Ryan Standfest: BLACK EYE Anthology Confiscated at Canadian Border

We just received the following e-mail from Ryan Standfest, editor/publisher of Rotland Press + Comic Works:

Mr. Tom Neely reported this morning that while traveling across the border to Canada to attend this year's TCAF, the five copies of the black humor comics anthology BLACK EYE that he was carrying with him to the festival were confiscated/seized by a customs agent on the grounds that the material in BLACK EYE was "obscene."

According to Neely:

"... They took 'em. I tried to get them to just ship them back to me at home, but they said they were required to send it to Ottawa for review... if they found the material to be 'obscene' they would take 'further action.' I asked what 'further action' meant and he said they would just destroy them. Or there is a chance they might ship them back to me.

"It was the page of Onsmith's gags that they first saw... I tried to tell them that it was 'parody' and 'humor' and the rest of the book had essays on the history of dark humor... the customs guy was really cool and understanding, but he said he just couldn't let them through. I just hope 'further action' doesn't involve being arrested the next time I try to cross the border."

More details to come as we learn them.