandemonium that surrounded the comics scare is eerily similar to 1940s Nazi Germany. Community groups inspired by Wertham 'encouraged' children to collect their comics (and those of their buddies) and held mass burnings. My wife's uncles recall having to participate in these community improvement projects.

   The comic book industry might have failed completely if it wasn't for the few surviving publishers to team-up and create a self-governing committee that would insure standards and practices in the comic book industry. That group was the Comics Code Authority. Though the CCA is no longer used to determined if a comic is 'child friendly', it's place in pop culture history makes it still a vital and important tool in the comics industry. Like the music industry, comic book publishers now self-regulate their own ratings systems for their comics.

   Another important resource is the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. This fund, which I actively donate my spare coins to at comic book shops nationwide, was established to provide legal representation to publishers, authors, and writers who find themselves targets of the next community action to ban comic books.

 
  I hope this week, you'll participate in Banned Books (and Comics) week. But don't just read them for fun. Try to also reflect on the freedoms of speech and assembly we as Americans have the privilege to experience. This week is also time to reflect on the potential dangers of censorship. As the Jewish German writer Heinrich Hesse once wrote "Where books are burned in the end, people will be burned."
  

A Poignant Quote...

This is why I support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.