THE TRIAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER

THE TRIAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER
A Graphic Novel by John Mulholand

“We are going to change the libel laws dealing with the press.”

“The press is the enemy of the American people.”

Long before the sound bites, the headlines, and the political firestorms of today, there was another battle over the power of the press — fought not on television, but in a sweltering colonial courtroom nearly three centuries ago.

New York, 1735.
A struggling immigrant printer.
A tyrannical royal governor.
A city split between the powerful elite and the voiceless poor.

When printer John Peter Zenger publishes articles exposing corruption in the colonial government, he is arrested for seditious libel — a charge that could mean lifelong imprisonment… or worse. His newspaper is targeted, his allies threatened, and the courts stacked against him. The verdict seems inevitable.

Until, at the darkest moment, an aging, razor-sharp attorney named Andrew Hamilton walks into the courtroom — and dares to argue something no lawyer has ever successfully claimed before:

That truth itself cannot be libel.

What follows is a tense, witty, and explosive courtroom showdown packed with political intrigue, secret meetings, personal sacrifice, and a marriage tested under the weight of history. As Hamilton battles hostile judges and a hand-picked jury, Zenger’s courageous wife keeps the presses running from outside the prison walls — turning one man’s trial into a movement that will echo across continents.

Part historical thriller, part legal drama, and part origin story of the First Amendment, THE TRIAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER brings to vivid graphic life the landmark case that helped ignite America’s fight for independence and forever changed the meaning of a free press.

Because the first great battle for press freedom
didn’t happen yesterday.

It happened in 1735.

(C) 2026 John Mulholland All Rights Reserved.