In 2000, a comic book retailer named Jesus Castillo sold an adult comic book from the adult section of his store to an adult undercover police officer, and was then charged with two counts of obscenity. In the Texas state prosecutor's closing arguments, she said, "I don’t care what type of evidence or what type of testimony is out there, use your rationality, use your common sense. Comic books, traditionally what we think of, are for kids. This is in a store directly across from an elementary school and it is put in a medium, in a forum, to directly appeal to kids. That is why we are here, ladies and gentlemen. ... We’re here to get this off the shelf."
He was found guilty. The Supreme Court has refused to hear the case, which allows this completely shitty, backwards precedent to stand.
This point of view -- comics are only for kids, and their content must be limited by what is acceptable for children, and anything that deviates from that is an aberration -- drives me bonkers. Harvey Pekar (subject of the soon-to-be-released movie American Splendor said "Comics are just words and pictures; you can do anything with words and pictures."
Anything. Even books for grown ups. If you're the type that does charitable donations, you could do worse than the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Posted by Matt at August 05, 2003 10:02 AM