3 out of 5

Yes, free speech.  Sort of… an interesting topic given the recent explosion of conversations regarding gender in video games and comic lately, but the Liberty Annual either plays it safe or plays it consistent and sticks to its regular thang of trotting out various indies and knowns to do short pieces generally dealing with freedom of expression in media.  The books are normally a mixture of annoying preaching and bits that try to actual make a story out of the topic (since there’s really not anything new to say about it, you’re just saying it); the 2014 version is much the same but it does lean more toward fantastic representations than just talking to the reader.  I especially like the ones that just seem to come from nowhere, like Tom Fowler and Jeff Parker’s Little Star, or the Dunlaveys’ (Luke and Ryan) Karatebot.  Amy Chu and Shannon Wheeler even manage to do a preachier one (with a talking grandpa book and his talking grandson tablet) that earns some chuckles while doing its bit, and you gotta love Stan Sakai’s non-Usagi tale which… uh, is just like a Stan Sakai non-Usagi tale: total parable that probably has something to do with the topic (directly and indirectly) but distracts us / entertains us with sword choppy action.

I don’t think you 100% buy these books to read for joy, but I didn’t have to drudge through any particular story here, and a couple of them would actually survive in a typical, non-CBLDF themed anthology.