Planet Comics

digresssmlOriginally published November 10, 1995, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1147

That loud jangling you should be hearing about now is the sound of a wake-up call to the comics industry.

John Earl Hunter, 27, and Michael Allen Kennedy, 33, of Planet Comics in Oklahoma City, Okla., were charged with eight counts of distributing obscene materials “on or about the 30th day of August, 1995.” Their store was raided (while they were out of town) with no prior notice given, no advance warning.

“There was a citizen who supposedly had made a complaint a day or two before all this happened,” Planet Comics’ attorney Jim Calloway told me. “We don’t know the identity of that person and with what groups he or she might be affiliated. There was no official warning, no community-based policing.”

The local authorities raided the store and confiscated an assortment of titles. These included Screamers, Sex Wad, Nefarismo, Beatrix Dominatrix, Mighty Morphin Rump Rangers (I can’t wait to see the district attorney get through that one with a straight face), Devil’s Angel, and—by fascinating coincidence to anyone who’s been reading this column lately—Verotika #4.

Hunter and Kennedy are now out on $25,000 bond.

It is believed to be Oklahoma’s first prosecution of comic books—possibly because, until now, Oklahoma had better things to do with its time. But ADA Lori Nettleton successfully prosecuted the state’s first computer pornography case last year and may be feeling her oats.

Specifically, Hunter and Kennedy were charged with two counts of distribution of obscene materials; three counts of keeping for sale obscene materials; one count of displaying materials harmful to minors (not that any indication was made that minors purchased the titles); one count of trafficking in obscene materials; and, insanely, one count of child pornography (Devil’s Angel).
Calloway said he considers the child pornography to be the most bizarre, and legally one of the most serious, of the charges. “Child pornography normally involves the photographing of children engaged in sexual acts. Because child pornography includes abuse of children, it has very stringent penalties. I’m not sure the child pornography laws were ever intended to apply to imaginary and fictitious situations.”

Well, apparently in this day and age, anything goes. And those who have been sitting complacently in the belief that comics were somehow immune from a recurrence of the 1950’s mentality had best get their minds in gear.

The Planet Comics staff is already a casualty, in that their landlord threw them out of their location and they had to reopen elsewhere.

But relocation would seem to be the least of their difficulties at the moment. If convicted on all counts, they’re looking at fines of more than $100,000 and possible jail time totaling 86 years.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) was immediately enlisted for aid on the case. And the call has also gone out to the respective publishers seeking help and support.

Glenn Danzig, publisher of Verotik comics, told me in a phone interview, “What gives people the right to tell us what not to print? Immorality is in the eye of the beholder.” Danzig describes himself as a radical, a revolutionary, and a direct descendant of renowned abolitionist John Brown. (That’s not an impossibility; Brown’s two marriages produced 20 children.)

“I don’t like the government very much,” said Danzig, adding, “The government needs to step back and say, ‘Why are we [messing] with people?’”

Yet, despite these sentiments, Danzig made it clear that he’s taking absolutely no steps to aid in the defense of Planet Comics, even though Danzig’s publications were named in four of the eight counts. He said Verotik has no intention of donating money to the CBLDF in support, nor will Danzig appear in court to defend his publication—although he allowed for the possibility that he might contribute some sort of affidavit.

“The problem is that the [CBLDF] doesn’t represent the industry at large,” said Danzig. “It should be called the Comic Book Store Legal Defense Fund. What they do is commendable, but it’s not going to solve the problems. Everything they do is reactive. They should be proactive. They should be lobbying for changes in the laws.

“I want to see the publishers deal with these laws before they get popped by the government. Because once you get popped, you’re going to lose.”

Danzig said he would like to see an activist organization formed in which such entities as Verotik, the ACLU, major comics companies, such high-profile individuals as Todd McFarlane (whose own Spawn is under siege in Grand Forks, N.D.), and the CBLDF “work together to take on the laws… This should be attacked on a national, not a local level.”

CBLDF Executive Director Susan Alston said she felt it was unreasonable for Danzig to expect that, because the CBLDF is prohibited by law from lobbying. If it were to lobby, it would risk losing its tax-exempt status, and donations to the organization would no longer be tax-deductible. One of the ways that the CBLDF has of encouraging donations is that tax-deductible status.

Furthermore, Alston disputed Danzig’s characterization of the CBLDF by pointing out numerous educational seminars that the CBLDF has sponsored in an endeavor to educate the public. (The organization is trying to convince the San Diego Comic-Con to make “Free Expression” the theme of next year’s show—particularly appropriate for a July 4th convention.)

Not to mention that the CBLDF has defended such creators as Mike Diana and Paul Mavrides, which Alston held up as evidence that the CBLDF’s purview goes beyond the retailer base.

