necessary] to catch him in his true state." Aspects of this sentence drew critical reaction from the civil liberties community. Blummer was surprised by these provisions, saying, "I don't know of any time when such monitoring has been used on an artist. It reminds you of mind control. The fact that the state doesn't like Michael Diana's attitude and will send him to experts and conduct searches is like legalized lobotomy." Susan Alston of the CBLDF branch in Northampton, Massachusetts argued, "There have been about half-a-dozen comic book obscenity cases in the United States, but most involved store owners--and nobody was ever ordered to stop drawing. Diana is definitely the first artist who's been banned as part of his sentence." Richard Wilson, a national officer of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, called the sentence "absolutely illegal", saying that it amounted to unconstitutional prior restraint. Noted comics creators also were outraged. Comics writer and novelist Neil Gaiman spoke out in support of Diana, and writer and theorist Scott McCloud called the inspection and seizure of Diana's personal drawings "sheer lunacy". Writer Peter David characterized the sentence as "onerous". Probation, appeals and other legal troubles Despite his and others' reaction to the sentence and Diana's bitterness toward those who targeted him, he says his probation officer, who followed his trial, was generally sympathetic and wished only to help him through his probation. During that time, Diana took up painting, and he produced one for Wired magazine that depicted himself as a tiny figure in the courtroom and the judge and prosecutors as monsters surrounding him, which he jokingly suggested violated his probation. Following his sentencing, Diana consulted with a psychiatrist who told him she charged $100 an hour for his exam, which she said would take three hours. Upon conclusion of the exam, which involved an interview, an examination of his work, true/false questions, and a Rorschach test, she charged him $1,300, informing him that she had spent 10 hours reviewing his comics. Diana, who suspected her of inflating her bill because she knew the court had ordered him to pay for the exams, refused, and was never given the test results. According to the November/December 1994 Mother Jones magazine, Diana had been recently arrested in Orlando when he tried to pay for a horse-and-carriage ride with a $1 bill doctored to look like a $20 bill. His attorney stated that Diana