Showing posts with label Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Show all posts

Monday, October 28, 2019

Comics lawyer Mitch Berger in hospice (UPDATED)

Mitch at Awesome Con 2014. Photo by Bruce Guthrie
by Mike Rhode

Local comics and cartoon lawyer, editor and collector Mitchell Berger posted on Facebook last night that he's in the final stages of hospice care, after suffering from "a rare cancer called neuroendocrine tumor, or NET" for years. Mitch was a lawyer who graduated from Antioch School of Law in the District, but he has also attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He merged his career and his hobby for decades.

From October 2010 - April 2014, Mitch edited NPR's Double Take feature showing 2 political cartoons. As far as I can tell, he did it anonymously (to the public at least. I'm sure the cartoonists knew). Mitch would frequently weigh in on legal issues in comics, including this comment from 1995 about fair use of political cartoons: "As a lawyer and as the consulting editor on NPR's Double Take Toons, while I disagree with Chip Bok's view of Net Neutrality, but I do support him on his understanding of fair use. His statement "come up with something on your own," is what resonates with me the most. Chip has the right to have the words he speaks and the images he draws to be presented as he intended them. In fact, he has an internationally recognized legal and moral right to protect the integrity of his work. Replacing his words with someone else's isn't just criticism, it supplants and therefore silences his speech. And because of the way the internet works, it is quite possible that some might mistake the parody of his work, as his work." Another of his legal comments can be seen here.

He was also cited by Tom Spurgeon as an editor of cartoons on Kaiser Health News website.

One of Mitch's long-time roles was as "Supernatural Law’s legal consultant Mitch Berger" for Batton Lash's comic book about lawyers with monsters for clients. Lash, who also had attended SVA, passed away earlier this year.

Mitch, Jackie Estrada and Batton Lash at Awesome Con 2014. Photo by Bruce Guthrie
An interview with Will Eisner that Mitch co-conducted with Mike Barson and Falls Church's Ted White, was published in Heavy Metal's November 1983 issue, of all places. He was a founding board member (1991) and vice president for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Eric Reynolds of the Comics Journal recalled that he resigned under pressure in 1994 after the failure in defending Mike Diana. He also provided other cartoonists with legal services. At some point, according to Mary Fleener, he worked for DC Comics and helped her get rights to a story back. He also posthumously assisted Dori Seda to ensure her literary rights went to the person she had wanted them to go to.

Crumb drawing donated to Columbia's library
In 2015, Mitch donated his sketchbook to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and allowed us to reproduce his Facebook post about it. In 2017, Mitch contributed money in the name of his first wife, Peggy Girsham*, to increase the print run of Resist! #2. His most recent donation was a drawing by Robert Crumb to Columbia University's Library this year. Librarian Karen Green confirmed this for me, noting it was "A very, very kind and generous donation."

I never got to know Mitch particularly well. We would run into each other infrequently at political cartoon events such as the RFK Awards, but by the time I met him he'd already been a long-time part of the comics scene and certainly didn't need me to introduce him to anyone in the field. As seen here, Bruce Guthrie has pictures of him locally at Awesome Con and the Herblock Awards.


On his Facebook post, Mitch writes,dictated to his brother, "I am not at the end yet, but I am getting weaker and losing strength. I can't say enough about how supportive hospice care has been. A hospice nurse makes sure that I have no pain or suffering. A very professional and caring hospice worker comes three times a week to give me a bed bath and change the bedsheets, so I am always clean, pain-free, and comfortable."

Mitch and Mark Fiore at Fiore's Herblock Award, 2016. Photo by Bruce Guthrie
A cross-section of the comics world have responded to his post including Rick Veitch, Mary Fleener, Keith Knight, Jim Wheelock, Shannon Wheeler, Mark Fleck, Jackie Estrada, Wayno, Rick McKee, Ted Rall, Robert Greenberger, Sean Howe, Keith Brown, Clay Jones, Karen Green, Michael Cavna, Paul Levitz, Bob Staake, Barbara Dale, Paul Mavrides, Brian Bassett, Michael T. Gilbert, Stephen Bissette, Nina Paley along with simple 'likes' from Bob Smith, Mark Wheatley, Teresa Roberts Logan, Caitlin McGurk, Carol Tilley, Jimmy Margulies, Ron Evry, Tom Heintjes, Mark Newgarden, Heidi MacDonald, Noah Van Sciver, RL Crabb, Mark Stokes, Tom Orzechowski,  Greg Wallace, John Branch, Doug Ready, Barbara Randall Kesel, Randy Bish, Jim Valentino, Ray Alma, James Owen, Matthew Hansel, Denys Cowan, Maggie Thompson, Michael Fry, Darrin Bell, Diana Schutz, Robert Gregory, Mark Zingarelli, Pete Maresca, Greg Koudoulian, Christine Tripp, and probably others. Additonal comments have been made by Glenn McCoy and Jen Sorenson, with likes from Frank Cammuso, Jeff Trexler and Mike Lester.

