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Wrong. Cartoon child pornography *is* illegal in the US, but it is under a law passed with such routine that it didn't even get a catchy acronym for the media.

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18 USC 1466A extract:

Any person who, in a circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly produces, distributes, receives, or possesses with intent to distribute, a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that—
(1)
(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is obscene; or
(2)
(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;
or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 2252A (b)(1), including the penalties provided for cases involving a prior conviction.
(b) Additional Offenses.— Any person who, in a circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly possesses a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that—
(1)
(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is obscene; or
(2)
(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;
or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 2252A (b)(2), including the penalties provided for cases involving a prior conviction.
(c) Nonrequired Element of Offense.— It is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist.

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And yes, this is enforced at times: http://classic.tcj.com/tag/title-18-u-s-c-1466a/

The heartland turned vicious this week when an Oklahoma town...

I'm shocked at this report of such profound ignorance and stupidity on the part of a government official in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is normally such a liberal, tolerant, open-minded place.

It is axiomatic that the commercial colonization of new frontiers, real or virtual, must be accompanied by hyperbolic rhetorical claims that are clearly perceived after-the-fact as transparently propagandistic and whose vastly inflated humanitarian forecasts are unrecognizable when compared to the inevitable outcome.

Sims is a weird one. He demonizes woman as unproductive and emotional, yet Cerebus (especially early on) is filled with powerful and rational women. The Cirinist (matriarchal) nation may be frightening, but it's powerful, growing, and holds a self-consistent (if scary) belief system. His essays in Reads and the later in Tangents depict someone completely divorced from reality, someone you cannot rationally debate. His letters responding to people asking for free comics he offered are well writte, witty, and suggest someone I'd enjoy talking with, even if we disagreed. (The offer of a free comic is real and still open.)

Sim's beliefs are certainly relevant, especially since they were printed in his comics. However, it's also important to not write off his work because of those beliefs. Much great art has been created by racists, homophobes, sexists, and all sorts of negative -ists. You can condemn the beliefs, but you still have respect the work itself. Cerebus, especially its early years, is an important milestone is comic art.

For anyone interested in checking out Sims's work, do not start with the first book, Cerebus. It's an only adequate parody of low-fantasy. My local comic shop owner pointed me to book two, High Society. That's where his political and social parody begins and the series becomes noteworthy. In fact, you can basically skip the entire "Sims gets weird" and enjoy what are arguably his best (or at least most popular) works by getting books 2 through 4 (High Society (parodying government and politics), Church & State I and II (parodying religion and politics. Book II gets a little weird...), and Jaka's Story (Really good, not really parody, and hard to describe. Themes include growing up, priviledge, women in society, and truth.)).

Bravo.

It is very, very difficult to read Dave Sim's work once you've read his Tangents essay. I read it a good while ago, and was, well....

It's hard to define the feeling. It wasn't horror that someone thought along these lines; and it wasn't a feeling they shouldn't be said. I think the closest I could relate it to is like finding bugs in your morning cereal. What was previously an enjoyable experience is, for the short (and maybe long) term soured and ruined. Maybe you'll forget and heal, and maybe you just can't.

The most problematic part of Tangents is that it is very in-depth and very long-winded about the thoughts being expressed, which means it specifically appeals to that part of the population who are into reading, which means that these good folks are the ones who will be slapped around for their efforts. I can't imagine anyone reading his Tangents essay and pumping their fist going "Yes! Yes! He finally makes it all clear for me!"

For those whom intense reading of a long essay set is simply not in the forseeable future, here's an (admittedly coarse) summary of the essay.


PRE-TANGENT: My female typesetter quit putting together this essay for my comic book. This is typical of chicks and an example of why feminism is a failure.

TANGENT 1: While researching for my comic book, I interviewed a lot of women. There is no "there" there in them. They are, essentially, sub-human, emotional creatures. They do not think. Any positive qualities they show are what they're parroting from males. There has been a lot of gnashing of teeth by society to ignore this obvious fact, but a fact it is: women are, ultimately, parasites on males.

TANGENT 2: The queers and the feminists are trying to shove acceptability of their false and wrong philosophies down society's throat. They are doing it everywhere, in laws, media, and even in the bible.

TANGENT 3: Because of the false belief that women are human, a lot of very dumb laws are being passed, which treat children like adults and adults like children. This is going to cause a lot of problems for society and possibly ruin it for good. Children should be beaten when they're bad, and alimony comes from the idea that women can't survive on their own. Any variant from these statements are being caused by women imparting their illogical, brainless take on the world on males.

TANGENT 4: Domestic Cats are filthy, horrible animals that should not be in a home. That they are there is because, at some point in history, women brought them into the house. Also, animal rights are stupid.

TANGENT 5: The Civil Rights movement was hijacked by feminists, who then killed Martin Luther King, Jr. And now the feminists define civil rights. ...

It's perfectly OK to not believe this is what the essay says. Read the original source.

They're bugs in my breakfast. I'm sure I'll be buying his books in the future. Just not the near future.

Note: This isn't off topic, really.

Good for them! The CBLDF is probably the one group with the most expertise in these kinds of issues (I've followed a few cases of theirs in the past, mostly via The Comics Journal), and I'm sure they'll lend some solid support to Penny Arcade.

The long MiracleMan faq posted below is good for the miracle man side of things. Here's a link to a fairly short summery of what lead to the case itself. I apologize for not putting one in the initial submission.. I could have sworn /. had posted some news about this when the case was first filed.

Groth's essay which appeared in The Comics Journal #232 and #234 has a rebuttal from Scott McCloud which is very eloquent. It can be found here The Salon page didn't seem to mention it.

Groth's essay which appeared in The Comics Journal #232 and #234 has a rebuttal from Scott McCloud which is very eloquent. It can be found here The Salon page didn't seem to mention it.

Groth's essay which appeared in The Comics Journal #232 and #234 has a rebuttal from Scott McCloud which is very eloquent. It can be found here The Salon page didn't seem to mention it.

http://www.eddiecampbellcomics.com
http://www.topshelfcomics.com
http://www.paulpope.com
http://www.eddiecampbellcomics.com/fromhell/inde x. html
http://www.tcj.com
http://www.indymagazine.com