Mike Diana
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Mike Diana, an underground cartoonist, became the first artist ever to receive a criminal conviction for obscenity in the United States.
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[edit] Biography
In the early 1990s, Mike Diana began producing the adult comic book Boiled Angel. This amateur comic contained graphic depictions of a variety of taboo and gory subjects, and it was distributed to only a handful of retailers. In 1991, while investigating a Florida murder case, a police officer discovered an issue of Boiled Angel and, desperate for clues, contacted Diana, informed him he was a suspect, and requested a blood sample. The real killer was soon apprehended, and Diana was not pursued. The officer in question, however, collected additional issues of Boiled Angel and sent them to the State’s Attorney’s office where they went on file. Two years later, the Assistant State's Attorney, Stuart Baggish, came across the books and sent Diana a certified letter that said he was being charged with three counts of obscenity: one for publishing the material, one for distributing it, and one for advertising it. At this point, Diana contacted the non-profit First Amendment organization the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which provided him, free of cost to him, with the services of several prominent defense attorneys and expert witnesses.
Diana was employed as an elementary school janitor at the time of his first notoriety. He had used the school's copier to reproduce some of his comic books representing crude, graphic drawings of sexual molestation and limb severing. Some of the material was allegedly left there, and Diana was fired.
After a brief trial, Diana was found guilty on all three counts. Diana was sentenced to a three-year probation, during which time his residence was subject to inspection to determine if he was in possession of or was creating obscene material. He was to avoid all contact with children under 18, undergo psychological testing, enroll in a journalistic ethics course, pay a $3,000 fine, and perform 1,248 hours of community service. He was not sentenced to any jail time, and in the end only spent four days in jail between the dates of the verdict and the sentencing.
To fulfill the requirement of undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, Diana was informed that the doctor whom he would see charged $100 an hour, which he would have to pay for himself, and that his evaluation would take two hours. After the evaluation, Diana was informed the session would cost $1,200 because the doctor claimed to have spent 10 hours reading Boiled Angel in preparation. Out of funds, Diana was unable to pay, and the doctor was unable to give her evaluation to the court, effectively making him in violation of his parole.
Mike Diana was published and represented by Shane Bugbee and Michael Hunt Publishing from 1993 until 2000, when MHP closed their doors after the semi-successful, swan song, "The Angry White Male Tour" of the West Coast, from Seattle to Austin, Texas. It was featured in numerous magazines and newspapers.
Mike Diana's legal ordeal inspired a play, dramatized by David Johnston, titled Busted Jesus Comix. The play borrows many particulars from the legal case and punishments meted out to Mike Diana, while the character of the comic artist in Busted Jesus and the background story are entirely fictional. The play has been produced on Off-Off-Broadway and in Los Angeles, and has received very favorable reviews.
Comic book company, Angry Drunk Graphics, now publishes his work.
[edit] Books
- Boiled Angel zine #1-8
- Sourball Prodigy, zine by Mike Diana, 1992, published as book in 2002 by Portuguese publisher MMMNNNRRRG
- Superfly #1 Comic, by Mike Diana, 1993
- Cherry Bomb Revolution, by Mike Diana, 1995
- Worst of Boiled Angel, by Mike Diana, 1996
- Superfly #2 Comic, by Mike Diana, 1997
- "Scummy Comix", by Mike Diana, 2007 published by AngryDrunkGraphics.com
[edit] Contributor
- ANSWER Me! #3 and #4
- Zero Zero
- CriCa Ilustrada mag (comics) published by Chili Com Carne (Portugal)
- Angry Drunk Graphics' Holiday Spectacular #2 published by AngryDrunkGraphics
