August 30, 2018) The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the industry’s voice for free speech advocacy and education, is proud to announce that Christina Merkler has been named President of the CBLDF by unanimous vote of its board of directors. Merkler is the co-founder of Discount Comic Book Service, one of the nation’s largest comic book retail companies. She joins new board officers Vice President Chris Powell, VP – Retailer Services at Diamond Comics Distributors; Treasurer Ted Adams, Founder of IDW; and longtime CBLDF Secretary Dale Cendali, Partner at Kirkland & Ellis.
“There’s never been a more important time to protect the First Amendment rights of the comic book community,” said Merkler. “As President, I look forward to working closely with the CBLDF board and the staff to continue the organization’s important work in supporting comic book retailers, creators, educators and librarians whose First Amendment rights are being challenged.”
For more than thirty years, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has protected the First Amendment rights of comics field and developed powerful education efforts in the service of the community. CBLDF has defended a wide range of cases in 2018, most recently, the Fund successfully protected the graphic novel Fun Home in New Jersey.
Earlier this year, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and National Coalition Against Censorship released Be Heard!, a free comic book by cartoonist Kai Texel to help protect students’ rights by helping kids assert their rights to speech, protest, assembly and petition, and providing resources to get more help. The organization recently announced a line of high profile variant covers with leading comic book publisher, Image Comics.
CBLDF’s Board of Directors oversees CBLDF’s mission protecting, preserving, and promoting the freedom to read comics. CBLDF’s at-large directors are Jeff Abraham, Jennifer L. Holm, Reginald Hudlin, Katherine Keller, Paul Levitz, and Gene Luen Yang. Christina Merkler follows longtime CBLDF President Larry Marder, who retired from the board at San Diego Comic Con, along with Vice-President Milton Griepp, and board member Jeff Smith.
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