Posted in: Comics, Oni Press, san diego comic con | Tagged: cbldf, gender queer, Maia Kobabe, oni press

New Maia Kobabe/Gender Queer Art For Oni Press/CBLDF SDCC Party

Oni Press will be using the CBLDF Party at San Diego Comic-Con to debut a new fundraising initiative entitled "Fight Censorship, Read Comics"

Published Wed, 12 Jul 2023 12:09:19 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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We mentioned the Oni Press/Comic Book Legal Defense Fund/CBLDF party for San Diego Comic-Con, in our Even Bigger San Diego Comic-Con Party List For 2023 post. We'll have to add a few more details. And a little animation.

Maia Kobabe is the most censored author in the USA today for eir graphic memoir Gender Queer. Political candidates have used it in their political campaigns, libraries have been closed down for even stocking the award-winning comic and Borders has had legal action launched by Virginian politicians against it. All while the owners of Oni Press have been attacked by their radical conservative friends for publishing it. The publication of Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer has been repeatedly defended by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and, in gratitude, Oni Press is sponsorung their San Diego Comic-Con Welcome Party this year, as well as the CBLDF Silent Auction, on Thursday, the 20th of July at The Westgate Hotel in San Diego from 8 pm to midnight. I've been at a few, and always had a great time.

Oni Press will be using the occasion to debut a new fundraising initiative on behalf of the CBLDF entitled "Fight Censorship, Read Comics!", which is debuting with new pieces of key art from Maia Kobabe as well as Matt Kindt, Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon, plus a new logo design by X-Men's House Of X designer Tom Muller, which will be on display:

Additionally, Oni and CBLDF have rounded up a large cast of industry donations for the event's silent auction, which will feature items from fellow publishers Abrams ComicArts, Dark Horse, DSTLRY, IDW, Dynamite, as well as Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Entertainment (producers of AMC's The Walking Dead) and independent video game publishers Devolver Digital and Good Shepherd, alongside artists including Becky Cloonan (Conan), Justin Greenwood (Stumptown), Maria Wolf Lopez (Sabretooth), and more.

Oni is also incentivizing attendance by offering free giveaway items for the first attendees through the door: The first 50 will receive a "secret edition" variant cover for the publisher's XINO #2 (featuring artwork by Pink Lemonade's Nick Cagnetti); the first 200 will receive "Fight Censorship, Read Comics" two-piece button sets, featuring Muller's logo.

Says Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson of the new "Fight Censorship, Read Comics!" initiative, "Yet again, the comics industry finds itself battling an incessant wave of censorship dedicated to stifling creativity, marginalizing creators, and diminishing the impact of comics and graphic novels with the power to change minds and lives. In 1954, in 1986, and again in our present moment, our medium has faced this same reckless compulsion many times – but now, more than ever, it's vital that all corners of the global comics community come together to reject the impulse toward censorship that has risen up to target important works like GENDER QUEER and many dozens more. Thanks to the ardent support and unrelenting work of the CBLDF, we know it will not succeed."

Attendance for the CBLDF's Welcome Party is free and an SDCC badge is not required to attend, although voluntary donations to the CBLDF at the door are appreciated and suggested.

The annual CBLDF party is also something of a San Diego institution and regularly attended by hundreds of creators, publishing staff, and industry advocates, as well as fans… Take some photos for us, won't you?

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