So, for the upcoming Penguicon convention,
it looks like I will be asked to participate in a panel talking about the
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Seeing this
reminded me that I haven’t posted anything about the CBLDF in, gosh, over a year now. This is
bad, because the CBLDF is fighting for your rights and mine, and needs your attention and money
now more than ever.

I know some of you are thinking, ‘What am I ever going to do that I would need the CBLDF to defend me?”
The answer, if you live in several states, including Michigan, is ‘Buy comic books.’
Recently, a piece of legislature passed the Michigan house and senate, and was enthusiastically signed
into law by the otherwise-usually-rational Governor Jennifer Granholm. Here’s
the article
outlining the CBLDF’s involvement with the legislature, and here’s the new law itself,
House Bill 4360 (2003).
It’s in effect now, if you’re wondering. Go ‘head and read it — the PDF’s only
three pages long.

What does this mean to you? It means that retailers now face a fine of up to $10,000 for
even trying to sell a minor anything containing material outlined as “offensive” by this bill.
Any magazine, any book, any video — any comic book. That means that your retailers could be
forced to stop carrying… oh, I’d say about three-quarters of the comics I read, from
Colleen Coover’s Small Favors (a girl-friendly adult comic, which *does* fit this bill’s
description of ‘sexual’ material) to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (which almost all would agree does not).

This isn’t going to threaten big retailers. This is going to threaten comic stores and independent
bookstores who don’t have the deep pockets and lawyers that chain stores have.
This is going to come down hard on people like Dan and Katie Merritt, who
run the splendid store Green Brain Comics.
Dan and Katie, because they are married and have a daughter, technically constitute a
“Mom and Pop” store. Granted, Pop is six-foot-seven and has green hair, and Mom heads
up a national comics organization, but hey. Dictionary says. These guys, our friends, our
local comics stores, are the ones feeling the heat from this law.

Does this piss you off? It sure pisses me off. What can you do? Join the
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund or
buy some of their stuff. Join the
ACLU, who is also fighting this bill. Both organizations say
it’s unconstitutional. I agree.

So what, you may ask, is Jane doing about it, that she is trying to get us to open our wallets
for this cause? Well, due to a series of highly unfortunate family events (deaths, plural) I have
been severely slacking in my social activist duties for the last several months. I have
only been writing a few letters here and there… and it’s time to get busy again! Therefore,
I will be donating lots and lots of swag to the Penguicon
CBLDF Charity Auction. The auctioneers are Neil Gaiman
and Wil Wheaton. You could come and buy
cool stuff there. It’s sure to be a good show, if nothing else.

And if you want to know more about the CBLDF, and you live hereabouts in Michigan, you can come see
the panel at Penguicon, too. At the moment, it’s looking like it’ll be on Friday evening.