Hey, remember the bad old days, of the Comics Code and repressive censorship of one of the few truly American art forms because parents were terrified Batman might make their little Johnny gay?
Yeah, me neither. Most of us grew up during a time when the Comics Code was fading and Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, et. al. were hauling comics up to serious literary standards, and the idea of comics being a source of corruption was faintly ridiculous, possibly because there were new mediums for idiots to chew their fingernails over about their corrosive influence.
But, apparently, we’re back to it on our national borders. It’s so bad that the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has put out an alert about US Border agents taking your comics (fun fact: they can search you and take your stuff, even if you’ve done nothing wrong! Hooray freedom?)
Now apparently Canada is getting in on the act.
American attendees to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival found their stuff getting impounded left and right. Why? “Obscenity.”
The problem with “obscenity” is that it’s incredibly vague. Even in the US, nobody knows what it is, which led to the infamous Miller Test, which has been used to shut down comics shops and silence comics creators before…a lot, actually.
And we have a Constitutional amendment that guarantees free speech! Canada actually has, no kidding, a law that says their right to freedom of speech is subject to “reasonable limits”.
Those with their comics stolen, er, confiscated by our neighbors to the North were told that they would likely be sent to Ottowa for review, and they will either be shipped back to their owners at their American address…or destroyed.
You could at least compensate them, guys. Maybe give them some Canadian Tire Money, or a Tim Horton’s gift certificate.
[ via the Alpha Flight team at The Mary Sue ]