Gordon Lee Set to Stand Trial

After nearly 3 years and $80,000 spent on his defense, Rome, Georgia comic book retailer Gordon Lee is set to stand trial today for allegedly distributing material with nudity to two minors during a promotional event in 2004. Lee is charged with two misdemeanor counts of distributing material harmful to minors and faces penalties of up a year in prison and $1,000 in fines. Lee’s case revolves around a copy of a promotional comic book given out to kids during Free Comic Book Day in 2004 that included a nude image of Pablo Picasso, an excerpt from The Salon by Nick Bertozzi, a graphic novel eventually published by St. Martin’s Press. Lee contends that distributing the books to the two minors was unintentional and inadvertent. 

Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense, a nonprofit organization that monitors the First Amendment rights of comics artists and retailers that also funds and coordinates Lee’s defense, said the outcome of the case has, “has broad consequences for all retailers of First Amendment protected material. If Gordon is found guilty, it would establish a precedent that makes the seller of any book, magazine, or film depicting non-sexual nudity vulnerable to a similar prosecution in the State of Georgia.”