From: [Juergen Seebeck] at [Hamburg.NetSurf.DE] (Jürgen Seebeck)
Date: 2 Aug 1995 21:50:57 GMT
Subject: Hundred Comic Titles Confiscated In Germany

07.31.1995

NEWS ITEM

TANK-GIRL, MAUS by ART SPIEGELMAN and hundred more comic-titles confiscated!

The incident:
On july, 25th 1995 the offices and warehouses of the price-winniing
publishers EDITION KUNST DER COMICS, ALPHA COMIC VERLAG and of the
delivery-service PACKWAHN in Sonneberg, Germany have been searched by 40
policeman, one public prosecutor and one dog.
Edition Kunst der Comics and Alpha Comic are the German publishers of such
artists as Mattotti, Boucq, Charles Burns, Edika, Alex Varenne and hundred
others. In these companies works as GON (M.Tanaka), LA GRAND ENCYCLOPEDIE
DES LUTINS etc. were published recently. PACKWAHN is also the
delivery-service for other publishers like COMICPLUS+, CONDOR etc.
Beside floppy disks and other data-material the police confiscated roughly
one hundred different comic-books, paperbacks and posters of Ralf Koenig
(KILLER CONDOM), Art Spiegelman, Paul Gillon (AU NOM DE TOUS LES MIENS; LA
SURVIVANTE), Hewlett/Martin (TANK GIRL) and others.

The details:
Whiel during the fifties and early sixties comic-books have been burned on
public places in nearly every German city and nobody of the responsible
persons seeing the parallelity to the fascist autodafes in the thirties -
today the courts are the battlefields against comic-art.
Germany in july 1995:
July, 4th, Cologne: the regional court of appeal has to decide if the
acquittel of the local court is right or not: is Maesters SISTER
MARIA-THERESA blasphemy or protected as a work of art. The result: the
acquittel is correct and valid. A good opportunity to push the picture of
the "unchaste nun" (SPIEGEL) through television and print-media in whole
Germany.
July, 6th, Bonn: hearing at the federal board of examination on
publications, which endanger the youth (impossible to translate this
institution of the family ministery), object: BULLENKLOETEN (bulls eggs)
of the German shooting star Ralf Koenig. Reproach: pornography. Result of
the hearing: this book is a product of art and no pornography, so it can
be sold without restrict, but how long, because . . .
July, 25th, Sonneberg:publishing-house of Edition Kunst der Comics, Alpha
Comic Verlag. Search and confication because of the suspicion of spreading
pornography and propaganda for violence. 40 armed policemen and -women,
one public prosecutor and one dog storm the house and search for more than
six hours. What did they find? For example: one female member of our staff
at the toilett, where she has been forced to end her business under the
eyes of the police. The prosecutor speaks of pornography, this degrading
behaviour is in fact pornographic.
They confiscate around one hundred different comic-titles, a good part of
itarchive and reference-material like L'ECHO DES SAVANES, but also books
and magazines like KILLER KONDOM, HARDBOILED, TANK GIRL, lots of issues of
U-COMIX and SCHWERMETALL. Who still does not know, which kind of
consciousness is forming the basis of this action, should note, that the
police also confiscated a poster of MAUS by Art Spiegelman and two books
of AU NOM DE TOUS LES MIENS by Paul Gillon, which has been nominated for
the Gustav-Heinemann-peace-award.
Of course they also confiscated titles of erotic content like LA
SURVIVANTE by Gillon, the hardcore-parody SQEAUK, THE MOUSE by Mattioli or
MORBUS GRAVIS by Serpieri. There have been hearings at the
family-ministery concerning most of these titles in the past and none of
them has ever been forbidden.
Last but not least the police also confiscated MARIA THERESA of Maester,
so the circle closes, but the censorship-terror still did not found an end
. . .

ALPHA COMIC VERLAG
EDITION KUNST DER COMICS
Koeppelsdorfer Str. 197 A
D-96515 Sonneberg
Tel: 03675-40 90 0
Fax: 03675-40 90 20

Redaktion:
Friedensstr. 8
D-91336 Heroldsbach
Tel/Fax: +49-9190-1205