Indie Comics Seized by Customs Agents at US-Canada Border

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/05/13/indie-comics-seized-by-customs-agents-at-u-s-canada-border/

by mcantor • 15 years ago

24 16 15 years ago

Do note, this is someone going INTO Canada. For once it's not our (America's) stupid border patrol but someone else's!

hugh34• 15 years ago

Not surprising, since the US has in general a much broader notion of freedom of speech and freedom of the press than Canada does.

ja27• 15 years ago

Really? Meet Mike Diana, convicted for drawing comics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Diana

gabrielroth• 15 years ago

Just responding to your 'for once': U.S. publishers have long had this kind of trouble with Canadian obscenity standards. In many ways the U.S.'s free-speech regime is pretty broad-minded compared with other western democracies. I suspect you're experiencing a kind of sample bias, where you (as an American) hear more about U.S. free-speech violations than about restrictions elsewhere, and thus believe that they're more frequent.

tseabrooks2• 15 years ago

I don't think he was referring to the U.S. because of an abundance of free speech issues... Rather he was pointing out that we hear A LOT of bad press about the U.S. border control in general... (i.e. confiscating laptops)...

hsmyers• 15 years ago

It might be just me, but I have this perception that the censors are winning. That in fact the fight is pretty much over...

hugh34• 15 years ago

It's not about a "fight" here. Whatever law these were seized under, I'm sure it's been on the books for many years. The customs officer, on the other hand, doesn't have a helluva lot of authority to make the decision. I think it's silly, but hey, silly cases are what gives the Canadian Government a reason to change the law.

On the other hand, a badly-drawn comic book about characters who appear to be children engaged in graphic sexual activity might not be case that does it.

binarymax• 15 years ago

Alan Ginsberg's HOWL was seized by customs in the 1950s when being imported into the US from the foreign printer. He had his day and court and the obscenity charge was overturned. So it is possible that the Canadian courts will decide not to censor the material.

hugh34• 15 years ago

I looked it up, and "Howl" was eventually allowed through on the grounds that the courts decided it was of "redeeming social importance". In other words, since Ginsberg is actually good, they were willing to let it pass. From the extract of the comic in question printed here, I'm willing to assume that this comic isn't particularly good (it looks like something a teenager would draw in the back of his maths book) so it'll be interesting to see how this will play out.

The other thing is this: while standards of obscenity have dropped considerably over the decades (to the point where Howl's objectionable phrase "fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists" seems almost quaint) there has to be a hard limit somewhere, and we've pretty much reached it. We're at the point where all pornography is acceptable except child pornography, and this case is going to be about arguing where the boundaries of "child pornography" are. Now, I'd say that a line drawing of two chracters who appear to be children (but are stated in the text not to be) having graphic sex is nothing like actual child pornography (which is harmful to actual children) but on the other hand I have a hard time summoning up the motivation to really defend it.

eps• 15 years ago

Can someone who actually saw comics in question comment on whether they are of an objectionable nature?

anamax• 15 years ago

> Can someone who actually saw comics in question comment on whether they are of an objectionable nature?

Of course they're objectionable. Everything is objectionable to someone.

Oh, you meant whether you'd object, or maybe "good people would object". That's different....

ygreek• 15 years ago

It feels ridiculous that I can easily send any pdf or jpeg files to Canada or nearly any place connected to the Internet, and no one would interfere. But somehow the exact same pictures printed or drawn on paper are subject to the border inspections and potential seizure.

tseabrooks2• 15 years ago

For some countries those electronic files are being treated to a 'border inspection' also... It may seem like Tin Foil Hattery... But I remain unconvinced that this doesn't happen for some / a lot / most countries...

Indie Comics Seized by Customs Agents at US-Canada Border

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