A Comic Creator Leads the Way on Changing Sacramento’s Archaic Comic Book Law

Here’s something crazy that was brought forward from a news tip, apparently Sacramento California has an archaic comic book law that can get someone convicted for selling comic books to kids. But thanks to a Comic Book Creator, he is helping find a way for the law to be repealed.

According to CBS News and ABRIDGED-PBS KVIE, a local comic book creator named Eben Burgoon launched a petition to help get the outdated law repealed. The law has been in place since 1949, and the law banned the sale of comics that depict crime or violence to anyone under 18 years old. Local Comic Book Shops in Sacramento like Big Brother Comics have shelves filled with Comics that feature Crime-Fighting Superheroes, but they were quick to learn that they were breaking the law themselves. What is the law you might ask? It is City Code item 9.12.010  “Distributing certain “comic books.”

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Back when comic book censorship was on the rise, comic books were used as an scapegoat to blame the rise of juvenile delinquency on, despite parental ignorance being a bigger factor for juvenile delinquency. Eventually, this led to a public outcry led by Dr. Frederick Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, a work of junk science that vilified horror, crime, jungle, and superhero comics. Comic Books were put on trial by the United States government in 1954 by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. For a detailed look into Comic Book Censorship, head over to CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.)

Burgoon’s journey led him to City Hall, where Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum said that this could be an opportunity “to right that historic wrong.” Pluckebaum is now asking his colleagues to remove the ordinance from the city’s books like Batman and Superman will no longer be forbidden contraband. The proposal would also designate the third week in September as Sacramento Comic Book Week. A city commission will be considering the repeal next Tuesday.

“No one’s complaining about the youth and their comic books, this is an opportunity to eliminate some unneeded code that we weren’t going to enforce anyway.”

Phil Pluckebaum, Sacramento City Councilmember

Source: CBS News, ABRIDGED-PBS KVIE

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