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A book filled with great creators for a great cause.

Censorship. Such a vast meaning is given to such a small word, and not without good reason. Governments, whether they be a small bureaucracy such as a town or county, or an entire nation, have passed laws in order to shield people from things that they consider unsafe. Now, in the United States, this is not as common practice as it once was, but the realm of comics, there are still people in and out of government who are trying to censor comics that they deem ‘unsuitable’ or ‘dangerous‘. And fortunately there are creators and publishers that will not allow their work to be censored. These people make up the bulk of what we know as the CBLDF or Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, an organization that is determined to primarily assist comic retailers who are being persecuted by the local or federal laws for the sale of what moralists consider obscene. You’d think that in this day and age in the United States of America, local and federal government would have much better things to do with their time. But as recently as April of this year, a retailer in Georgia finally won a nearly 4-year old criminal case for the alleged distribution of a comic containing non-sexual nudity to a minor. Yep, it still goes on. And that is just one of the reasons that Image Comics, in association with some of the biggest creative names in comics, released Liberty Comics #1, a comic that is not-for-profit to benefit the CBLDF.

Yes, it’s a big issue, and it’s a big deal. But… is it any good?

It’s always interesting to try and objectively view something about a subject that you yourself are very passionate about. It makes it damn near impossible. But I can always give it the old college try. There are mini-comics and satirical cartoons from the likes of Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, Rick Veitch, Mark Millar, Scott Dunbier, Richard Starkings, Arthur Adams, Mark Evanier, Garth Ennis, Sergio Aragones, and Ed Brubaker that range from downright dull to totally hysterical to amazingly powerful and poignant. The book opens with the cast of The Boys doing their good works by upping their accents, begging for donations, and… well… other things. A certain DC female has her face ripped off by The Female, a certain Adamantium-clawed Marvel character is about to be burned alive, a green-skinned goliath has two very precious parts of his anatomy removed, and a popular DC super-dog is defiled by Terror. It’s just fricking hilarious. Then, we get an interesting, if thinly-veiled story by Cooke called “The Deadly Book” about a book that kills its readers. The strangest one of the lot is the next tale, by Millar and artist John Paul Leon called “House of Dracula”, in which we meet Dracula, who is wasting away in his immortality, and going through the motions of the average senior citizen. It’s a funny tale, and it’s well-told, but it seems like more of an SNL skit than something more thought-provoking that you might expect of Millar. Then, we get a satirical centerfold with Monkeyman and O’Brien by Adams that cuts right to the heart of comic book censorship. Next comes a one-page illustration by Veitch for something called Bratpack which, to me, just doesn’t make ANY sense. Is it an ad? Is it supposed to mean something? I just don’t know! Then comes the utterly banal-but-wants-to-be-provocative Elephantmen short about ignorance. It’s nothing you haven’t seen a few million times before, but I can understand why it’s here. Next is a short-but-sweet little tale of Gobukan. It’s just really very well done for only being a page in length. Next comes my personal favorite, which is a Criminal short story about a reporter who is about to blow the whistle on a crooked land deal by Senator Hyde, but who is met just before writing the story by one of his enforcers, who is none other than Tracy Lawless. Lawless recounts tales of journalists who were about to blow the lid on something crooked but then were all killed. It’s a simple tale, but the amazing creative team of Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips do it with such power that it makes for the best tale of the book. The final tale is of The Auteur, who recounts a young filmmaker’s rise to power by selling out. It’s fun, but again, nothing we haven’t seen. Now, there is also a central tale that continues through the book that was done by Aragones and Evanier where their four-color selves are talking about the old days of EC Comics (the most famous of publishers that was destroyed by the congressional hearings of the 1950’s and 60’s) that go into the 70’s, 80’s and even today which is funny, a little touching, and spot-on.

Is this comic worth the $3.99 to buy it? You betcha. When a comic can tell some good stories, make some good points and actually benefit a cause that’s worth a comic lover’s hard-earned money, I would say that’s worth as much as you can spend.

Liberty Comics #1
Featuring the talents of Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Tony Avina, Simon Bowland, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Stewart, Mark Millar, John Paul Leon, Jeromy Cox, John Workman, Arthur Adams, James Rochelle, R. Starkings, Rick Veitch, Richard Starkings, Moritat, JG Roshell, J. Bone, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Val Staples, Scott Dunbier, Shawn McManus, Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones, Tom Luth, and Stan Sakai
Covers by J. Scott Campbell & Matt Milla and Mike Mignola & Dave Stewart

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