Okay, is this a whoosh?
http://www.cbldf.org/pr/archives/000146.shtml
I can’t find corroborating info anywhere, and it just seems a little too unreal to me. It would seem to imply that adult comics are illegal no matter who you sell them to, and I would be worried if the Supreme Court agreed with this.
Oh, it’s real. And scary.
Only if “adult” equals “obscene”.
Free speech protection doesn’t cover obscene materials. If they are obscene, whether they were sold to adults is irrelevant, because the local laws can ban the sale to adults just as easily as the sale to children.
Ah, but the conviction wasn’t obtained on the basis of the content being obscene. This poor guy was convicted because, in essence, “comics are for kids and this content isn’t appropriate for kids”. Oi!
I’ve actually heard a lot about the CBLDF, but this is the first time I’ve seen them in action. I’m not a huge proponent of “adult” material (i.e. porn and such) but it’s good to know there’s an organization out there like the CBLDF that’s willing to fight these fights even when they don’t win them all.
So what will the effect of his be? Watchmen has nudity and implied sex and lots of violence. Will a store get in trouble for selling Xxxenophile?
Surprise, surprise, this case came from Texas, the punk-ass Third World nation that somehow has managed to attach itself to the U.S.
I must take exception to that remark, Captor.
The thrust of the article was this: juries believe that comics are for children.
It does not matter if they are sold in adult sections, or adult bookstores, or if they have covers that scream ADULTS ONLY in forty-three-point type.
Juries believe that comics are for children. This makes adult comics an easy target for district attorneys and other politicians looking to score points with the public as “Warriors Against Smut And Saviors Of Our Children.”
Due to this blockheaded idea that comics are for children, the normal constitutional protections for “freedom of speech” are dicey at best when an artist creates a comic that is violent, gross, or sexually explicit. In many cases, those protections simply don’t exist.
Punch the name “Mike Diana” into any search engine, if you wanna see what I mean.
Mike Diana drew some sick comics. Now, even I think they were sick, and gross, and disgusting, and I sure wouldn’t read the things for entertainment; this guy Diana is out there in S. Clay Wilson territory, if you know what I mean.
But Mike Diana did not break any laws that most people would regard as “laws.” He drew his comics, and sold them. To adults. He was neither a child corruptor, nor an idiot.
… and a Florida judge decided to make ole Mikey Boy into his pet personal project. Diana was found guilty of a variety of high crimes and misdemeanors, forced to pay quite a bit in fines… and as a condition of his probation, police officers could wander into Diana’s house, any time, day or night, no warrant required, to search his premises for “dirty pictures.”
The judge had gone so far as to make a list of what Ole Mikey Boy COULD AND COULD NOT DRAW… and if any officers found any drawings that weren’t on the Approved List, good ole Mikey was off to the slammer.
Mike Diana appealed the case clear to the highest state court. They shot him down. Higher courts refused to hear his case, so he was pretty much stuck. He served out his probation, and moved the hell out of Florida.
Remember, folks, it happened in America.
If a prosecutor wants to go for it, then “yes.” And he’ll have a precedent to back him up.
Like I said, scary. What’s the most appalling part is that he never sold a comic to a kid, and the prosecution never claimed he did.
Holy shit.
So my “Druuna” is illegal?
:mad: That’s just fucked up.
Damn it. This is just wrong.
A jury that saw the comic found that it was obscene. The appellate court found that it was obscene. He was convicted because it was obscene, not because comics are for kids.
That being said, I’ve never seen the comic and couldn’t begin to comment on whether it is, to me, obscene. However, there are 12 people and 3 judges in Texas who thought so.
Obscenity laws are pure bullshit, anyway. No government should ever have the power to decide what an adult citizen can and cannot read or see as long as no harm is done in the making of it. Obscenity laws are just another atavistic residual of the era when religion controlled government.
Fie, I saw. And fuck, too.
The guy who was prosecuting the case would seem to disagree with you:
Posted by Wang-Ka:
Yeah, I remember Mike Diana! He called his comic Boiled Angel! It happened in Pinellas County, so we heard a lot about it in the Tampa Bay area . . . no, Texas does not have a lock on stupid moral puritanism in public life. Right now hatin’ David Caton is working on yet another campaign to shut down Joe Redner’s famous all-nude strip clubs. Where would Tampa’s economy be without those strip clubs?
Jeez… I suppose now I have to hide all myOmaha, the Cat Dancer comics.
Those boys had some mighty equipment:D
And used it quite frequently as well.
That would be pathetic.
“Omaha The Cat Dancer” was primarily a soap opera. True, it had sex and nudity, but it was a soap opera.
Then again, it also had funny animals screwing like mad minks. No doubt there are judges here in Texas who would promptly decide Reed Waller was trying to corrupt all the chillun what was brought up on Walt Disney…
HAHAhAhAHAHA!
yup it was a soap opera… my collection is very incomplete… but I dont know if Reed Waller ever got back to it after he got so sick in the early 90s.
This Jesus fellow was not arrested simply for selling obscene material, he was arrested for selling obscene material in close proximity to an elementary school, which is illegal in Texas.
If an appellate court also found the material to be obscene, I don’t see the relavence of the prosecutor’s obnoxious argument.
That said, this whole case sounds pretty stupid to begin with.
Check out what’s on the books up here in Canada (disclaimer: I have never heard of anybody being prosecuted under this law):
What, you ask, is a crime comic?
That’s right folks, damn near the entire DC and Marvel catalogue is illegal here in Canada.
Try reading around on the CBLDF’s website. LOTS of lawsuits have happened in Canada, both as a result of publishing there, or attempting to import or sell American comics there.
Canadian courts can get WEIRD over obscenity issues…