FANTAGRAPHICS ANNOUNCES FANTAGRAPHICS DEFENSE FUND

[MattBrady]

Received from Fantagraphics

It’s that time again — the Fantagraphics Defense Fund is open for business!

As you have probably heard by now, Harlan Ellison sued us in October, 20006. The details of the lawsuit can be found in court documents posted here.

He is (basically) suing us over two issues:

First, in the history-of-Fantagraphics book WE TOLD YOU SO: COMICS AS ART that we serialized on the Comics Journal blog last year, Gary told two brief anecdotes about Ellison’s conduct during the infamous Michael Fleisher trial. We are defending ourselves by arguing the content of these anecdotes are a) opinion and b) true (and for that matter have been circulated for over a decade unchallenged including on Ellison’s own website in the context of the notoriously one-sided Gauntlet article), Ellison has now elected to allege that they were libelous. When we were apprised by Ellison’s attorney initially that Ellison was unhappy with these comments, we offered him space in our book to rebut these comments or offer his own counter-narrative, but he rejected these options and chose to file suit instead.

Second, we reprinted the Ellison interview that caused the Fleisher suit in our COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY collection THE WRITERS. Ellison is not suing over this –in fact, he’s admitted in public that we own the interview and have the right to reprint it—but is claiming instead that it is illegal to use his name on the cover (along with the names of the other writers we interviewed).

We have argued to the court that both claims are absurd and the suit frivolous and meritless. In our opinion, it is merely designed to harass us, bully us, hurt us financially, and chill public criticism of Ellison generally. Notwithstanding Ellison’s own denials (embedded in the text of his rambling lawsuit), we consider this suit to be a petty and malicious effort to trample our 1st Amendment rights to truthfully relate the history of our company, and to cost us money and time.

The book in question, WE TOLD YOU SO: COMICS AS ART, is an oral history of Fantagraphics Books, warts and all. It is not one of those lame, self-aggrandizing, whitewash jobs that you’ve seen from other publishers. There are quotes from a vast variety of artists, writers, employees, colleagues. Everyone from Robert Crumb, Jules Feiffer, and Kim Deitch to the Hernandez Brothers, Dan Clowes, Jim Woodring, and Jason Lutes pitches in with recollections, reminiscences, and reproaches — and, no, we are not spared the honest and sometimes scathing opinions of others, and, yes, we are occasionally raked over the coals.

We want to emphasize that at the core of this dispute is freedom of expression. Depending upon how much time you have to look at and scrutinize the facts, you can click on the url above and then click on Update 2 to look through the court documents that support the two anecdotes over which Ellison is suing.

We have engaged in the first legal skirmish between October ’06 and February ’07, and our first motion to dismiss the suit has been denied by the court on technical grounds, without reaching the merits, so we are in it for the long haul. We have no doubt that when it goes to a jury trial, we will prevail; Ellison’s lawsuit against us is even more absurd than the original lawsuit Michael Fleischer filed against us and Ellison in 1980. Already, however, the suit has cost us in the mid-five figures, and a quality defense will require considerably more money than that.

Many of you reading this know who we are and what we stand for. You probably know that we have been vigorously defending 1st Amendment principles many years before there was a Comic Book Legal Defense Fund — which we also supported since its inception (and which now, ironically, has rejected our request for financial aid. The second, perhaps more telling, irony is that Harlan Ellison won the Fund’s 1998 Defender of Liberty Award!). You also know the artists we have published over the last 30 years and our commitment to those artists and to the art form. Without additional financial assistance, we will have to reconsider many of our commercially marginal books (approximately half of them); the money that would make those books possible will instead be spent on legal fees. We hope you are willing to help us.

Here’s how you can help:

BUY OUR BOOKS. Yes, we know you’re probably already doing this, but surely this is a good time to give all your friends and relatives gifts. Seriously, we have a web site full of beautiful books and the sale of our books helps pay our lawyers.

