On Probation for Selling Comics?????????????????????

[comicwiz]

Have you seen what's in this comic book?

 

I have, and it isn't pretty.

 

But neither are a lot of the works that came during the counter-culture era of the 60-70's. We are talking the highest form of anti-american sentiment. Protests against vietnam with published photos of American soldiers posing for team shots, proudly displaying Viet Kong skulls, and their decapitated remains next to them. Crumb experimenting with notions of incest. Shelton and Wilson constantly defied all forms of authority. At one point, the FBI got involved with confiscating all underground comic material from their distributors (head shops).

 

30 years have passed, and although this material doesn't appeal to everyone, a certain degree of literary acclaim, and historical importance have been attached to most books published during that era. Before this case with Jesus Castillo, I actually believed that with the passage of time, a certain degree of tolerance formed towards that form of literary expression. It appears that with this event, we really have taken more than a few steps backward.