Online comics store gives 20% of gross to worthy organizations
I own and operate a comic book shop in San Jose, CA which was recently voted best comic shop in Silicon Valley. I write free comic retailing software and I also run an online graphic novel store called ComicBookShelf.com .Link (Thanks, Dan!)The recent teacher ousting over Eightball #22 was a real wakeup call that there is a lot of work to do on making the public understand what a vital and important artform comics can be. A world where an educator loses their job for recommending Dan Clowes is a world I don't want to live in!
That's just one of the reasons I'm proud to announce that ComicBookShelf.com will donate 5% of every online sale to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund which supports comics-related first amendment cases.
We're also donating an additional 5% to the Hero Initiative which helps get financial help to golden age comic artists who never made any royalties from their priceless creations.
Furthermore, until the end of October 2007 we will double the donation to both organizations, meaning 20% of every sale will go to these worthy organizations.
Shipping is always free anywhere in the US and we support Google checkout for safe and secure payment processing. We carry a wide array of books and our open source bookstore recommendation algorithms let you rate books and get recommendations. Kind of like Netflix does, but for graphic novels.
the latest
latest episodes
You know, I bow to no-one in my love of Daniel Clowes, but it says on the cover of every Eightball I've seen "For mature readers." Why did this guy feel it was a good idea to give it to a thirteen year old?
'Eightball' is art, but so is 'Lolita'. If you're a teacher, giving either to a kid is a dumb, dumb, thing to do. He maybe shouldn't have lost his job, but he shouldn't be surprised.
You know, I bow to no-one in my love of Daniel Clowes, but it says on the cover of every Eightball I've seen "For mature readers." Why did this guy feel it was a good idea to give it to a thirteen year old?
'Eightball' is art, but so is 'Lolita'. If you're a teacher, giving either to a kid is a dumb, dumb, thing to do. He maybe shouldn't have lost his job, but he shouldn't be surprised that he did.
"A world where an educator loses their job for recommending Dan Clowes is a world I don't want to live in!"
As opposed to a world where Boing! Boing! republishes an inaccurate summary! The teacher didn't just "recommend" the book, he *gave* a copy to a teenage girl -- and no other student -- and then met with her alone to discuss how she felt about it.
Stll, nc d fr Hjnx cmcs! S ths s th ftr f ntrnt dvrtsng.
While it's true that the teacher did more than simply recommend the book, it's also true that it was from a list of advanced works meant to challenge high school freshmen English students.
Maybe the teacher overstepped by providing a copy of the book, but there's no doubt that the reaction was way out of proportion with his misjudgment. Does a man deserve to lose his job and be maligned as a purveyor of "borderline pornography" for recommending a legitimate work to a student?
Would you fire a white teacher for giving a copy of Huckleberry Finn to a black student and label it "borderline hate speech" because it contains the N word?
Sadly, I'm afraid some would do just that.
Dan Shahin
Brian, if you're implying that this was a compensated ad -- as opposed to promoting something I think is a good thing -- that's pretty cheap. And wrong. You've been a BB reader long enough that you should know better. Any time there's any kind of compensation or interest -- even a free review copy -- involved in a BB post, we always disclose it. That's a really unfair and ugly thing to say, and I expected better of you.
Cory -- sorry, I did not mean to imply that Boing! Boing! had been paid for this post, only that the copy came across as an ad rather than anything genuinely interesting. I should have worded my post more carefully to avoid that implication. Sorry.
Still...some comic shop somewhere donates X% to some worthy cause....you could fill a blog with just those posts.
"Would you fire a white teacher for giving a copy of Huckleberry Finn to a black student and label it "borderline hate speech" because it contains the N word?"
Well, the teacher in this case resigned. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the teacher should have suffered any consequences at all other than a sit down with his boss about how to handle future situations like this (whereas the parents are quoted as saying the guy should never be allowed to teach anywhere ever again, which is just bizarre).
So, I wouldn't fire the white teacher for giving a copy of HF to a black student, but I could definitely understand the concerns of black parents who don't want their 13 year olds exposed to HF (frankly, I don't think HF is worth teaching for a variety of other reasons -- it's weird that, so many schools include Diary of Anne Frank, which is definitely worthwhile, but the main anti-slavery piece students read is that shitty Twain novel when there are so many amazing accounts of slavery written by the slaves themselves that go largely ignored.)
Thank you for clarifying that, Brian.
Same funds we're supporting.
http://www.100artistsproject.com/
(Not like there are a lot for comic book/cartoonists.)
"Still...some comic shop somewhere donates X% to some worthy cause....you could fill a blog with just those posts."
If only that were true. Show me all those other shops donating and I'll buy something from them!
"...the main anti-slavery piece students read is that shitty Twain novel when there are so many amazing accounts of slavery written by the slaves themselves that go largely ignored."
Huck Finn happens to be an amazingly moving piece of art by an American genius. It's my all-time favorite novel and was the first books to ever make me cry. Your dismissal of it as "shitty" makes me question your opinion of this whole matter.
While the teacher in this case may have officially "resigned", you can bet it was done under tremendous pressure by his superiors. Read more about the case and you'll see how he was railroaded.
dan shahin
There is more involved than this single teacher/comic book/student incident. Art, and the role it plays in free speech needs to be protected. Events like this, especially when the facts are obscure or not well understood, set precedents that can be very difficult to overturn. This means that it is critical that the initial defense be a good one. So even though I question the fellow's judgment, I support the underlying cause - beating back the shadow that our modern conservative definition of "obscenity" has cast over legitimate art.
Plus, I'm going to buy my graphic novels anyway, why not buy them from somebody at least attempting to do something positive for artists and comic book supporters? It's a hell of a lot more than I feel like I get from other major online bookselling conglomerates.