CBLDF Treasurer Brian Hibbs of the San Francisco-based Comix Experience store was more strident in his criticism of Danzig. “Whether or not he’s willing to support the CBLDF, he should still be supporting the retailers,” Hibbs said. “Speaking as a retailer, I’m not going to be able to keep carrying his comic books. This is supposed to be a partnership. If his attitude is that we’re on our own, then that’s a pretty one-sided partnership.”

Nor was Dave Sim, Cerebus creator and major CBLDF contributor, sanguine over Danzig’s stance. “When you take the position of outlaw publisher, challenging the status quo and fighting for free expression, you have to be willing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk,” said Sim.

Danzig said he felt that the mature content of his titles was well enough known and advertised that Planet Comics should have known whether they were exposing themselves to legal difficulties. “The retailers should be aware of local advisories,” said Danzig.

Lawyer Calloway, on the other hand, said he felt that Danzig himself should, likewise, be aware of local advisories—specifically Oklahoma statute, Sec. 1021, which I quote in part (emphasized parts are mine):

“Every person who willfully… writes, composes, stereotypes, prints, photographs, designs, copies, draws, engraves, paints, molds, cuts, or otherwise prepares, publishes, sells, distributes, keeps for sale, or exhibits any obscene or indecent writing, paper, book, picture, photograph, motion picture, figure, or form of any description… shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a felony and shall be punished by the imposition of a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not less than 30 days nor more than 10 years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”

Does that mean that Danzig’s writers, artists, and Danzig himself could eventually face felony charges, if Planet Comics is convicted.

“It’s a possibility,” said Calloway. “Generally, the states only prosecute for acts that occur within their borders, but, if you read the very broadly drawn law, there is that possibility. If I were a publisher, I would be very concerned, even if none of my magazines were involved at this time.”

At the opposite end of the reaction spectrum is Fantagraphics Books Inc., publishers of—among other things—Devil’s Angel by Frank Thorne. My initial queries to FBI President Gary Groth as to his intentions in the matter prompted the following not especially useful fax:

“Fantagraphics Books does not respond to queries from Peter David because we consider him a dishonorable and scurrilous journalist. A joint press release from Eros Comics and Frank Thorne will be issued by Oct. 20 and a statement of support by Gary Groth will appear in the CBLDF’s press release. For further information, do not contact Gary Groth.”

The Oct. 20th date being past my deadline, I contacted Susan Alston, who decided that a straightforward question in such a serious matter merited something other than character slurs. She provided me a rough draft of FBI’s position paper, which, as noted, is the polar opposite of Glenn Danzig’s position:

“Fantagraphics Books (and its imprint, Eros Comics) is appalled by the arrest, incarceration and prosecution of Michael Kennedy and John Hunter. As the publisher of five of the titles under indictment, we take our responsibility to support these retailers seriously.

“We’ll be working closely with the CBLDF to help them in whatever way we can; we’ll be contributing money to the case and will provide any expert testimony of which we’re capable. This is an outrageous affront to the right of American citizens to purchase and read what they freely choose without interference from their government, who, in this time of fiscal conservatism, should have better ways of spending the taxpayer’s money.”

FBI’s comments go on to dispute the most damaging charge of all: the child pornography charge. “In addition, Devil’s Angel creator Frank Thorne and I consider the state’s allegation of child pornography against Devil’s Angel absolutely false. Thorne’s story is set in a naturalistic futuristic fantasy milieu that involves, among other characters, a demoness spawn of Satan, which is in no way represented as a human child. Such a misreading would have to be willfully opportunistic and politically motivated and one with which the author adamantly disagrees.”

Calloway, sounding mildly amazed at the recent turn of events in public perception, said, “We thought the debate nowadays was to how much the government was going to fund controversial art—not how much time people were going to be going to jail over controversial art.”

Calloway went on to say, “I think this is a serious threat to the industry as a whole. If one state can set this kind of standard to affect publications across the country, it will certainly have a chilling effect on all publications. I would encourage anybody who is in the industry to join with the CBLDF with helping us resist in this attack on First Amendment right and the free press.”

Folks, I know what a lot of you are saying. Obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court said so. So Planet Comics deserves to go hang.

Of course, the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade hasn’t stopped the freedom of choice opponents from challenging the right to legal abortion. It’s a two-edged sword. Either we never challenge any ruling of the Supreme Court or we do. For that matter, I don’t recall any chief justice going the papal route and declaring himself infallible.

The problem with people is that they tend not to react until something is directly threatening their personal interests—at which point it might be too late.

