Given the possibilities suggested by the Center’s goal of developing new technologies for communities that need them, it is easy to forget the ways in which pre-existing groups are utilizing older tools to further the cause of civic engagement. One example of such a group is that of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), a non-profit organization incorporated in 1990 with the explicit intention of fighting censorship and defending the first amendment rights of comic book professionals throughout the United States.
What is significant about the organization is the way in which it connects comic book writers, publishers, retailers and readers and taps their common admiration for the art form in order to defend its stake in the cultural landscape. The key factor here is their shared enthusiasm for comics, the sort of collective energy cited by Beth Noveck at the first forum for the Center as being an essential component of civic engagement. While it might not be immediately obvious to the outsider what this enthusiasm is directed against, the fact remains that there exists a serious ongoing problem with attacks directed at the comic book industry, their targets ranging from the products of large publishers like DC Comics to the work of small independent artists. Libraries are being forced to take legitimate artistic works off their shelves, artists are being sued for parodying corporate entities and retailers selling comics with mature content are being charged with distributing obscene materials. A prevailing myth is that comics are meant exclusively for children and that any depictions of adult content or themes (however artistically relevant) are inappropriate or illegal. It is a major threat to a vibrant artistic tradition and one that the CBLDF is currently attempting to combat.
The media hub for this community is its website, which serves multiple functions. It is a portal for articles (external and in-house) on ongoing and resolved cases with CBLDF involvement as well as developments with regard to first amendment issues and comics. The linked mailing list and RSS feed perform the dual roles of keeping the community informed and maintaining a running interaction with the industry professionals (retailers, publishers, writers) that might require the assistance of the organization. Finances are also handled through the website as a place for fans to donate money as well as a forum for the publicizing of various fundraising initiatives. These efforts often involve an inventive melding of existing technologies and community involvement. They have included eBay auctions of dinners with well-known comics writers such as Neil Gaiman (a member of the CBLDF’s Board of Directors), as well as the use of linked blogs to raise both awareness and money. Gaiman’s blog is a good example of this as other writers and artists with smaller online presence are able to take advantage of its enormous readership to publicize their efforts on behalf of the CBLDF (whose site the blog is, naturally, linked to). Considerable amounts have been raised as various comics personas have auctioned media artifacts ranging from art to scripts, spreading the word through the CBLDF and associated sites. Retro forms of media are in play too, with the Fund putting out Busted!, a quarterly print magazine that contains both CBLDF-related news and comic art (a recent cover was produced by Frank Miller of Sin City fame).
The CBLDF has spearheaded defenses or otherwise assisted individuals and organizations in myriad First Amendment cases on local levels across the United States. A particularly good example of how the CBLDF works on a local level is its influence upon a recent case in Marshall, MO. In October 2006, a local resident formally requested that two graphic novels–Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Blankets by Craig Thompson–be removed from the shelves of the town’s public library because of their allegedly obscene content. Both works have considerable artistic merit (Fun Home was one of Time magazine’s “10 Best Books of 2006″) and earned widespread critical acclaim for their frank portrayal of troubled adolescence. Once the CBLDF was brought in, its involvement was not so much in the realm of legal aid or fundraising but, rather, geared more towards community engagement. The CBLDF, in conjunction with the National Coalition against Censorship, drafted a much publicized letter to the library’s board of trustees. This letter served as a useful document in terms of articulating why the graphic novels could hardly be termed obscene and the pitfalls of a censorship policy.
However, it played a more important role in the way it served as a rallying point for those in the Marshall community that opposed the removal of the books. The document raised awareness of the issue and allowed local comic book fans and First Amendment advocates to find each other and build an opposition to the group calling for the ban. In addition, the national scrutiny that the letter brought with it forced the Marshall library to open up the process by which the ban request was being considered and facilitated the efforts of the opposition group. This led to every subsequent open hearing on the case being well attended by those community members that put forward an organized defense of the graphic novels. The CBLDF’s campaigning also led to an elevation of the level of local discourse surrounding the case as it formed a public counter-point to the ‘pornography’ claims and led to the books being read by considerably more people in the area than they otherwise would have been. Therefore, as a result of local efforts that built up much of its steam around the CBLDF’s support, the library drafted a new materials selection policy in March 2007 and decided to return the two books to their shelves without any segregation of the books by a ‘prejudicial system.’
Given the Center’s emphasis on actual interpersonal contact outside the virtual realm, the CBLDF facilitates regular meetings between civic-minded artists, fans, librarians and retailers at comics conventions and other events. These offline interactions are significant on an administrative level since much of the fundraising occurs at these events. However, the online community-building component is also an important one, as ideas are exchanged and connections made without which the CBLDF would have perished long ago.