GIVE US DOUGH. You can donate money to the Fantagraphics Defense Fund if you’re so inclined. This money will be deposited in a separate account and used exclusively to pay our lawyers. We know that there are hundreds of good causes to contribute to; we know that most of our readers are on a budget; we know you have your own problems; we know your life does not revolve around helping Fantagraphics; and we appreciate that you have probably bought our books in the past and will probably continue to buy those books that interest you. No pressure. But, if you have the money and want to support us, we will be deeply and sincerely appreciative of anything you would be willing to donate — from five bucks to, well, the sky’s the limit. A handful of big donations from the well-off would help us immensely. Small contributions, even letters of support, will boost our morale.
End of pitch.

(If you’d like your name listed on our FOF page on our website —Friends of Fantagraphics— as public supporters of Fantagraphics against Ellison’s lawsuit, we would be happy to include it. If you buy any of our books and would like to be added to this page, please let us know and we’ll add you.)

GUERILLA FUNDRAISING IDEAS WELCOME. If you have any fund-raising ideas, no matter how outré, weird, funny, or outlandish, drop us a line (groth@fantagraphics.com). If you’re willing to do something yourself —sing, dance, juggle, draw— to raise money for us, please let us know. We are happy to consider any guerilla fund-raising ideas. Send ‘em!

We will be arranging some auctions to raise money for our legal defense. There will be great stuff, crazy stuff, you name it. If you have something of value that you’d like to contribute for an auction, let us know. We need to raise money, but we don’t mind having fun doing it. Keep in mind that we have a store location and our clientele likes interesting, arcane material and that we can display and sell anything you may wish to donate in the store in a special Fantagraphics Defense Fund section.
How You Can Help Us:

If you would like to buy our books, visit our website at Fantagraphics.com; or call our 800 number (1-800-657-1100) and request a paper catalogue. You may also place orders by calling our 800 number. If you would like to donate money, you can:

Call our 800 number and give us a donation via credit card;
Pay by PayPal at fantagraphics@gmail.com;
Send us a check at our address: 7563 Lake City Way, Seattle, WA 98115
Please make sure we have your name so that we can list you as one of our supporters if you so choose. Please help us prevent Harlan Ellison from crippling an independent publisher.

Thank you.

Gary Groth
Kim Thompson

[vbartilucci]

Give money to help Gary Groth fight Ellison.

Yeah, lemme get right on that...


I like how he's now formed FOF (Friends of Fantagraphics) to bookend the EOE (Enemies of Ellison) he founded back in the 90's.

Go dig through Peter David's But I Digress archives to get a GLIMPSE of the massive feud between Groth and Ellison. Good readin'.

[JACK SCAGNET]

Didn't Ellison hit Cameron with a law suit claiming ownship on Terminator?

[Boxful]

This should be interesting to follow.

[Scorned1]

First of all Gary and Kim, you should have known of Harlan isn't going to let his name be used for anything whether you are going to say nice things or not. The man is notorious for taking people to court for fewer things than this. We are living in an age where the term freedom of speech is very much dissected in many parts to be interpreted in an infinite ways. You can’t put an author’s name like Harlan in an article knowing that it is saying very much negative things. Your magazine is not a tabloid or an open forum to have another author to write this kind of stuff. Plus, did anyone know that Harlan had his own name registered as a trademark in 2005? So using it may not be such a good idea. It is your own fault Gary and Kim. As a publisher you should have known better. Taking this to another message board like Newsarama may not be another smart move either because he will know and he can add this on top of the list that he is taking you to court for.

Everyone in every entertainment field knows that if you don’t mess with Harlan Ellison then he won’t mess with you. Leave as that.

[Scorned1]

Originally Posted by JACK SCAGNET

Didn't Ellison hit Cameron with a law suit claiming ownship on Terminator?

And Cameron lost from what I heard. They settled and Ellison got some kind credit. He and AOL went to court recently and they both settled.

[NickVinson]

Groth v Ellison...

Well, I think you've come to the wrong place for anarchy brother.

-N

[iyamwhatiyam]

Originally Posted by vbartilucci

Give money to help Gary Groth fight Ellison.

Yeah, lemme get right on that...


