Comic books need real heroes to protect First Amendment rights
Commentary
By Kenneth A. Paulson
Senior vice president, the Freedom Forum
Executive director, First Amendment Center
09.15.98
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The First Amendment protects Batman. And Robin. And far darker images.
Comic books enjoy the full protection of the free press guarantee, a point driven home in "Free Speeches," a new publication by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund? Sounds a little odd, doesn't it? Why would publications directed toward kids ever need a defense fund?
The answer: Comic books — and their audiences — have grown up. Any adult topic can be told through graphics and most comic book stores carry product lines with sex and violence for mature readers. Though these comics are not marketed to children, that hasn't prevented criminal prosecution for content that would seem to have constitutional protection. Two examples in the past 15 months:
n In June 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of the conviction of a Florida artist who had been convicted of obscenity for his self-published comic book. The book with adult images was not marketed to children. The artist was fined $3,000, ordered to enroll in a journalism ethics course and told not to have contact with children under 18.
n The owners of a comic book shop in Oklahoma City were charged with trafficking in obscenity for selling a sexually explicit comic to adults. The owners were fined $1,500 and sentenced to probation in a plea bargain.
What's difficult to understand about those cases is how drawn pictures could possibly rival the explicit magazines legally sold by many adult bookstores. The prosecution of the cases seems to stem from the fact that the medium is associated with children.
As comic book columnist Michael Sangiacomo of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland put it, those were "incidents where some of the local folks got a little excited that 'funny books' could also be sexually explicit."
This is not the first time that comic books have been singled out for scrutiny. In the 1950s, Frederic Wertham, a psychiatrist, campaigned against comics. His 1953 book "Seduction of the Innocent" led to congressional hearings into the possibly destructive effects of comic books on young people. Wertham's "findings" included his assessments that Batman and Robin represented a homosexual fantasy, Wonder Woman glorified bondage and crime comics led to juvenile delinquency.
To head off Wertham and other critics, the comic book industry adopted its own code of conduct. One provision: "Respected institutions shall never ... create disrespect for established authority."
Almost 50 years later, "respected institutions" — and comic books — are a far cry from the 1950s.
The risk for retailers is that they may be subjected to prosecution from which they'll never recover, even if their constitutional rights eventually are upheld. Many stores are small and owner-operated. There's not a lot of margin for idealistic defenses of constitutional rights.
That's where the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund comes in. It provides needed funds, but also helps educate Americans about fundamental First Amendment freedoms. That's every bit as heroic as leaping tall buildings in a single bound, and probably just as difficult.
Ken Paulson is executive director of the First Amendment Center with offices in Arlington, Va., and Nashville, Tenn. His mailing address is:
Ken Paulson
First Amendment Center
1207 18th Ave. S
Nashville, TN 37212
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