Of Jihads & Stupid Jokes

Rich Johnston pointed out how there was an uncomfortable exchange in an interview with Paul Cornell, conducted by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean over on Newsarama. The exchange (and almost all posts referring to it) later disappeared.

No explanation. No apology. Nothing.

Rich got his hands on a print screen of the bit.


After Cornell finished an answer that indicated Faiza (the muslima character he's created in his upcoming series) will not be a stereotype and is a character that he will do his damnedest to avoid cliches with (religious or otherwise), BOPKean's next question was:

NRAMA: Did she join this team with motives of her own? Is she on a jihad mission, going on an all-out holy war against...what?

Knowing how a lot of these interviews go, it is entirely possible that Kean sent a bunch of questions via e-mail at the beginning, so that his follow-up question would not have been informed by the response to the previous question. Still...the exchange finished up with:

PC: You *what*?! I typed something much ruder in answer to that originally. What the hell?

NRAMA: Oh blimey! We're all doomed!

That right there is why I think the interviewer was just colossally stupid, rather than a bigot. I fully believe that the jihad question was just asked out of ignorance or an attempt at frat boy level humor. There's evidence to back that up...namely the fact that he left the idiotic question, the angered answer, and the frivolous and inappropriate wrap-up comment in the final article he sent into Matt Brady.

Someone who was less ignorant of or oblivious to the situation would have e-mailed an apology to the creator and a few new questions to give a better wrap-up to the article. This guy sailed on with a bliss that can only come from complete ignorance to the ugliness he caused by answering the question or the shitstorm he could create for his employer by that running on their site unedited.

Now...would it have been nice if Newsarama addressed the issue instead of trying to delete all evidence of its existence and pretend it never happened? Sure. But what are they really going to do? It was an interview done by a contractor that they fixed as soon as they caught what had happened. I don't know any place of business that publicly chastises an employee after a mistake. I'm sure something has been privately been said to Kean to help make sure nothing that stupid or potentially inflammatory (to a creator or the audience) slips into his finished work again.

NON-ISSUE: Wildstorm Canceled Or Just A Stillborn Line Within Wildstorm?

NON-ISSUE: I HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY (PUN INTENDED) THAT THE WILDSTORM LINE IS SAFER THAN SAFE RIGHT NOW!

UPDATE 1: Apparently, Rich Johnston has removed the story referenced below. That sound you're hearing appears to be the death throes of the WILDSTORM line, I do believe.

UPDATE 2: Dianafan, CBR poster and friend of SchwappOnline, provided a screen cap of the article as it appeared in Rich's column prior to being pulled down:



Rich Johnston reported on the following tidbits that Cully Hamner (f*cking great artist, by the way) shared with the world:

That project that I was gonna do after "Black Lightning," the one that got the official greenlight? It was a part of a line of books that DC just CANCELLED. Just got the word in a conference call.

Canceled line? The whole Wildstorm line, possibly? Since we're seeing Midnighter and others bite the dust...

Anyone with further details they'd like to share about the line canceling? Anonymous and Mysterious are taken, but you could be Mr/Mrs. Unknown or some other name of your choosing. ;)

Oh Bendis, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

Anyone who has read a bit of my work here knows I tend to slag on Marvel. My dislike has little to do with their product and everything to do with the manner they hawk it (going beyond hucksterism and into direct lies, recently).

But through the work of the wonderful John Siuntres Word Balloon work with Brian Bendis, I started to soften my stance on Marvel. The reverence he has for Quesada helps reinforce that, whatever outlandish lengths they go to in their efforts to sell books, their heart is always in the right place.

Then there was the thread on the Bendis Boards (covered by Rich Johnston at the link) where he seemed to overreact to hype from Grant Morrison that attempted to dissuade readers from checking out Secret Invasion, as it was all "been there, done that" type material. The thread was started by a pro-Marvel/anti-DC troll (pictured at right with Bendis) and humored by the comic book creator with a response.

guys calm down. he shit talked. so what? i thought it was a little beneath him too, but, hey, its comics. he's having a row, as they say.

same shit gail does all the time. they must teach a class in it over there.

and although i pulled a hammy holding in the jokes goofing on that picture, i say let it ride.

knowing what everyone in the industry knows about what's going on with 'his' book behind the scenes, even jokingly, he really should keep his yap el shutto.

