MattBrady
11-04-2002, 12:36 PM
News Release
<blockquote>Comic Book Legal Defense Fund November Update
ITEM: SECOND CASTILLO APPEAL REFUSED
In a setback for First Amendment rights, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied the Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR) of the "display of obscenity" conviction of Texas comic shop manager Jesus Castillo. The PDR was a second appeal by legal counsel supported by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the first appeal to the August 2000 conviction was upheld in a 2-1 split decision last July.
Jesus Castillo was convicted for promoting obscenity by selling an adult manga to an adult in a Dallas comic book store. In the original trial, the Prosecution successfully secured Castillo's conviction by introducing prejudicial comments about the store's proximity to an elementary school and exploiting the common misperception of comics as a children's medium. The conviction was arrived at despite unchallenged expert testimony from the Defense and without using the "Miller Test" to determine whether the whole of the work in question was constitutionally obscene.
At this stage, the CBLDF has exhausted the remedies afforded it at the State level and must decide whether it will back a bid to appeal the case to the United States Supreme Court. Today the Fund's Board of the Directors will make their decision concerning the appeal.
ITEM: BALTIMORE COMICON RAISES $6,500 FOR CBLDF
A star-studded line up of comics professionals, progressive retailers, and staunch supporters donated $6,500 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at Baltimore Comicon, held October 26 and 27.
The largest gift came from Phoenix Comics and Toys, whose raffle for a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 generated $2,000 for the Fund. Based in Herndon, VA, Phoenix supports a wide assortment of comics and graphic novels. "We're really angry about the situation in Texas and wanted to do something to help out," says Howie Welsch, co-owner of the shop. The raffle attracted hundreds of entrants and the winner was Greg Smith, an 18 year old comics fan from Maryland.
Defender of Liberty George Perez donated half of the money earned from his weekend's sketches to the Fund. On Friday night Perez was presented with his Defender of Liberty statue at a dinner for the show's artists preceding the event. Perez beamed as he accepted the award and restated his commitment to the Fund's fight to preserve comics' First Amendment rights.
Michael Avon Oeming turned sweat into equity for the Fund. For an hour on Sunday afternoon Oeming arm-wrestled fans for a ten-dollar donation per match. Fans strong enough to prevail against the super Powers creator were given their choice of original art from the acclaimed series by Oeming and Brian Michael Bendis.
Jeff Smith spent the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday sketching and signing copies of his Bone graphic novels. Smith spent over four hours with Fund supporters who walked away with sketches of their favorite character from Smith's popular series. Some supporters even got an early glimpse at Smith's take on Shazam! for their sketches. "This is gonna be awesome!" said Fund member Mark Rayani.
Brad Meltzer, Matt Wagner, and Judd Winick, three of the architects of DC's current Green Lantern and Green Arrow mythos, spent two hours meeting fans on Saturday afternoon. The three shared anecdotes from the comics and book worlds while drawing sketches for over 200 fans.
Even author Brad Meltzer got into the sketch action. Known as a writer of bestselling mystery novels and of upcoming Green Arrow issues, Meltzer pulled out a Sharpie and made his first sketches of Solomon Grundy and Green Arrow, the latter featuring Wagner's head impaled on an arrow!
Mark Waid answered questions about his mythbuilding on the Flash, Fantastic Four, and JLA. Waid also contributed an unpublished Captain America script to Sunday's auction. Waid fans shouldn't fret if they couldn't make it to the show, Mark also donated a signed copy of the script to the Fund to auction off on eBay, so start bidding today!
Frank Cho and Rick Veitch drew sketches for the Fund on Sunday afternoon, while pros around the hall were making their mark on the Fund's Baltimore jam sketch, which was auctioned off for $125 on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday the Fund closed the show with an auction of original art, scripts and memorabilia. One lucky bidder walked away with an advance edition of the new Lord of the Rings game, while others were able to get rare, signed Frank Miller books; original art by Carla Speed McNeil; prints by Alex Ross; Alan Moore's unpublished The Mirror of Love script, with a sketch by Jose Villarubia, and lots more! Even people not bidding got to witness a piece of convention history when Frank Cho arm wrestled Mike Oeming in the middle of the auction!
