In mid-1954 the Queensland Government set up a Board of Review, working under the Objectionable Literature Act of 1954 act. The board, consisting of four men and one woman, initially met once every fortnight with the view of examining all publications on sale in Queensland, barring newspapers, and ultimately to prohibit the circulation in Queensland of any material that they found to be objectionable. in late 1954 the Board banned romance comics as published by three Australian publishers. Only this time the publishers refused to accept the ban, a first for all concerned. The three publishers banded together to bring the appeal to the Supreme Court. Unlike earlier cases the appeal would consist of more than merely affidavits as for the first time in Australia, and perhaps in the world, a superior court listened to days of argument and a series of witnesses in order to decide whether a comic book had the power and influence to deprave the reader. This book provides the full details of what happened in court, when the publishers fought the censors, and won.
About the Author: Daniel Best was born in South Australia and is a life-long lover of history and popular culture. He has worked extensively in both electronic and print media, and currently works for the Government of South Australia. In his spare time he writes profusely and his work has been lauded worldwide as being insightful and, at times, ground-breaking. With a keen eye for his topics and a dogged approach to research, Daniel's books have won high praise from their readers with the result being that, in 2010, Best formed his own publishing arm, Blaq Books. At the moment his Trials of Superman Volumes 1 & 2 have been downloaded over 60,000 times in four months, and his books include the authorised biographies of the Eisner Hall Of Fame winners Ross Andru & Mike Esposito and Jim Mooney. Recently Best has begun to delve his research talents to the world of law, copyright and the impacts that cases have upon society as a whole. This has resulted in a whole new field of books, which will be available as electronic versions only, thus cementing his desire to remain at the forefront of publishing. He is verbose, articulate and his work is referenced both in other people's books and the media and also in major court cases in the USA. His current works include the complete history of the legendary Newton Comics and the 1955 Queensland Comic Book trials.