Cartoonist Larry Marder, creator of the Beanworld comic, has been reelected president of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit First Amendment watchdog organization protecting the interests of comics creators, retailers, librarians and fans. In addition, longtime treasurer Milton Griepp, CEO of pop culture trade news site ICv2.com, was elected CBLDF vice president and Jeff Abraham, president of Random House Publisher Services, was elected treasurer.

Dale Cendali was also reelected as secretary of the CBLDF and Andrew McIntire, senior director of retail operations for TFAW.com, has joined the CBLDF board of directors. The CBLDF board includes Diamond Comics’ CEO Steve Geppi, former DC Comics president Paul Levitz and retailers Joe Ferrara and Chris Powell.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund monitors First Amendment rights for the comics community and industry, including offering legal assistance, representation and education to the comics community. Abraham heads up RHPS, the distribution unit of Random House, which has increased its distribution relationships with comics and manga publishers in recent years adding such clients as DC Comics, Kodansha, Archie, and Vertical Inc. Abraham said, “keeping CBLDF well-funded and financially disciplined is incredibly important in order to execute the organization’s mission, and that will be the focus of my work with the board and management.”

Griepp is a veteran of more than 35 years in the comics industry working in retail, distribution and as CEO of ICv2, one of the leading sources of news about comics and the pop and geek culture industries. Griepp said he looked forward to his new position at CBLDF, “I’m privileged to continue to serve the industry through my participation as an officer and board member of the fund.”