I like how he's now formed FOF (Friends of Fantagraphics) to bookend the EOE (Enemies of Ellison) he founded back in the 90's.

Go dig through Peter David's But I Digress archives to get a GLIMPSE of the massive feud between Groth and Ellison. Good readin'.

Yeah, well I guess I'll double what I was going to pay to make up for you. Fantagraphics is the best comics publisher in the history of comics, and while Groth and Thompson can be surly dicks at times, they're comics publishing genii and completely right on this count. Surly I can live with. Ellison's just a douchebag.

[Michael P]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

As you have probably heard by now, Harlan Ellison sued us in October, 20006. The details of the lawsuit can be found in court documents posted here.

Y'know, guys, given 18,000 years, I'm pretty sure you could come up with the money yourselves...

[ScottRowland]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Received from Fantagraphics

The book in question, WE TOLD YOU SO: COMICS AS ART, is an oral history of Fantagraphics Books, warts and all. It is not one of those lame, self-aggrandizing, whitewash jobs that you’ve seen from other publishers.

Hey, thanks for telling us your own book about yourself isn't self-aggrandizing. Because a statement like that from a publisher documenting its own history is very reassuring. http://forum.newsarama.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif


The suit is stupid, and Ellison should be ashamed of himself for filing it, but Fantagraphics should have known better than to court disaster by trying to get in a jab at Ellison on the cover of their interview collection. Sure would be nice if they'd finish growing up and concentrate just on publishing good material and not trying to impress people with how clever and daring they are.

[Lundonj]

I'll always agree with the core concepts of freedom of expression, but once those ideas are expressed, the subjects of the more controversial 'expressions' are allowed to respond in a number of ways, including legal action. Both sides of this particular disagreement have pushed the civility envelope over time, so neither gets a lot of empathy from me.


-Don

[Del Gorky]

Harlan Ellison really no longer contributes anything but white noise and damage to the industry in the case of attacking Fantagraphics. This seems like a sad shout for attention from an aging starlet. Britney Spears only shaved her head; Harlan's trying to destroy one of the oldest independent comic publishers in the industry. Pathetic and exactly what you would expect from him at this point.

I wish Fantagraphics the best and will continue to support their products.

[OM]

Originally Posted by JACK SCAGNET

Didn't Ellison hit Cameron with a law suit claiming ownship on Terminator?

...Anytime someone does a story about a soldier from a dystopian future going back to the past for any reason, Harlan sues as if he invented the concept. He didn't, but he had the basic concept made into an episode of The Twilight Zone and later readapted into an issue of The Hulk, and even recycled the concept for an episode of Outer Limits, which means he should sue himself for ripping himself off.

Originally Posted by Scorned1

Everyone in every entertainment field knows that if you don’t mess with Harlan Ellison then he won’t mess with you. Leave as that.

...Yeah, well, that's the problem. Li'l Harlie thinks he's the Church of Scametology now. Say anything about him, and he'll sue even if his case has no merit whatsoever, knowing full well that most people will simply settle just to rid themselves of him; the logic being that simply giving the rabid dog a bone will be cheaper than a lengthy court battle that'll cost more than it's worth, especially since Harlan couldn't pay claims won in a counter-suit if his life depended upon it(*).

...On a related note, here's one you kids might find interesting: Harlie's Wikipedia articles are watched over by a small group of "watchdog admins", who censor out any mention of bad behavior by Harlan even if it's based 100% on verifiable facts and contains nothing slanderous by any legal definition. The reason? They're not defending Harlan, they're protecting Wikipedia and the contributors from any legal harassment from Harlan on a tirade.

(*) And I doubt seriously Harlan could have a "fire sale" to help bolster his legal defense fund even if Sir Art Clarke endorsed it.

Originally Posted by Del Gorky

Harlan Ellison really no longer contributes anything but white noise and damage to the industry in the case of attacking Fantagraphics. This seems like a sad shout for attention from an aging starlet. Britney Spears only shaved her head; Harlan's trying to destroy one of the oldest independent comic publishers in the industry. Pathetic and exactly what you would expect from him at this point.

