CBLDF

The Humble Bundle deals on comics are usually a pretty good way to catch up with older stories that you may have missed out on, but every now and then, there's one that features a brand new title to love --- and right now, the IDW Creator Showcase bundle is offering up a pretty good mix of both. Not only is it full of old favorites like Locke & Key and 30 Days of Night, it also features the debut issue of Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman's Cosmic Scoundrels --- and friends, that is a comic book that hit shelves last week that can be yours (along with a ton of other great titles) for as little as a buck.

Image Comics will publish a trade paperback collection of five years' worth of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's Liberty Annuals this August. Titled CBLDF Presents Liberty, the collection includes comics from some of the industry's premier talents, originally published between 200 and 2012.

Image Comics has announced that it will publish the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's She Changed Comics, a 160-page, full-color book detailing the history of women in comics from the medium's beginning in the late 1800s to today. The book, which will be available for $14.99, was funded in eight hours last month on Kickstarter, while also accomplishing stretch goals that included a nationwide teaching tour and teaching guides for middle schools, high schools and universities.

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more — but the comics industry has been busy too, you know, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance has got your back, though: when it comes to comics, we never slow down, so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new podcasts, new art being made — it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

Once again, adults are panicking at the very idea that kids might be allowed to read a comic book that accurately portrays the lives of other kids their age. In this case it's happening in Seminole County, Florida, where schools and local media have discovered that Jillian and Mariko Tamaki's award-winning This One Summer might not be appropriate for Third Graders, and are using that to justify keeping it out of the hands of the high schoolers at whom it's primarily aimed, and for whom it's entirely appropriate.

Seeing Army of Darkness when I was ten years old is one of those things that I genuinely consider to be a life-changing moment. The combination of horror, action and slapstick comedy stuck with me to the point where it pretty much became exactly what I wanted out of all three of those genres ---- and that ending, with the Deadites coming back to attack Ash and Hollywood Actor Ted Raimi at their day jobs left me wanting more. Fortunately, through the magic of comic books, there is more. A lot more. And now, just in time for the Halloween night debut of the Ash Vs Evil Dead TV show, the folks over at Humble Bundle are offering up a pretty massive collection of Ash's adventures for whatever you want to pay, with a chunk of the proceeds going to benefit Doctors Without Borders, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the CBLDF.

The Comics Code Seal of Approval, adopted on this day on 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America, is an instantly recognizable image to generations of comic readers. Its modest black-and-white brand adorned the covers of countless mainstream comic books for the better part of six decades, assuring buyers that the contents of their favorite title had met with some not-entirely-clear standards of suitability, and serving as a lingering reminder of an era when comics has been considered a serious threat to society.

From October 27 to September 3, the American Library Association, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and a dozen other organizations made up of creators, publishers, teachers and journalists will be celebrating Banned Books Week. Well, maybe "celebrating" is the wrong word for a 33 year-old campaign designed to raise awareness of censorship by championing books that were challenged or banned from libraries across the country, but there's at least one good reason to have a good time with it. To mark the occasion, the folks over at Humble Bundle have launched a pay-what-you-want collection of banned and challenged comics, including Jeff Smith's Bone, Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen and more --- complete with reasons why they were challenged.

In case you don't have it written on your calendar, May 4 kicks off Children's Book Week, which means that it's time once again to decorate the Children's Book Tree, carve up a turkey with a copy of Watership Down and, of course, send your sweetheart a lovely children's bookentine. Or... or maybe you should buy books for kids? Yeah, it's probably that one. Fortunately, the folks over at Humble Bundle have made it very easy: For the next two weeks, they're offering up a whole lot of comics that are great for younger readers on their usual pay-what-you want setup, including books from Archie, Dark Horse, Image and more - including an amazing full-color Usagi Yojimbo original graphic novel by Stan Sakai.

While the CBLDF's primary mission is legal defense (as per their name), they also offer valuable educational tools. This includes Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read, a guide aimed at parents and educators. Written by Dr. Meryl Jaffe and featuring art by Raina Telgemeier and Matthew Holm, this great resource teaches adults how to engage kids in the comics medium. While a US version has been available for a while now, the CBLDF is doing a new US printing as well as their first ever UK printing (in British English). Both versions will be available in May.