Hello dearest WWAC readers. It’s time for another week (and one day) comics news roundup. If this were a television series, it’d be like Last Week Tonight, but you know, for comics. The big news from the past week is the Virginia Beach Circuit Court dismissing the case against the graphic novel Gender Queer: A Memoir and its author, Maia Kobabe. We’ll get into the court case a little bit more later on. The second bit of news we’ll cover this week is the trailer for the upcoming PBS series ‘Love and Rockets’: The Story Behind the Great American Comic is a documentary about Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Let’s hop to it.
Fuck your book bans, aka Gender Queer wins
The effort by Virginia State Republicans to remove Gender Queer: A Memoir from being sold or displayed in public schools has been dismissed by Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Pamela Baskervill.
Baskervill determined the effort by Republicans to label two works–Gender Queer and the fantasy novel A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas–obscene and illegal to distribute was without merit. Baskervill said the books in question did not meet the legal definition of obscenity and was suspicious of the Republican’s use of an arcane Virginia law.
As noted in an excellent write-up on Book Riot:
“Obscenity laws demand examining a work in relation to its whole. Gender Queer is a book published for adult audiences, and the small excerpts (which are seven whole pages total) making the rounds on social media featuring sex are age-appropriate and not representative of the whole of the book.”
Don’t get me started on the legal decision of obscenity. It is an infuriating patchwork of legal doctrinal, which verges on the not funny to the absolutely ridiculous. The decision of obscenity comes to us from Miller v. California. I will not be opening up my “community standards” and the 1996 Communications Decency Act rage hose to save us all the hassle.
Known as the Miller Test, the three-part test for obscenity is as follows:
- Whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ appeals to ‘prurient interest’;
- Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law;
- Whether the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Yes, if you are thinking to yourself, “well, that all seems incredibly subjective.” Ding, ding, ding. You are right. Back to the news…
Republican State Delegate Tim Anderson, and former GOP congressional candidate Tommy Altman, filed the lawsuit earlier in 2022. They claimed they wanted to “strengthen parental rights.” Ah, parental rights, that old chestnut. The pair used an obscure law that would have not only declared the two books obscene but prevented their sale and distribution anywhere in the state. The Republicans were trying to pull a fast one by using an old obscenity law on the books in Virginia. Only trouble? It likely violates freedom of speech and due process. You know, two small things.
According to the Virginia Mercury:
“The Virginia law allows citizens to sue books themselves and have judges decide whether they’re obscene or not. If a book is deemed obscene, bookstores that continue to sell it can face criminal penalties. That setup, Baskervill concluded, creates severe confusion about who the parties in the litigation are and whether those it could impact are even aware of any restrictions the courts impose. Baskervill also ruled the law allows unconstitutional “prior restraint,” enabling the government to restrict speech or expression before it happens.”
Does this mean it’s all over? No. Not even close. Anderson claims he is considering appealing the decision to a higher court. He also suggested introducing legislation to create a “rating system for books.” Banning that which cannot be prohibited, that’s all Republicans have to run on, like that’s it. They will ban books, and they will fire teachers. They will do anything in their attempt to stop the inevitable march of progress.
Anyway, I’m sure there will be more developments in this case, so watch this space.
PBS Previews Documentary about Love & Rockets
We saw the new documentary premiering on PBS on October 5 about the prolific work of brothers Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez.
Here’s the blurb for the show created for the new season of “Artbound” by PBS station KCET:
In 1981, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez wrote “Love and Rockets #1,” a self-published comic book edited by their brother Mario. They sold that first issue at conventions for a dollar apiece and submitted it to be reviewed at The Comics Journal. Instead, Gary Groth, offered to republish it through Fantagaphics Books. The brothers accepted and made graphic novel publishing history.
“Artbound” will return on October 5, 9 p.m. PT.
Well, until next time!
Andrea
