In 2009, we ran an article about Astro Boy and the then-upcoming movie. We got some grief from the law firm representing the movie studio IMAGI, complete with cease and desist letters, over using earlier released concept art as an illustration for the article. We responded by posting the C&D letter, and telling Imagi that…
Stuck in the Middle, the Ariel Schrag edited look at middle school comedy and shame, isn’t a G-rated romp through age 13, but given its subject matter, how could it be. Instead it’s an awful painful look at the most painful ages of all, told by 17 cartoonists including Schrag, Daniel Clowes, Joe Matt and…
This reminds me to renew my membership in the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (no, they aren’t called to defend this one, but they do great work both here and abroad): The trial in Tunisia over the broadcasting the animated Iranian film [[[Persepolis]]] was cut short Thursday after an uproar in the courtroom. Lawyers for…
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is currently in the middle of a massive fundraising drive, set in the middle of Banned Books Week. They’ve been auctioning off a lot of neat items, including professional development reviews with Tom Brevoort and Chris Burnham (also available for lunch) and a meet-and-greet for Saturday Night Live. But…
Artist Denise Devine is altering E.W. Kemble’s original illustrations from the first edition of the book to remove Jim and replace him with Robot Jim. Recently an international controversy and debate broke out when NewSouth Books decided to publish a version of the Mark Twain classic, “Huckleberry Finn,” replacing all instances of the word “nigger”…
[[[The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want you to Read]]] By Jim Trombetta Abrams ComicsArts, 304 pages, $29.95 Comic book fans certainly know enough history to understand that the comics industry bowed to public pressure and created the Comics Code Authority to clean up its image. It resulted in countless professionals losing…
The New York-based organization Revolution Muslim helpfully pointed out that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone insulted their prophet Muhammad and will probably end up like filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. Mr. Van Gogh was murdered in 2004 for making a movie that was critical of the abuse of Muslim women in some segments…
Editor’s note: This column, which was originally published at Comics Bulletin and which we pointed to on Friday, was taken down from their site yesterday. We’re a bit touchy when it comes to internet censorship and the hint of legal threats from movie people, so we asked Cliff what we could to do help. Clifford…
io9 likes to say they come from the future– but it seems that the future in question is 1984 or Brave New World. We’ve received a number of reports about io9’s, shall we say, stringent commenter policies, many of which are discussed in their FAQ. Lately, they’ve been kicking more commenters off. This is not…
Just in from the AP: CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan authorities plan to impose fines on cable television companies that refuse to stop airing the animated television series “Family Guy.” Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami says the program should be pulled from the airwaves because it promotes the use of marijuana. He said Thursday that cable…
The Brooklyn (New York) Public Library has removed Tintin au Congo from its shelves. If you want to read the graphic novel, you’ve got to ask for it and risk that “what are you, a bigot?” glower from the librarian. In an act of insane political correctness, somebody looked at the tome and bitched about…
Comics writer Mark Sable was detained by TSA security guards at LAX this past weekend when they discovered inflammatory material in a script for Sable’s new BOOM Studios miniseries Unthinkable. The comic series follows members of a government think tank that was tasked with coming up with 9/11-type “unthinkable” terrorist scenarios that now are coming…
