THIS MONTH IN FREEDOM OF SPEECH

When it comes to comics and the tussle for freedom of speech, the victories tend to be much quieter than the losses. Probably because any victories we achieve are fairly small compared to the defeats.

It's been several months since my Comment column on House Bill 4239, the "Parents' Empowerment Act" - a bill that I didn't think could logically be passed, but feared would squeeze through anyway. Parents and laws have creative ways of fucking up comics, and even if you only gloss over the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund website you'll quickly find that the balance of power has always been tipped somewhat in the other direction.

Jesus Castillo is example enough. Somehow in America, a grown man selling another grown man a grown man's comic book put the first grown man in jail and significant financial straits. In what seemed to be a clear-cut case in favor of Jesus Castillo, he, the CBLDF, and comic readers and creators everywhere somehow came out the losers.

'Every case I come across seems to go the other team's way.' That's been a prevalent trend, by the way. Every significant case that I come across seems to go the other team's way no matter how winnable the case seems. Errant fumbles into the hands of the opposition, deep in the red zone. (Sorry, football analogies are common this deep into November).

But today, I finally get to say something positive about the subject. On the 16th of this month, U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele, of the federal court of Little Rock, Arkansas, declared Act 858 unconstitutional. Believe me, this is a good thing.

Act 858 was a nasty little piece of legislature that sought to amend the Arkansas Code, criminalizing the display of printed materials which are deemed for minors, yet still constitutionally protected (for the moment, anyway) for older minors and adults.

Act 858 was trying to do what every one of these idiotic amendments has been trying to do for several years now: relieve responsible retailers and consumers of age of our rights to purchase or disseminate whatever we like. It could have directly and disastrously affected comics retailers in Arkansas, a fact that has made quite a few said retailers nervous to carry anything geared towards adult readers.

While I found some of the amendment's intentions admirable, it was sloppy and inarticulate: a broad-ranged attack on anything that doesn't belong in a nursery.

'Act 858 was an attack on anything that doesn't belong in a nursery.' I'll admit that nothing I'm saying here is very original. Anything I write has already been written some liberal idiot before, and they probably did a better job than I despite their idiocy. All of this... this is old news. By this point in your life you've made your decisions, and aren't likely to change your mind because of my standard ranting and raving.

But the crux of all this, and the part that really bothers me, are the people who haven't bothered to make a decision - those who simply choose not to think about it.

Although all media is at risk of censure, comics has few protectors. There have been some promising developments - due to recent events in California, for example, the National Coalition Against Censorship has partnered with The American Library Association and the CBLDF to develop a set of guidlines to help libraries learn how to shelve and protect certain comic books for adults.

Like I said, promising developments, but not necessarily of the landmark variety. Comics is still a ghetto medium unable to produce the kind of revenue, for most publishers and all retailers, to successfully defend their products and their intentions in a court of law.

So... this is important stuff, you know? Of all the comics people I know, readers and creators, only a few are or have been members of the CBLDF. At conventions, only a couple bother to stop by the organization's table. I'm not saying they're bad people, or anything - they just haven't thought about it.

To those of you that've made your decision, whatever it is: great. I don't really care about what you're for or against. But if you haven't made up your mind because you just haven't thought about it?

Start. Pretty please.

YES, IT IS A BIRD

I typically try not to reread too many things, usually because I prefer to rely on my first impressions. There are exceptions: my top ten favourite books, maybe a few things for reviews. Most of my books, though, I read once and then forget.

This week I had to reread something. And it completely changed my impression of the book.

'This book is a fucking mess.' I reread Steven Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen's IT'S A BIRD... because I said I'd write a review for it a long time ago and never got around to it. With a fair amount of free time this week, I sat down with a notebook and pen and dove back into it, hoping for better clarification on my old opinions.

Here it is: this book is a fucking mess. But an interesting one.

Seagle's impressions on the Superman story and various connotations of his myth are deftly insightful, as you would expect from such an intelligent writer investigating the most-recognized fictional character in history. (Unless you ask an athiest.) I think it's this myriad of possible interpretations that has stymied the character from having a definitive story - KINGDOM COME and MAN OF STEEL come close, but the character has probably been revamped more than any other, going as far back as the fifties.

Seagle has realized and exploited the mutability of the character, and explored that to an extent I don't think another has done before. Great stuff.

Everything else is, at best, mediocre.

As I'm sure you know by now, IT'S A BIRD... is split between these exploratory tangents and real-life events. The main character (a comics writer named Steve, by the way) is offered an opportunity to write SUPERMAN, a character that he's never been interested in, and the essay-like portions are intended to be his research. During this period he battles with Huntington's disease, an hereditary condition that attacks the nervous system. Throughout the book Steve struggles with the reality of his condition and the effects it provokes on his friends and family.

This is a remarkable conceit, and Seagle certainly doesn't lack inspiration or conviction. What he lacks is a sense of balance. Once again, the tangents are fantastic - it's his approach to "real life" that lacks strength. The dialogue is somewhat flat and transparent, and the characters are practically stenciled in, leaving the overall reading experience interesting but flawed.

By all means, give it a read if you haven't already. It's still an intriguing book, and Kristiansen's artwork alone (hey, look, I mentioned the art!) makes the book worthy or a prolonged look.

But maybe you should only read it once.

John Parker lives, works, and writes in Kansas City, Missouri.

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