"Last weekend, Baltimore came out for the Fund in a big way, and at a crucial time," says CBLDF Director Charles Brownstein "Right now we're paying off staggering legal fees from Texas v. Castillo and Kraft v. Helm. The money earned here will go straight into that work."</blockquote>
<blockquote>Comic Book Legal Defense Fund November Update
ITEM: SECOND CASTILLO APPEAL REFUSED
In a setback for First Amendment rights, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied the Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR) of the "display of obscenity" conviction of Texas comic shop manager Jesus Castillo. The PDR was a second appeal by legal counsel supported by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the first appeal to the August 2000 conviction was upheld in a 2-1 split decision last July.
Jesus Castillo was convicted for promoting obscenity by selling an adult manga to an adult in a Dallas comic book store. In the original trial, the Prosecution successfully secured Castillo's conviction by introducing prejudicial comments about the store's proximity to an elementary school and exploiting the common misperception of comics as a children's medium. The conviction was arrived at despite unchallenged expert testimony from the Defense and without using the "Miller Test" to determine whether the whole of the work in question was constitutionally obscene.
At this stage, the CBLDF has exhausted the remedies afforded it at the State level and must decide whether it will back a bid to appeal the case to the United States Supreme Court. Today the Fund's Board of the Directors will make their decision concerning the appeal.
ITEM: BALTIMORE COMICON RAISES $6,500 FOR CBLDF
A star-studded line up of comics professionals, progressive retailers, and staunch supporters donated $6,500 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at Baltimore Comicon, held October 26 and 27.
The largest gift came from Phoenix Comics and Toys, whose raffle for a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 generated $2,000 for the Fund. Based in Herndon, VA, Phoenix supports a wide assortment of comics and graphic novels. "We're really angry about the situation in Texas and wanted to do something to help out," says Howie Welsch, co-owner of the shop. The raffle attracted hundreds of entrants and the winner was Greg Smith, an 18 year old comics fan from Maryland.
Defender of Liberty George Perez donated half of the money earned from his weekend's sketches to the Fund. On Friday night Perez was presented with his Defender of Liberty statue at a dinner for the show's artists preceding the event. Perez beamed as he accepted the award and restated his commitment to the Fund's fight to preserve comics' First Amendment rights.
Michael Avon Oeming turned sweat into equity for the Fund. For an hour on Sunday afternoon Oeming arm-wrestled fans for a ten-dollar donation per match. Fans strong enough to prevail against the super Powers creator were given their choice of original art from the acclaimed series by Oeming and Brian Michael Bendis.
Jeff Smith spent the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday sketching and signing copies of his Bone graphic novels. Smith spent over four hours with Fund supporters who walked away with sketches of their favorite character from Smith's popular series. Some supporters even got an early glimpse at Smith's take on Shazam! for their sketches. "This is gonna be awesome!" said Fund member Mark Rayani.
Brad Meltzer, Matt Wagner, and Judd Winick, three of the architects of DC's current Green Lantern and Green Arrow mythos, spent two hours meeting fans on Saturday afternoon. The three shared anecdotes from the comics and book worlds while drawing sketches for over 200 fans.
Even author Brad Meltzer got into the sketch action. Known as a writer of bestselling mystery novels and of upcoming Green Arrow issues, Meltzer pulled out a Sharpie and made his first sketches of Solomon Grundy and Green Arrow, the latter featuring Wagner's head impaled on an arrow!
Mark Waid answered questions about his mythbuilding on the Flash, Fantastic Four, and JLA. Waid also contributed an unpublished Captain America script to Sunday's auction. Waid fans shouldn't fret if they couldn't make it to the show, Mark also donated a signed copy of the script to the Fund to auction off on eBay, so start bidding today!
Frank Cho and Rick Veitch drew sketches for the Fund on Sunday afternoon, while pros around the hall were making their mark on the Fund's Baltimore jam sketch, which was auctioned off for $125 on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday the Fund closed the show with an auction of original art, scripts and memorabilia. One lucky bidder walked away with an advance edition of the new Lord of the Rings game, while others were able to get rare, signed Frank Miller books; original art by Carla Speed McNeil; prints by Alex Ross; Alan Moore's unpublished The Mirror of Love script, with a sketch by Jose Villarubia, and lots more! Even people not bidding got to witness a piece of convention history when Frank Cho arm wrestled Mike Oeming in the middle of the auction!
"Last weekend, Baltimore came out for the Fund in a big way, and at a crucial time," says CBLDF Director Charles Brownstein "Right now we're paying off staggering legal fees from Texas v. Castillo and Kraft v. Helm. The money earned here will go straight into that work."</blockquote>