In 1971, a group of underground cartoonists known as the Air Pirates put out a comic book parody of Disney cartoons in which Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Bucky Bug and others get high, have sex and swear a blue streak. Extremely protective of its characters' reputations, Disney sued-and turned what would have been a blip on the countercultural
Radar screen into a
First Amendment cause celebre. The result was a classic post-Vietnam kulturkampf pitting artistic license against corporate copyright, and San Francisco's bohemian debauchery against Disneyland's disciplined wholesomeness. Levin's charming and thoughtful account, complete with reproductions of some of the offending cartoons, meanders through the history of the comic book industry, the rise of Disney to domination in the cultural marketplace and the intricacies of copyright and
First Amendment law around which the
Litigation revolved. His anecedotal, shaggy-dog style is perfect for sketching indelible portraits of the quirky, romantic, incorrigibly stoned denizens of San Francisco's underground comics scene, whose mission it was to smash every false idol of square America and whose sensibility lives on in alternative weeklies across the land. If they did, as Disney claimed, besmirch the innocence of a national icon, the Air Pirates are themselves emblems of a lost idealism, of a
Time when people believed that sex, drugs and revolutionary rhetoric could liberate society from the rule of corporate
Entertainment monoliths. B&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader ReviewsFirst, the bad stuff: too partisan in places, including the all-too-common Sixties survivors' "weren't we just so wonderful?" meanderings, some barely-relvant personal stuff about the author's own life, some over-lawyerly writing in a few places, and an occasional assumption that you know about certain artists or individuals already. That aside, this is a very good book. Disney took on the collective work of Dan O'Neill and the Air Pirates after they issued parodies of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters. Or, as intellectual property (IP) lawyers say, "properties." Levin's work emphasizes the case, how it came about, how it moved through the courts, and what the disposition was. As a result, the reader gets a good idea of how IP cases work, and what was at stake. He discusses the notion of parody, infringement, and so on, pointing the oddities and contradictions in the statutory and case law. (But, hey, a case citation once in a while, counselor?) The publishers reproduce some of the offending material, letting the reader see what Disney saw. Levin also does not glorify O'Neill or the other Air Pirates, though he clearly supports their side, and says that getting the real story from O'Neill and his crew was not always easy. Finally, if this book causes a few more folks to seek out O'Neill's "Odds Bodkins", it will have done a great service. Like UG comics? Don't miss this. IP lawyer? A must read.
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