Harlan Ellison, science fiction writer, is suing the Arf books publisher, Fantagraphics. He doesn’t like some of the things they’ve said about him in their publications in the past and questions their right to use his name on the cover of a book planned on the history of Fantagraphics. Major bummer for First Amendment rights and the comic book world and the free world in general! Scary implications! I interviewed Gary Groth, the co-publisher (with Kim Thompson) about this chilling lawsuit…
1. Hulk vs. Superman—who would win?Supes, of course. Everyone knows that.
2. Fantagraphics vs. Harlan Ellison—who will win?
Fantagraphics, of course. Everyone knows that.
(click for a closeer look)3. What ramifications does this lawsuit have for the first amendment related to publishing?Since it is clearly designed to suppress critical comments, it could certainly have the effect of stifling robust public discourse about art and artists; anyone who wants to express a strong opinion or write a journalistic account of a public figure will have to ask himself if he’ll want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending himself against a nuisance suit. This is what encourages the path of least resistance among writers, journalists, critics, and artists.
(click for a closer look)4. I feel this action is deplorable because, as long as the American flag is flying over the post office, you should be able to say any damn thing you want. It’s very scary for freedom of the press. But, unfortunately, I’m seeing some lack of support for Fantagraphics amongst some people. Maybe this is partly because of Fantagraphics’ sometimes caustic style in the past. Any regrets?Our “caustic style” is protected by the 1st Amendment. The 1st Amendment isn’t needed to defend bland, dull, consensus-driven, innocuous opinions or uncontroversial journalistic accounts of inoffensive subjects. It exists to defend expression that could be considered by some to be contrarian, offensive, or harsh.
Re the lack of support you notice: I’m sure there are people who would love to see Ellison’s lawsuit cripple or bankrupt Fantagraphics out of personal animus. After Ellison and I won Michael Fleisher’s libel suit against us in 1987, Elllison wrote this, directed at those professionals who hoped Fleisher would do their proxy dirty work for them:
“What emerges as the most salient aspect of this frivolous and in many ways tragic lawsuit, is that you allowed personal animus to put Freedom of speech in jeopardy. You were small-minded and mean-spirited. You were cheap and nasty, and if you had one scintilla of personal honor you would be deeply ashamed of yourselves.
“So know this, at the final extreme: however undeserving you may be, Gary and I fought and won this case for all of you…even for Michael Fleisher. We defended your right to voice your opinions print, no matter how unpopular they maybe be to the owners of the oxen being gored. By losing, in an important way, Fleisher wins. But so do the rest of you.”
Irony aside, Ellison’s lawsuit is a libel suit similar in nature to Fleisher’s lawsuit against us, and Fantagraphics will fight and win this case for everyone in the comics profession…even for Harlan Ellison. And those professionals who hope Ellison can use the libel laws to inflict hurt and damage upon us are the same small-minded and mean-spirited types that Ellison refers to above.
5. At the end of the day, because of the first amendment implications, I think that every individual member (and organization) of the comics community should get behind Fantagraphics 100%. If you’ll tell us what we can do to help I myself will do all I can and urge others to do the same. As you know, we’ve started a Legal defense Fund that people can contribute to. We will also be auctioning off original art contributed by artists, so if there are any artists who would like to contribute to this, we will gladly and appreciatively accept any artwork for auction. This goes for any collectors who may have a piece they’d be willing to donate. 100% of monies earned from this will be paid to our lawyers.
I hope all Arf Lovers and all First Amendment Lovers generously support Fantagraphics Legal Defense fund. Call 1-800-657-1100 to donate by credit card. Paypal donations can be sent to fantagraphics@gmail. Checks can be sent to Fantagraphics 7563 Lake City Way, Seattle, WA 98115, there’s fantastic art and rarities donated by cartoonists like Art Spiegelman being auctioned on e-bay and Gary can be reached at
[email protected] for donations of art, other ideas to raise monies and moral support. Fight for Freedom, Arf Lovers!
(BTW the visuals accompanying this interview are some of my favorites related to the First Ammendment. The last two are comic books that were part of the Freedom Train initiative of 1947-1949 and 1975-1976. The Freedom Train toured the 48 contiguous United States to remind people of the importance of America’s freedoms. Time for another Freedom Train, folks?)
—
C. Yoe (in the funny papers)
