Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Oni Press | Tagged: cbldf, ec comics, sdcc

The CBLDF Party At SDCC Celebrates Free Speech And EC Comics

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund annual San Diego Comic-Con Welcome Party will be held at The Westgate Hotel on the Thursday of the show.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (or CBLDF) annual San Diego Comic-Con (or SDCC) Welcome Party will be held at The Westgate Hotel (or TWH), on the Thursday of the show, as is traditional, from 8 pm to midnight. And will be sponsored by Oni Press, who will be launching the new EC comic book series, Epitaphs from the Abyss #1, and in memory of the EC publisher and free speech pioneer who took on the Comics Code William M. Gaines.

Co-sponsors including CGC, Kickstarter, The Nacelle Company, Mutant, and Maestro Media will be donating limited-edition SDCC collectibles and promotional giveaways for CBLDF Welcome Party gift bags – free to the first 100 attendees who make a donation of $20 or more to benefit the CBLDF at the door. Flipped on eBay the morning after, these can often pay for your bar bill the night before.

Also CGC-graded 9.8 editions of the Biker Mice from Mars #1 1:50 variant cover for donations of $125 or more; and CGC-graded 9.8 editions of the Epitaphs from the Abyss #1 1:100 variant cover for donations of $250 or more.

The event will feature live DJ sets through the evening by Mutant co-founders Mo Shafeek and Spencer Hickman, the event is free for CBLDF members and $20 for the general public at the door. Any and all photos sent to Bleeding Cool will be gratefully received. The event will also see the return of the CBLDF's annual San Diego Comic-Con Silent Art Auction, featuring comic art and other collectibles.

"In 1954, U.S. Senate hearings aimed at censoring comics led to the creation of the Comics Code – and with it, the demise of the pathbreaking EC Comics line," observed CBLDF Interim Director Jeff Trexler. "Seventy years later, the launch of new EC titles is a powerful reminder that despite the occasional setbacks, creative expression will always prevail. Our deepest thanks to Oni Press, CGC, Kickstarter, The Nacelle Company, MUTANT, Maestro Media, and of course, our invaluable CBLDF members and the entire fandom community for making it possible for us to help defend the medium we all love."

"Few things cast a longer shadow on the history of our industry than the untimely and unjust demise of the legendary EC Comics at the hands of pro-censorship forces," said Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson. "So there is some small measure of justice in celebrating a new chapter for one of the most celebrated and influential publishing houses in American history alongside the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, who were created in part to prevent similar wrongs from ever recurring. As the CBLDF credo reads, [EC Publisher] 'Bill Gaines Was Right,' and we're indebted to our incredible cast of co-sponsors for defending the right to free expression and creative liberty for the American art form Gaines and EC Comics helped to define – doubly so at this pivotal and precarious moment in the cultural landscape that carries so many echoes of the past."

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund annual San Diego Comic-Con Welcome Party,  The Westgate Hotel, Thursday, the 25th of July, 2024.

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