...You know, I was going to launch into a similar observational rant about the Mouthy Midget, but what you've said pretty much hits the little nail on his big swelled head. Harlan ability to be a total and complete jerk has grown exponentially over the years, and while he may have had a legal leg to stand on with the "Brillo" victory he and Ben Bova had in Hollywood some, what? 30 years ago? He's done naught but try to reclaim past glories in the courtroom by filing some of the most frivolous lawsuits this side of Michael Crook.

...If Groth's attorneys have any clues about them, they'll pull in character witnesses to testify on Harlan's behavior and penchant for acting like a complete and utter dildo and then suing when someone prints anything about it. There's enough of a track record now to totally shoot any such "slander" case down with sufficient force to put paid to Li'l Harlie's legal "threats" once and for all. God/Yahweh/Roddenberry knows it's about time he was slapped down hard - especially the latter aspect of that Holy Trinity!

Bottom Line: If you want to help Groth & Thompson, send money and buy extra copies of their products, and send lots of jelly beans to Harlan with a pound jar of vasoline included.

[Gamma Duck]

This is just another example of Douchebag-on-douchebag crime. It's like a comics version of Trump vs. Rosie.

[batlash]

I think it's evident that Fantagraphics has made sport of jabbing at Harlan Ellison for years. If you slap a bear repeatedly, you really shouldn't go crying when the bear bites you. After years of this, Gary Groth should have known to leave the bear alone.

Sorry guys. I'll keep my money.

But I WILL buy Fantagraphics Pogo collections (assuming this latest legal escapade doesn't put them under).

[OM]

Originally Posted by batlash

But I WILL buy Fantagraphics Pogo collections (assuming this latest legal escapade doesn't put them under).

...I guarantee that if Harlan causes FG to go under and puts an end to those great collections, he'd better not show his face at any conventions for the rest of his unnatural life. There's a lot of Peanuts, Dick Tracy and Pogo fans out there who'll be more than happy to tar, feather and *then* lynch him for it. He'll be more persona non grata than cat yronwode was with the Usenet community when she caused the utexas gateway to be shut down with her own threats.

[CodeGuy]

Originally Posted by Michael P

Y'know, guys, given 18,000 years, I'm pretty sure you could come up with the money yourselves...

Damn time travelling lawyers. They should call She-Hulk, she's dealt with temporal law before.

[Bob Z]

Originally Posted by OM

...I guarantee that if Harlan causes FG to go under and puts an end to those great collections, he'd better not show his face at any conventions for the rest of his unnatural life. There's a lot of Peanuts, Dick Tracy and Pogo fans out there who'll be more than happy to tar, feather and *then* lynch him for it. He'll be more persona non grata than cat yronwode was with the Usenet community when she caused the utexas gateway to be shut down with her own threats.

If FG goes under, then maybe someone responsible, mature, and a real love for the artform will purchase FG's assets out of bankrupcy and continue the best product FG can offer instead of using it to hurl arrogant, elitist crap at those who don't share a condo on their plateau.

Groth and Thompson can then continue their childish tirades, as long as they don't screw up my Big Mac value meal.

Definately there's plenty of good that can come out of this.

[erudite]

iyamwhatiyam says:

Yeah, well I guess I'll double what I was going to pay to make up for you.

You know what? better triple it cause you have to make up for me too. I know that my opinion here will be unpopular? but why does Fantagraphics constantly need bailing out? Every couple of months I read an article here on Newsarama that these guys need money. Are they the Public Television of Comics? I dont hear that these folk are going to give me totebags for my donations...

Todd McFarlane's a jerk, right? Pretty much? We can all agree on that? he gets into lawsuits with all sorts of people... and he's indy comics... I never hear him asking for a few bucks whenever he's having a problem. He can at least control his own finances... this Groth guy- not so much.

But seriously- whether its one emergency or another they're seemingly always asking for a few bucks. and I understand that they're indy and they don't make a lot of money- blah didilly blah- but maybe they need to go under. Maybe this will make their lives better.

