Jaunted

As Sable describes it:

"The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble. The first page of the Unthinkable script mentioned 9/11, terror plots, and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state. The TSA agents then proceeded to interrogate me, having a hard time understanding that a comic book could be about anything other than superheroes, let alone that anyone actually wrote scripts for comics.

Sable "cooperated politely" and took the time to explain his work to the agents, noting that the story is based on a real-life government think-tank that comes up with worst case scenarios. In the end, rationality and good sense prevailed and Sable was allowed to continue on his journey to a signing at Jim Hanley's Universe in New York.

So is it right for TSA agents to scrutinize any printed materials you might be carrying, or interrogate you for a fictional work that happens to include terrorist acts? Maybe not, but you probably do want to stop the guys carrying plans for an actual terrorist attack, bomb-making diagrams, and that kind of thing. How to tell the difference? Practice, I guess. As Sable puts it, "I feel my privacy is a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium."

Well said.

[Photo: SFScope]

Related Stories:
· Comics Writer Mark Sable Detained for Unthinkable Acts [SFScope]
· Mark Sable Detained by TSA for Unthinkable Script [Comics Alliance]
· GroundedComic.com [Official Site]
· TSA Coverage [Jaunted]