Murder By Crowquill is a Comic Book Legal Defense Fund benefit book. We're selling ads in the book, with the revenue going directly to the fund.

The original deadline for the ads was December 1, 1998. We're extending it to December 15. We hope to sell as many ads as possible.

You may think the CBLDF only helps the other guy, and that your own work is too 'respectable' to ever face a legal challenge. But really, folks, we're all in this together. An abridgement of freedom of speech diminishes us all. And there's really no telling who the censors will strike at next. Argh! My eloquence fails me when trying to discuss something as important as this-- but you KNOW how important it is; so act today!

Of course the CBLDF receives just as much benefit if you give them a straight donation; but by purchasing an ad, you're making a public statement that you support freedom of speech. And that's pretty important all on its own.

For those who don't have time to lay out an ad, just send in what you want to say with your check, and Amazing Montage Press will typeset it for you for free (Times New Roman or Comics Sans, 24 point for heading, 10 point for copy, 40 words or less).

For more information about Murder By Crowquill, see my webpage at

http://www.geocities.com/soho/atrium/8576/mbc.html. Have a question? Contact me at joezabel@hotmail.com.

Here's the advertising information:

All advertising money will go directly to the CBLDF; in fact, your check will be made out to and sent to the CBLDF, and the money will be available immediately to the fund, to provide much-needed support for the legal defense of artists, publishers, and retailers.

Ad rates are:
Full page: $140.00
Half page: $70.00
Quarter page: $35.00

Make checks payable to: COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND; please write 'For MBC Ad' on check.

Ad deadline is December 15, 1998.

Send checks and artwork to:

CBLDF
Box 693
Northampton, MA 01061
attention: Chris Oarr.

Please include your name, address, phone number where you can be reached, and email address if available.

Artwork dimensions: Full page: image area-- 6" X 9"; full bleed-- 6 5/8" X 10 1/4".
Half page: either 2 7/8" X 9" or 6" X 4 3/8".
Quarter page: 2 7/8" X 4 3/8".

Art must be camera-ready line art. Artwork will not be returned.

Advertisers will not be sent a free 'advertiser copy' of the book.
A special discount rate will be available for advertisers.



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Joe Zabel

I hope that anyone who can will support this book with their ads. I'll never be able to fully express what the CBLDF did for me in my time of crisis. I won't speak for Joe R. Lansdale or Sam Glanzman, but I have a strong suspicion that they'd agree.

When we were advised by our employers that it would be best for us to seek separate legal counsel, Joe and I ended up paying a lot of money to a high powered NY City lawyer. The lawyer was very good at what he did for us. However, after representing us for only three months or so, the guy's bill socked us so hard that I had to sell almost my entire original art collection, as well as the better pieces from my guitar collection. I'd put a long time putting these together. Since it looked like the case was going to drag on for MONTHS (it ended up continuing for about a year and a half!), I was pretty terrified about the whole thing, not knowing whether or not we could properly defend ourselves in the long run, no matter our commitment to our very well-defined First Ammendment rights (remember-- the trial was to have occured in the city that found OJ Simpson not guilty!).

Through the lobbying of people like Andrew Vachhs, the Comics Journal, Dennis Kitchen, and a handful of fellow creators who realized the importance of the case and the dire straits that my compadres and I were in, the CBLDF agreed to take us under its wing and provide legal assistance for us. Through their mediation, our employer finally seemed to realize that we were in no way their enemies, that the legal rights of both the publisher and the creative team were very clear, and that we meant absolutely no offence to the people who were accusing us (quite the contrary!). We were provided full legal protection by the publisher. The company and ourselves were able to unite in strong opposition to our accusers and in unbreakable support of our First Ammendment rights. The corporate legal team who afterwards mounted the fight for us was absolutely amazing. Whereas the opposition was using any exploitive and sensationalistic means necessary to try to gather proof for their case, our legal team stuck to the letter of the law. In the end, they got every point of our accusers' case thrown out of court, and established precedents that other creators can rely upon for as long as there's a United States. However, without the support and assistance of the CBLDF, the misunderstandings which had kept us from joining forces would never have been taken care of. Thank god for the CBLDF and for the good people at the publisher's offices who decided to support us.

You don't think you need the CBLDF? Pay a good lawyer out of pocket for a couple of months to defend your right to produce satirical Art. These cases can spring up in the face of any creator at any time. Do you have legal means in place with which to protect and defend yourself and the products of your imagination? Can you pay a lawyer for 2 years, out of pocket, during which time you probably won't be able to fully concentrate on your work because of the interuptions and traumas that the grinding legal process puts you through?

2 years. That's about how long these cases usually take.

I hope you never have to deal with it. I hope you never have to depend on the CBLDF. But you know what? You just might.

It happens.


[This message has been edited by Timothy Truman (edited 12-12-98) because he is a badd spellur with typing fingers made of ssausage]

[This message has been edited by Timothy Truman (edited 12-12-98).]

Wow! Sometimes I find myself taking great institutions like the CBLDF for granted... and then I read an account like Tim's...

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Joe Zabel

"Wow!" is right!

Why not have Tim's account included in the benefit book.

I think others besides those who frequent comicon.com would (and should) like to read his experience with the CBLDF.