Elfquest Under Attack

Originally published August 27, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1345

It always gives one a nice, tidy, false sense of security to think that the only comic books which undergo attacks by watchdogs or misguided individuals with no clue as to what the First Amendment is all about, are those comics that somehow “deserve” to have it happen. Over-the-top porn, raging obscenity, stories that seem to encourage violence towards women or in some other way make you feel ever so slightly unclean just for having to defend it.

I want to welcome you, then, to the latest case to fall into the docket of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, as a part-time dealer in comic books—selling them at flea markets—finds himself facing two counts of trafficking in selling obscene material to minors. The name of the ever-so-foul comic that this scumwad was dealing?

Elfquest.

Yes, that’s right, that watershed title notoriously rife with all manner of perversity.

I bet I know what you’re thinking. The protectors of morality finally caught up with the elf orgy issue from fifteen years ago. Sorry, wrong answer. According to WaRP Graphics publisher Richard Pini, the only fallout that ever occurred from that issue was that it was banned in that bastion of free thought, Singapore. No, the offender this time is one of the spin off titles, Elfquest: New Blood, issues #5 and 6.

In consideration of the accused individual’s concerns, I am withholding both his name and the location in our beloved country where this current travesty is going on.

Here’s what happened. And I guarantee that, no matter how strange you think the following is at any given point, it gets progressively stranger.

We will call the lucky individual Bob. Bob is married, has never been arrested, has a respectable job and has thus far been a perfectly creditable member of the not-overlarge community in which he resides. A self-described “kid magnet,” he’s always had a friendly relationship with neighborhood kids and vice versa. As a sideline, Bob sells old comic books at flea markets.

One fine day, Bob took his stock to a flea market and, unfortunately, didn’t sell a single book. Some two weeks later, he finally got around to unloading his car. Several neighborhood children spotted the comics and expressed interest in purchasing them. He sold them to the kids for the princely sum of a quarter each. We’ll call one of the kids Mike and the other Roger.

Mike returned to Bob a few hours later, telling him that his mother had said he couldn’t keep the comic. Bob refunded the kid’s two bits and asked that the comic be returned.

At that point, things started to get quite interesting. For Bob’s next door neighbor, whom we shall call Grandpa, started yelling at him, demanding that Bob come over and talk to him about Bob’s “selling trash” to neighborhood children. Young Roger lives with Grandpa, and Grandpa was taking issue with the comics in question, particularly issues #5 and #6 of New Blood.

Bob chose to ignore the challenging and increasingly belligerent tone of Grandpa, because there was a history of bad blood between the two of them. Why? Because Roger, who lived with Grandpa, was Bob’s son.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Bob had become involved some years earlier with Roger’s mother, and together they had had a son. But the relationship had dissolved shortly thereafter. Nevertheless, Bob had always been upfront in acknowledging paternity of the child and had provided child support. Roger and his mother had been residing in another state, but the mother had lately been having personal difficulties, and Roger had come to live with his grandfather while his mother, hopefully, sorted things out. As a consequence, Grandpa was not exactly Bob’s biggest fan. Indeed, they had not spoken in years. So when Grandpa tried to pick a fight, Bob didn’t rise to the bait. Even Grandpa’s increasingly loud provocation, calling Bob a “pervert,” didn’t get a rise out of him. Bob simply chalked it up to the stress Grandpa was feeling from the current personal situation with his daughter and grandson.

Apparently Bob underestimated him.

Not too long afterward, a little after midnight, Bob was awoken from a sound sleep by a pounding at the door. Two people were at the door, one of them a uniform cop, the other an unidentified man in plain clothes. The uniform cop served him with two warrants and arrested him—although amazingly, he explicitly refused to read Bob his rights. The cop was described as being “cordial.” His explanation for refusing to provide the Miranda-guaranteed rights that have been SOP for more than thirty years was, “I’m not going to read you your rights, because I’m not going to be asking you about the charges.” Who knows: Maybe the cop was an Elfquest fan who felt that, by refusing to read Bob his rights, he was guaranteeing that the arrest wouldn’t stick.

The warrants were for two counts of distributing obscene materials to minors. Grandpa had pressed charges not only on behalf of his grandson (Bob’s son, remember) but also on behalf of the other boy, Mike, even though Mike’s own parents had refused to do so. The warrants had been signed by a local magistrate who was (a) a high school graduate (wow!), and (b) apparently unfamiliar with the most basic requirements for local tests of obscenity. Bob got to spend the night in jail (in the hallway, since the cells were overcrowded).

Later that morning, he was brought before another magistrate who finally got around reading him his rights, and told him that he faced two misdemeanor counts which carried jail sentences of six months each and/or a fine of up to $500 on each count. Bob’s father put a surety bond on his house for $5,000, and Bob was released from jail between 11 and 11:30am. The preliminary hearing is/was slated for August 10, and it is the hope of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund—which has been called in to aid with Bob’s defense—that the matter will be kicked right then. But any lawyer will tell you that as soon as you go before a judge, absolutely anything can happen.

Richard Pini—who has referred to this event as one of the most, if not the most, bizarre things he has ever encountered in the history of Elfquest—was kind enough to fax over to me the “obscene” pages in question.

What was the subject of the “obscenity,” you might ask?

Birth. In both issues #5 and #6, a birth sequence is depicted. There is no blood or gore. There is no exposure of “naughty bits,” with strategically placed legs, heads or shadows blocking out any direct view. There is no appeal to prurient interest. There is no flagrant display of genitalia. The ultimate test: the pages (issue #5, pages 16 and 17, and #6, pages 5 through 7) could be run in Comics Buyer’s Guide without concern. There is artistic merit in the two tastefully done sequences. It’s about as erotic and obscene as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s bedroom. But the seller of the two issues faces a year in prison and a thousand dollars in fine. Even if the matter is kicked, you just know that his legal fees will run as much as the fines would have, at least.

And that’s where the CBLDF comes in, as we are getting behind this gentleman, providing both our legal and financial resources.

Because this scenario, as twisted and bizarre as it may seem, is actually all too typical. Oftentimes those who are trying to nail comics to the wall are doing so in order to further some personal agenda, be it religious groups lobbying for power, eager-beaver District Attorneys hoping to run on their conviction records, or—in this instance—an angry grandfather working out a grudge against the father of his grandson. For those who still labor under the delusion that the First Amendment does not require constant defense, keep in mind just how easily Grandpa was able to push the matter as far as he did.

Once again, comics have become nothing more than a simple tool in a campaign of suppression. Elfquest, one of the most acclaimed fantasy series in comics history, is targeted as part of a vendetta. And for every successful persecution, or disruption of someone’s life just because they sold comic books, our little industry gets that much more of a chill.

If you have any appreciation for Elfquest, or any concern that someday it might be a comic that you had previously thought safe, please take this opportunity to send a donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: 255 W. 36th St., Suite 501, New York, NY 10018.

I’ll keep you apprised of the outcome of the case. Let’s all hope that it turns out the way it should—and wonder just how and why it got as far as it did.

(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to at Second Age, Inc., PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705.)