This case isn’t just about whether some comics are showing characters engaged in sexual intercourse. It’s about precedent—dangerous precedent—because a court ruling finding Verotika #4 obscene in Oklahoma is a precedent upon which a North Dakota court can endeavor to find Spawn obscene tomorrow. And the day after, another state goes after Omaha, and—Who knows?—maybe another state will look at the profanity and nudity in Sandman, and to hëll with artistic merit, children might be exposed to this garbage!

You don’t like books from Verotik or Eros? Fine. But sooner or later they’ll get to something you do like, and, because you stood complacently by, you’ll be able to do nothing to stop it.

And this applies equally to publishers. According to Susan Alston, publishers rank dead last in contributions to the CBLDF. Most have never contributed at all. Why? Because their comics have never been threatened.

Hot news flash, guys: If retailers are under attack, and the bounds of what is acceptable are being shrunk, and precedents are being set that can destroy you, your comics are being threatened.

There are eight counts against Planet Comics. Eight. That’s an astounding number, perhaps even unprecedented. The legal bills will run somewhere between $20,000 and $50,000.

I want everyone reading this to consider something: If every single one of you—every single one—sends exactly $1 to the CBLDF, I figure that would pay for at least half the legal bills in this case.

If every single one of you—every single one—sends in $10 to the CBLDF:

That will pay off all outstanding legal bills.

That will cover the entire defense.

That will pay for several more cases to come.

And they will come. The censors smell blood. The protectors of what you should and should not be allowed to read are zeroing in on an industry they perceive to be weak, defenseless, and disorganized. They’re coming over the airwaves of A Current Affair and through the newspapers and in the courtrooms and in the Congress.

They’re coming and, if you believe that you’re safe from them, please step through the door to the right over there, because Elvis is waiting to escort you onto the UFO.

Ten bucks, people. Less than the cost of a CD. If you have to, buy a couple fewer comics this week and next. You guys are big on investments: Think of it as a long-term investment in your future.

Ten bucks. From each of you. Ten stinking bucks.

A Supreme Court justice said that he can’t define obscenity, but he knows it when he sees it. So do I. When I see comics and free expression under attack, I consider that an obscenity.

And letting it happen is the greatest obscenity of all.

(You can send your tax-deductible donations to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at www.cbldf.org. You can also query them for more information at info@cbldf.org.)

 

18 comments on “Planet Comics

  1. It’s worth noting that, fifteen years later, the CBLDF is fighting a case in Canada involving a comic that features images of Japanese mythical child characters that is being prosecuted as child pornography. And this time it’s not a retailer but a private individual, a fan.
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    Publisher support and contribution? Virtually non-existent.
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    Now, with the pervasiveness of the Internet, there’s even more opportunity to get out the notion of $10 from everyone. If the thousands of people who read this site each donated $10, and got all their friends to donate $10 as well, that would cover the CBLDF’s expenses.
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    Then again, if they also all bought “The Camelot Papers” it would be the #1 book on Amazon and B&N, which it ain’t, so…
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    PAD

  2. How the case shook out?

    http://cbldf.org/about-us/case-files/planet-comics/

    Defendant’s pled guilty, received a three year deferred prison sentence and a $1500 fine; the store went out of business before the trial was over due to changing locations and an 80% drop in sales.

    This sort of stuff makes me sick… Jim Shooter had an interesting blog entry a day or so ago about discussing censorship at a comic con panel. It’s an odd part of the political spectrum, as many of the people most for censorship are conservatives who prefer small government; as a conservative I think these sorts of issues are best decided at the state level, but then you have results like this. Just a few steps removed from Nazi book-burning, indeed.

    1. Conservatives only believe in small government when it comes to economic and financial subjects. When we’re talking social and cultural topics, it’s seems like they want an All-Powerful government, just like their God.
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      Yeah, I keep hearing some “real” Conservatives aren’t like that, but those seem like people with six fingers in each hand. I am sure they exist somewhere, they’re just not that common.

      1. Horsefeathers. You’re just not looking very hard. Actually, pretty much all of the people who have tried to personally control what i read or watch have been self identified liberals.

      2. Well, I didn’t say Liberals don’t want to engage in thought control. They do, and very often.
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        Actually I didn’t say anything about Liberals in my post. I was referring to the Conservatives out there that carry the theme of “small government” beyond fiscal matters. I suppose there is 5 or 6 of you guys. You and Brent are two, who are the other 4?