If theres something i'm missing here? Please let me know as i'd like to understand.

by their reasoning- I'd like to start my own fund - The Civil War Reparations fund- where because i'm out of money from buying junk like Civil War: return and Blade people can re-fill my coffers- just send me some money! Yeah that sounds ludicrous don't it! instead of sending a kid to camp? You can send a guy to the comic shop! Sponsor a Civil War Veteran today.

[DoctorTom]

So, is Harlan Ellison taking donations to push forward with the case?

[iyamwhatiyam]

Originally Posted by Bob Z

If FG goes under, then maybe someone responsible, mature, and a real love for the artform will purchase FG's assets out of bankrupcy and continue the best product FG can offer instead of using it to hurl arrogant, elitist crap at those who don't share a condo on their plateau.

Groth and Thompson can then continue their childish tirades, as long as they don't screw up my Big Mac value meal.

Definately there's plenty of good that can come out of this.

Yes, of course. The best things that can happen to the finest publisher of comics in hisroty is for the guys who founded and kept Fantagraphics alive against all odds to be kicked to the curb.

Genius.

I recommend deep therapy to deal with your intellectual insecurity. You can now return to your exclusive diet of Power Pack.

[iyamwhatiyam]

Originally Posted by erudite

If theres something i'm missing here? Please let me know as i'd like to understand.

What you're missing is that they're a cultural treasure. Not just an American cultural treasure, but a world-wide one. Thanks to them we have reprints of Popeye, Krazy Kat, Peanuts and Pogo (among many, many, many others). Thanks to them we have Tony Millionaire books and Love & Rockets and gorgeous works by too many creators to count here who go beyond anything DC and Marvel and Dark Horse and Image could ever dream of representing. They brought European and Latin American works here. Thanks to them I found Jose Munoz, which is better than finding Jesus. People can get their panties in a bunch over the so-called elitist tone of The Comics Journal (Lord knows I have once or twice), but what other regularly published American periodical covered comics so well?

Fantagraphics has struggled for decades to stay alive because the market for these books was small in this country. Why? Because unfortuntely for most of that time American adults saw comics as a cultural ghetto. Why? Because all they saw were superhero comics. A minority of which are great fun, but nothing more than escapist entertainment. The vast majority of which are truly crap from a quality perspective (or, if not crap, not worthwhile reading for anybody but children).

I'd rather lose every other comics company in the country (well, maybe not D&Q and Top Shelf) put together than lose Fantagraphics. I can't think of anyone that has done more to get comics taken seriously as an art form in this country than Gary Groth and Kim Thompson.

And if you had any clue about comics as an artistic medium, you wouldn't have to ask such a question.

[Bob Z]

Originally Posted by iyamwhatiyam

Yes, of course. The best things that can happen to the finest publisher of comics in hisroty is for the guys who founded and kept Fantagraphics alive against all odds to be kicked to the curb.

Genius.

I recommend deep therapy to deal with your intellectual insecurity. You can now return to your exclusive diet of Power Pack.

At what point did I attack you? Unless I should call you Gary or Kim, of course.

They may offer some superior comic art product, which should be able to be sold by the quality of said product and the competency of those selling it, but it shouldn't have to be sold by insulting the world around them. You, however, seem to be a frequent consumer of the latter and have learned their lessons well.

After their insults toward folks who mourned the death of Carol Kalish, they can go to hell. May you be their chauffeur.

[Redmond]

What a waste of justice time and money. Isn't he rich already? Who cares about a 1k selling mag having your name on it.

[dipsomaniac]

Originally Posted by Lundonj

I'll always agree with the core concepts of freedom of expression, but once those ideas are expressed, the subjects of the more controversial 'expressions' are allowed to respond in a number of ways, including legal action. Both sides of this particular disagreement have pushed the civility envelope over time, so neither gets a lot of empathy from me.
-Don

What is controversial here? They retell anecdotes that have seen the light before (and not denied by Ellison0 and they put his name on the cover of a book. It's not like they claimed he was a Holocaust denier.