Sunday, April 20, 2008
All charges against Gorden Lee dismissed?
Word out of the New York Comic Con is that all charges against Georgia comic book retailer Gordon Lee have been dismissed. Writer Neil Gaiman and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) board member broke the news at a panel Friday evening.
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein spoke with Matt Brady at Newsarama about this latest development.
If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know that my opinions about the Gordon Lee case differ greatly then most of the online comic book community. I don’t see Gordon Lee so much as a champion of the First Amendment, but as a comic book retailer that did something incredibly stupid. He allowed a comic book intended for adults (Alternative Comics #2) to get into the hands of a small child.
Does that mean I think he should go to prison? No, of course not. I do think he made a huge mistake.
One of my problems with this case has been that I never sensed any sort of remorse on the part of Lee. He allowed a comic that contained both male and female nudity and contained references to masturbation and oral sex to get into the trick-or-treat bag of a 6-year old child.
I believe that was an incredibly dumb thing to do.
It’s not like this was even the first time Lee had done something like this. He was convicted in the early 90’s of distributing obscene materials. Sandra Allen of Rome, Georgia became alarmed when her kid came home with comic books purchased from Lee’s comic book shop that she thought were pornographic.
Sandra Allen went to Gordon Lee’s comic book shop and found more of what she believed to be pornographic comic books on display to anyone entering the shop. Allen purchased two adult comics from Lee’s shop, Debbie Does Dallas and Final Taboo and took them directly to the Rome Police and filed a complaint.
My hope in all this is that Gordon Lee will be more careful when it comes to adult comic books. Is that asking too much?
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People who have done nothing wrong need not show remorse.
Giving an adult comic to a 6-year old is wrong.