Will you be prosecuted for owning comic books?
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Excuses aside, I am trying to take this blog off its unprecedented hiatus. I have been working and schooling and homeworking, but I have been keeping up with arts news.
And here’s the latest horror.
A man had been charged with possession of child pornography. But get this, he owns NOTHING OF THE SORT- unless you account for his manga collection. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund suddenly found itself in a very weird position of having to defend this man and his books. Neil Gaiman had something to say about this.
I can see the how quick one can slip down this slope, but I feel there is much good in manga, yaoi or otherwise- and to start prosecuting tons of honestly normal people for owning such books is wrong. I don’t own any manga myself, but I feel absolutely strongly about other people being charged for such ownership. Maybe tomorrow they’ll come for me for owning Sandman by Neil Gaiman or even Jane Eyre (because she wasn’t 18 when Mr. Rochester spied her).
I can only hope Christopher Handley will be defended well.