More posts about the Jesus Castillo case.

For folks who are interested, here are some more links about the Jesus Castillo case. This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list – just some of the posts that have caught my eye.

• The Comics Journal Weblog‘s Dirk Deppy discusses the case, and my posts in particular. Dirk agrees with me that “Arguing that Demon Beast Invasion contains some sort of serious artistic worth is an uphill battle, especially once you’ve read the work in question.” However, unlike me, Dirk thinks there is a danger of a slippery slope.
• Julian Sanchez responds to me, as well, and he and I have a brief debate in his comments section. With all due respect (and I like Julian a lot), his belief that “banning Maus would be no better and no worse, in itself, than banning Demon Beast Invasion” is exactly the kind of nihilism that makes it impossible for me to relate to the first-amendment-purist position.
• I’ve linked to this Beldarblog entry before, but he’s added so much in updates that it’s worth reading again.
• Eugene Volokh examines the case, and concludes that “the flaw, if there is one (and I think there is) is with obscenity law generally, or the court of appeals’ application of it, and not with some new standard being created for comic books.”
• Amused in Review comments “I definitely think you ought to expect more of a lawyer who manages to rack up $60,000 in fees defending a misdemeanor case that netted a $4,000 fine and 180 day suspended sentence.” (The title to this post is pretty clever, too.)
• Jaquandor of Byzantium’s Shores uses this case as an example of what’s wrong with arguments based on “common sense.”
• Peter David takes the opportunity to make a general argument against obscenity laws.
• Kevin at Lean Left writes about the injustice of arresting a clerk for this sort of thing, regardless of what you think of obscenity laws.

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