This post will be updated as new information or comments come in, with new pieces in italics. 

*Oct 30: Ms. Girsham's name was previously misspelled as Grisham. Thank you to Eva Zelig for the correction.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

FoxNews story on big, bad comics



Relaunched Comics Using Sex and Violence To Sell: MyFoxDC.com


Here's that FoxNews story which appears to have been about as bad as guest commentator Ray Bottorff Jr. expected - there's a text article on this site:

Relaunched Comics Using Sex and Violence To Sell
Sherri Ly
myfoxdc 18 Jan 2012,
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/special_report/relaunched-comics-using-sex-and-violence-to-sell-011812

Big Planet Comic's Jared Smith is quoted (if misidentified). And in Fox's defense (I can't believe I wrote that), Starfire's new approach to casual sex has been questioned in the comics community as well, as has the T&A of the Catwoman comic. Neither of which I'm reading so take my opinion with a grain of salt too.

and here's some commentary:

TV Report Targets DC Comics For Sex and Violence
01/19/2012


I especially like the comparison picture here: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/01/18/fox-news-calls-catwoman-fictionalised-playboy

and advice from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (I'm a member):


Retailer Advisory: How To Manage A Media Attack





January 18th, 2012



By Charles Brownstein


http://cbldf.org/homepage/how-to-manage-a-media-attack/

and although DC wouldn't comment to Fox, here's commentary they did do on the same day:

Why Jim Lee And Dan DiDio Decided To Reboot DC Comics [Video]
BY Kevin Ohannessian and Adam Barenblat
January 18 2012
http://www.fastcompany.com/1809039/jim-lee-dan-didio-dc-comics-relaunch-video

Monday, January 24, 2011

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund profile

Anyone who's serious about comics should be a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Meet the CBLDF, the people who make sure you aren't arrested for reading comic books
By Cyriaque Lamar
January 24 2011
http://io9.com/5742147/meet-the-cbdlf-the-people-who-make-sure-you-arent-arrested-for-reading-comic-books

Monday, June 14, 2010

One key difference between us and Japan - freedom of speech

Tokyo assembly votes down measure to regulate child porn in comics
(Mainichi Japan) June 14, 2010

We may have the First Amendment, but there's a law in the US that says possessors drawings of imaginary under-age cartoon characters (how is that even possible?) can be prosecuted for child pornography. Support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today.

Here's a new interview with its head - Spurgeon, Tom. 2010.
CR Newsmaker Interview: Charles Brownstein Of The CBLDF.
Comics Reporter (June 13).

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Today in the New York Comics Times

The 'A' or front page section of today's NY Times has 3 comics-related articles.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's Counsel has died -

Burton Joseph, Lawyer in First Amendment Cases, Is Dead at 79.
New York Times (April 2 2020).

Comics great Dick Giordano's obituary appeared in print.

And comics designer Chip Kidd working on revisiting a preppy book.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Friday, September 05, 2008

Harvey Pekar book is in my hand


Metaphorically at least. A box of them - 10 author copies - showed up in the mail today. It finally exists and I can move on. Well, I have to move some of them too - buy it here. But secondly....!

Thanks to the generosity of the Press, which donated two copies, Harvey's going to sign both copies and mail them back to me and I'll sign and bring them to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund table for auction at the Small Press Expo in North (hah!) Besthesda this fall. This whole project started when Harvey was at the SPX and they needed someone to interview him, and that person turned out to be me. So I'll pay the CBLDF back a little bit with these books.

That'll be the super-collectible edition, limited to two.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Dec 28: Big Planet Vienna CBLDF fundraising party

Randy T sends along this missive

Just a reminder we are closed on Christmas, and will be getting new books on FRIDAY this week because of the holiday. So we’ll be open 11-7 Wed and Thurs, but 11-8 on Friday when the new comics come in.

PLUS: We will also be hosting a special party Friday from 5 to 8 pm for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The Fund is a non-profit that supports the First Amendment and raises money and legal assistance for comic book creators and retailers who are unfairly targeted by people who often think that “comics are just for kids.”

Their website is http://www.cbldf.org if you want to read more about some of the outrageous cases they’ve had to fight against.

CBLDF members will get an additional 10% off anything they buy during the party, and the first 50 members will also get a free gift bag with lots of limited stuff, and Big Planet will donate 10% of the proceeds during that time to the fund. (You can also sign up to be a member during the party - a yearly membership is only $25.) Plus, the party will be hosted by former Big Planet Vienna manager, and now CBLDF Fundraising Manager, Elizabeth Schreck!


Have a good break, and see you all later this week!

Jared Smith

bigplanetvienna@verizon.net

Big Planet Comics - Vienna

http://www.bigplanetcomics.com