      3. Yeah, it’s always amused me that when the Conservative hypocrisy of small government except when it comes to literature/photographs/etc. that they don’t like–and then they want plenty of government intervention–the default position is, “Well, Liberals like to censor things as well!” As if that was ever in question, or makes it right. It’s just more hypocrisy, defending their own wrongheaded behavior by saying that Liberals do the same thing. Well, okay, but by their standards, Liberals also believe in big government, so there’s no hypocrisy. I’m not saying I’m any more sparing of criticism for Liberals than Conservatives on the topic: censorship is censorship. But it’s a cold day in hëll before I would defend any Liberal actions by saying, “Well…Conservatives do it, too!”
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        PAD

      4. I’m not defending censorious conservatives by claiming that liberals are worse. I was responding to the (indefensible, in my opinion) opinion that “real conservatives” are so rare that Rene can only speculate as to their existence. LOTS of conservatives have 0.0 problem with you reading or watching anything you please. Of course, one can always go to the “no true scotsman” defense–“Conservatives never do X and if a conservative does X, well, he’s not a conservative”. I’ve had that one tossed at me a few times.
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        “Well, okay, but by their standards, Liberals also believe in big government, so there’s no hypocrisy.”
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        Sure there is, if I am correct in thinking that a true liberal would be in favor of freedom of expression. But perhaps modern liberalism has been so overtaken by the requirements of political correctness that this is no longer the case.
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      5. Sure there is, if I am correct in thinking that a true liberal would be in favor of freedom of expression.
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        As far as I’m concerned, that’s correct. But I was putting forward the all-too-common view of liberals that far too many conservatives have.
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        PAD

      6. Fair enough. As far as I’m concerned, freedom of expression and the concurrent abhorrence of any attempt to suppress it by force should be an area where thoughtful, principled conservatives and liberals will find much common ground.
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        That’s not to say that one can’t find some forms of expression loathsome and say so. You can urge people to spend their time and money on better products. You can even take the initiative to create something better. I mean, why if you think someone is producing obscene, useless, disgusting, trash and it’s selling enough to make you worry, why not make some better trash? Can’t be that hard!
        >
        Oh, and wow, does Gary Groth look like a thin skinned jerk here or what?

  3. Boiled Angel. Wow. Hadn’t thought of that one in years. Gotta say, based on the one or two pages i saw somewhere, if i would ever support book burning, that one would be right up there with Mein Kampf and The Complete Writings of Ann Coulter
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    Calloway said he considers the child pornography to be the most bizarre, and legally one of the most serious, of the charges. “Child pornography normally involves the photographing of children engaged in sexual acts. Because child pornography includes abuse of children, it has very stringent penalties. I’m not sure the child pornography laws were ever intended to apply to imaginary and fictitious situations.”

    May have been that way then – current Federal law is worded so that an xkcd strip showing stick figures in “sexual situations” could be “child pornography” if a prosecutor could convince a jury that one or more of the stick figures appeared to be under eighteen.
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    (And, since a “female” stick figure wouldn’t have bøøbš…)

    1. It’s very important to keep works like Mein Kampf and Triumph of the Will as available as possible. Anyone with half a brain and a drop of humanity who ever watches Triumph of the Will will be forever predisposed against fascist propaganda.

      1. Don’t forget to keep THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION available. It’s an excellent example of three things: anti-semitism (duh), conspiracy theory, and how even a disproved anti-semitic conspiracy theory can keep popping up as “fact” by those that want to believe.

        (Of course, when it comes to conspiracy theories I like THE CRYING OF LOT 49 and THE ILLUMINATUS! TRILOGY myself…)

      2. I agree. Note that i said “… if i would ever support book burning …”; i would never do so.
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        And the fact that i wouldn’t burn Boiled Angel should be proof.

  4. Me, I am as amused today as when I first read this column that there’s a comic book called MIGHTY MORPHIN RUMP RANGERS.

    On a related tangent, I find it ironic that there are a large number of adult films/pørņøš based very directly on comic books (current list: Batman (1960s show and THE DARK KNIGHT), Wonder Woman, Justice League, Superman (mix of first two Christopher Reeve films), Supergirl, Spider-Man, Captain America, Incredible Hulk (tv show); upcoming ones: Avengers, Spider-Man and Superman crossover, Birds of Prey) that have been selling amazingly well — but couldn’t be sold at a comic store due to fear of a lawsuit like PAD described. So while many comic book stores are struggling to get by/make a profit, they’re effectively shut off from a potentially lucrative source of revenue.

  5. The good news is, things in Oklahoma are 1000x better than they were then. Then retirement of DA Bob Macy helped alot, and there’s been social changes. Things aren’t perfect, but the folks who were behind things like this are definetly out of favor.
    .
    This was very close to home to me. Until recently I owned a comic shop located less than 1 mile from the Planet Comics location that this took place at. And I did have police coming and walking through the store once a week or so, just checking out the products and making a show of force.
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    And yes, I had my CBLDF sticker on my door.
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    Now you’ll have events like Biting the Apple (a fairly high visibility Erotic Art event downtown) taking place with attendance by the mayor and various city council members, so things have definetly shifted a bit.

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