Tom Spurgeon has an excellent interview with CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein about the current state of the fund and issues of free speech pertaining the comics world in general:
SPURGEON: Has adding retailers been important to you? Because to be honest, the retailer support in the Gordon Lee case seems to have been pretty weak. What can you and your retailer Board members do to better win over retailer support and confidence?
BROWNSTEIN: I agree that the initial reaction to the Gordon Lee case was less than sympathetic from the retailer community. Although now, as the case has developed, I think most people see that the case carries severe precedent dangers, and that the prosecution has deliberately run up charges in a way that would sink any small retailer, demonstrating, in part, why the Fund matters.
I think that the Fund needs to do a better job interacting with the retailer community and demonstrating how the work we do, we do on their behalf. We’ve taken steps to start that, notably publishing our Retailer Resource Guide. But it’s something we need to expand, and these are issues that Joe and Chris have already begun working on. With their expertise going into the matter, we anticipate rolling out some new programs in this area early next year.
