'Y' We Fight
Every pop-culture medium has its would-be censors, but to me it seems like comic books have been overly subjected to wild stereotypes and dubious claims about their bad influence. Maybe that’s because I learned about Dr. Fredric Wertham’s 1954 anti-comics polemic Seduction of the Innocent not long after becoming a comics fan. The book argued that comics caused juvenile delinquency, leading to Congressional hearings and the establishment of the voluntary, self-censoring Comics Code Authority – not to mention the virtual destruction of EC Comics, whose delightfully disgusting horror and crime titles became public enemy No. 1. Ever since, someone somewhere has been getting their knickers in a twist over sex’n’violence in the funnybooks.
Maybe EC would have had a better chance against the forces of decency if it had an advocate like the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit founded in 1986 to fight censorship and preserve First Amendment rights for the comics community.
“All media is vulnerable to free-expression attack,” says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein, citing the ongoing criticism of videogames, the mania over ’80s metal, and the recent Congressional flap over rap. If comics seem more intensely scrutinized, he says, it’s because they’re an easy target, especially thanks to “the outmoded social idea that comics speak explicitly to juvenile audiences.” This notion persists, despite such now-ancient achievements as Will Eisner’s 1978 A Contract With God and Art Spiegelman’s Maus, not to mention recent successes like Marjane Satrapi’s 2003 Persepolis (whose 2007 animated film version is up for an Academy Award). Well, it’s always easier to shut down ideas in the name of protecting the children.
Obviously, children shouldn’t be exposed to some things (Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s erotic fairy tale Lost Girls comes to mind). But there are “two schools of thinking with regard to intellectual freedom,” Brownstein says. “One is that parents or individuals are the best judge; the other is that the government is the best arbiter.” The CBLDF, of course, thinks people should decide for themselves.
Brownstein says that, Wertham aside, censorship campaigns against comics “used to be about selling stuff to adults from behind the counter,” but then turned toward “sanitizing what children can read.” This included attacking artists themselves, but sellers often come under fire. “Prosecutors argue that ‘we don’t mind this material exists for adults, but a kid accidentally saw it, so this person [the retailer] needs to go to jail,’” he says.
Along with funding comics purveyors who can’t afford to pay for court, the CBLDF also teaches about how free expression is important to comics via its website (Cbldf.org) and MySpace page.
“It’s not so much to put things in a fear context,” Brownstein says. “The best way to educate is to celebrate some of the greatest works of free expression within the medium.” In other words … par-taaaay!
So, next week, Meltdown Comics will host “Y: The Last Party,” a CBLDF benefit marking the 60th and final issue of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man, the funny-to-moving Vertigo comic about the only man left on a postapocalyptic Earth, negotiating a world full of women. Cosponsored by online community MySpace Comic Books, the event will feature a Q&A with the co-creators, plus a keynote speech by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator (and Vaughan collaborator) Joss Whedon. Advance $100 VIP tickets include an opening reception and a limited-edition print of new artwork by Guerra, signed by both Y creators, but $25 regular-admission tickets will also be sold that day.
“It’s not a stretch to see a book like Y as an achievement of sorts [for free expression in comics],” Brownstein says. Sure, it has sometimes gruesome artwork and sexual situations, but it also “pushes a lot of intellectual boundaries.” Praised by the likes of The New York Times and NPR (not to mention CityBeat), the series has been recommended for inclusion in library collections. That’s where First Amendment problems can start – people can challenge, and apparently have challenged, a library’s decision to put something like Y on its shelves. Brownstein can’t be more specific; when such disputes are settled, the CBLDF and related parties can’t discuss them.
But what Brownstein will say is, “The most disturbing thing is that a lot of the court cases we’ve defended could have been solved with an adult dialogue. If you’re offended, you can confront the offender and come to an understanding, or you can go to court. And that can be very, very destructive for all sides.”
Y: The Last Party takes place Fri., Feb. 8, at Meltdown Comics, 7522 Sunset Blvd., L.A., (323) 851-7283. VIP reception at 7 p.m.; event at 8 p.m. Info: Myspace.com/meltdowncomics.
2008-01-31
Published: 01/30/2008
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