Adding later:

in 2012 when final crisis is done, we'll see what's what.

Gail Simone called him on it, somewhat cordially. She couldn't understand why he was being so sensitive and attempted to defuse it all by assuring Bendis how everyone in the industry knows he didn't become a top talent in the industry by being a hack. Simone repeated this sentiment often, expressing how the fans were going to be the winners this summer because there are two great events to be interested in.

There was a large lull in responses from anyone of note, just a lot of useless back and forth by message board posters. The originator of the thread found himself in the barrel, having jokes made at his expense regarding how he has often carried himself on those boards. I went away for the afternoon to hit the gym and, when I came back, the thread was gone. Thankfully, Rich Johnston (and his sources) were not away at the gym for the end.

Below is an account of some of the stuff he typed, according to Rich's column. I don't know if it was all in one post or spread out over many responses, so I'm reprinting it as it was found:

"holy fuck!! this is the dumbest thread full of stupid on the entire internet!!! and that is saying something.

"you see the fucking smiley faces on my original posts?? it means i'm goofing around!!! like grant seemingly was!!

"see how i have no smiley faces here?? means i'm not!!

"who gives a fucking shit about any of this!! what does it have to do with comics or storytelling or art or fun!!

"gail, go outside, you're losing your mind!! you're on here 24/7 taking shots. i mention you once and we get a lecture. you ARE dave sim. so get some air!!!

"comics are fun!! they are art!! none of this thread is.

"go read the killer. its fucking fantastic.

"and if you were el douchy enough to cut and paste my other posts, minus smileys, on other boards, to see if you can start shit or something.... time to do some soul searching, i would think."

Now, there's really no "joking" way to say "knowing what everyone in the industry knows about what's going on with 'his' book behind the scenes". Smiley face or not, it isn't a good-spirited statement of any kind. Which is what throws everything he originally said into a different light and, while I like to believe he knows what he meant better than anyone, makes it doubtful that he is being truthful about how he meant his initial statements.

Gail comes back and has a brief statement that, while not filled with bile and venom, isn't meant to be building any bridges to peace, either.

"Yikes. The Bendis over-reaction train keeps a'rollin' on!

""Taking shots 24/7?"

"Have you gone nuts?

"Yikes."

Then the thread goes bye-bye. Bendis made some sort of post where he thanked people for reporting posts in the thread and that it had become all "lord of the flies in there", which would seem to be his reason for nuking (rather than just locking?) the thread.

There's a temptation during our less than stellar moments to find some way to erase them if there is any way possible. The internet/information age makes that even harder to do than it might have previously been. You're better off just trying to forget it happened than trying to make it disappear. It only gets worse.

Updated: The Marvel Swipe Club Grows One Larger!

Over in Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters forum, a poster has pointed out a HORRIBLY OBVIOUS photo-reference swipe job. This is the sort of thing that Marvel sent out a memo to all artists telling them not to do, in order to cover their asses legally.

I'm not running the pictures here because the poster was bringing it to Rich's attention and his column doesn't run until Mondays. He should be the first place with the image.

Update: A Newsarama poster named MartianChild has given more examples of Mack's history of swipes (dating back to before his Marvel time):

I am a fan of David Mack's work, and I find him to be a very talented writer and illustrator. But as a longtime follower of his career, over the years I have noticed literally countless times that he has swiped, or copied, or traced, or "paid homage to" other very recognizable sources, without even attempting to disquise the fact that he was swiping, or copying, or tracing or "paying homage". I direct your attention to the following examples :

This Kabuki illustration ...



... was taken from an advertisement for a bridal boutique :



This Danger Girl illustration ...



was taken from a fashion magazine editorial featuring model Frankie Rayder :



This Daredevil sketch ...



was taken from, of all places, an advertisement for Durex Condoms :


And that's just 3 samples. There are many, many, many other examples. Much of his work seems to be directly based on (or traced from) some kind of photographic reference.