The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Censorship in Comic Books


Hilbert College

Annotated Bibliography:

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Censorship in Comic Books

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(Note: This paper was written at the University of South Carolina)

American Civil Liberties Union. (1955) Individuals taking the position that there is a direct...relationship between the reading of 'crime' comic books and the increase of juvenile delinquency". American Civil Liberties Union. This pamphlet is a little dated, but it is exemplary of the roots of anti-comic sentiment. the techniques used to gather the information presented was extremely biased.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. (1999) CBLDFHome. Online: http://www.cbldf.org This is the official website of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. It has a complete history of the organization and it's many court battles. It has current news on the fund raising events of the CBLDF's supporters and the pending court cases. The site also has a very conclusive bibliography on the history of censorship in comics. The bibliography is much more in depth than this one and was instrumental in the creation of this bibliography.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. (1997) Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Case Files. Online: http://www.cbldf.org/casefiles/planetcomics.html This case file details the story of Micheal Kennedy and John Hunter, the owners of Oklahoma city's Planet Comics, and their plea bargain to trafficking obscenity. The CBLDF does not help fund cases where the defendants take plea bargains, but these defendants did so without the CBLDF's knowledge and were trying to avoid a prison sentence.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. (1998) Comic Book Legal Defense Fund News Archives. Online: http://www.cbldf.org/pr/980525-diana.html This news arrticle tells of Mike Diana's apperance on Good Morning America and details the cruel and unusual punishment given to Mike Diana.

Daniels, Les. (1991) Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Abrams. This book was published on the golden anniversary of Marvel Comics one of the "big 2" comic book companies in existence today. This book is the defnitive history of the "house of ideas" and publisher of "the world's greatest comics" including the likes of Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Uncanny X-men, and their flagship title, The Amazing Spiderman. It was this title's anti-drug story arc that led to the comics code amendments of 1971.

Diana, Mike. (1999) Comix Guilty Artist Homepage. Online: http://www.testicle.com/mikediana.htm This is the official page of Mike Diana. Here you can see all of his pretty drawings and read his side of the story.

Feiffer, Jules. (1965) The Great Comic Book Heroes. The Dial Press. This book spotlights some of the most influential and important comic book heroes in American culture. The importance of the book is in it's insight into the birth of comics and America's social situatio at the time of modern comic's birth.

Fulgham, Joe. (1995) Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Information. Online: http://users.uniserve.com/~puck/cbldf/cbldf.html This is Joe Fulgham's page on the CBLDF and it's history. Joe Fulgham is a fan of the CBLDF and a comic book shop owner from Arizona.

Goulart, Ron. (1986) Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books. Contemporary Books, Inc. This book is "the definitive illustrated history of comic books from 1890 to the 1980's".

Mavrides, Paul. (1996) Why Me? (Part 2). Online: http://www.darkcarnival.com/DCOLarchive/cbldf.paul.fly.htm This is the victim-written story of a comics creator who was accidentally given $80,000 in comic royaltis from the Califonia Board of Equalization. This lead the BOE to reevaluate the classification of comics creators and change the classification form authors, who don't need licenses to produce their art, to independent contractors who must pay sales tax on thei product sales. Paul Mavrides has sacrificed an estimated $170,000 to fighta $1000 fine because of the implicatons of this fine.

Nyberg, Amy Kiste. (1998) Seal of approval : the history of the comics code. University Press of Mississippi. This book details the history of the Comic Books Code. This code is the authority in comics and sets standards for decency. Without this codes approval a comic cannot be sold on the newstand. Before the 1970's this code was standard and no comcs were mass produced without its aproval.

Lent, John A. (1999) Pulp demons : international dimensions of the postwar anti-comics campaign. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Romenesko, James. (1994) The Mike Diana Saga. Online: http://php.indiana.edu/~mfragass/diana_obscure.html James Romenesko writes for an independent magazine called Obscure Publications. As the magazine's title suggests, getting your hands on a copy is hard to do. So, this internet location has been opted. This article was published in 1994 and details the beginnings of the Mike Diana saga. Dianan is the first American artist convicted of obscenity.

Thompson, Don. (1973) The COmic Book Book. Arlington House. This book details comic's history devoting chapters to the different movements from comedies geared to children to the 1970's market of action and adventure comics.

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