The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund held a panel Oct. 9 at New York Comic Con to discuss new protections, ongoing cases and how queer people can always rely on the organization’s legal support.
Comic books have always been at the forefront of positive social change, according to the panel. Even before Marvel and DC became movie tentpoles, important fixtures of modern media, the companies have long included content that isn’t afraid to “go there.”
The mutants of the X-Men face unflinching prejudice and bigotry. Comic characters like Black Panther and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America, Sam Wilson, explore the tribulations of being a Black superhero in America.
The CBLDF brings paramount life lessons from the page to the real world. At the 40th New York Comic Con, the legal organization gave a lively panel discussion on what’s needed to overcome. “If someone creates a knockoff of your work, or it doesn’t represent you. We will help,” said CBLDF interim Director Jeff Trexler.
Trexler was joined on the panel by former CBLDF board member Paul Levitz, attorney and The Autism Scene Executive Director Britton Payne and University of Missouri – Kansas City Clinical Professor of Law Brad Desnoyer.
Desnoyer discussed the “goodness” that comics can bring. “Trying to pretend that certain people don’t exist has been a problem in this country for a long time. I lost members of my family to racial hatred … to the Holocaust …. It’s very easy for me to fund anything anti-racist. The Comic Book Fund is anti-racist,” he said, adding that anyone “who wants to stop people from reading about other people, it’s a problem.”
The panel members discussed many topics, including LGBTQ+ books and the problems from recent bans. Banned books are a hot topic, affecting everything from schools and public libraries to private bookstores. The panel shared that Florida and North Carolina are at the forefront.
Comics are treated more harshly than books, according to the panel. Court cases have shown judges dismiss the medium and may consider comics as having no artistic value. A work having “artistic value” is a criterion used to determine whether a work is obscene, according to U.S. Supreme Court precedent set by its landmark 1973 ruling in Miller v. California.
Treating comics more harshly than books leads to the classification that comics are “lesser” and can allow for judges to side with closed-minded plaintiffs, according to the panel.
On the topic of banning comics, Desnoyer discussed the “satanic panic” that still plagues the industry. “If Satan is using comic books, then I’d have a full career,” he said wryly.
Trexler jumped in: “We are assisted by a rich heritage of creators who care. Everything we do, we are cognizant … we do because of you. We want to honor that in our work.”
CBLDF members also said that since COVID-19, the crackdown on free speech has gotten worse. Trexler said they are getting even more cases, some even across international lines in Canada.
The algorithm icing people out is another hurdle the team is learning to navigate.
“A lot of people don’t know we have the largest comic book collection in the world. We think collecting comics, making them available to researchers and patrons, is important,” Payne said.
The organization will continue its fight against new issues, including those of AI and copyright infringement. Also, the CBLDF encourages folks to use the organization as a resource for papers.
On its archival work, Trexler talked about the group’s mission. “We don’t know the important things of tomorrow. So let’s save it all. So people who have new ideas have a lane to push through and won’t be stopped.”
