This isn’t news to anyone here since Fandom Pulse covered it last week. What makes it noteworthy is that Neil Gaiman’s favorite newspaper, which has fawned all over him for literal decades and has regularly featured his contributions, actually reported on the news, and did so without waiting for months this time.
A US publisher of comics by Neil Gaiman has announced that it has cancelled plans to publish future works by the author who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Dark Horse Comics “takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works,” the company wrote in a statement on X.
“Confirming that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have been cancelled,” it added. Dark Horse Comics began publishing the Anansi Boys series, an adaptation of Gaiman’s 2005 novel of the same name, in June last year. It was intended to be an eight-issue series, but has now been cancelled following the seventh issue, published 15 January.
Nine women have now accused Gaiman of sexual misconduct. On 14 January, the author published a statement on his website saying that he had “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone”. Gaiman’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment on Dark Horse Comics’ statement.
HarperCollins, which publishes many of Gaiman’s books in the US including Coraline and American Gods, told Publishers Weekly that it does not have any new books by Gaiman scheduled. WW Norton, the US publisher of Gaiman’s book Norse Mythology, said that it will not have projects with the author going forward, though did not say whether this was connected to the allegations. Marvel Comics has no new works by Gaiman in progress, according to the New York Times.
Other publishers of Gaiman’s work – including Bloomsbury, Penguin, Hachette, DC Comics and Titan – have not yet made public statements about whether they will continue to publish the author, and did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment.
Given that Dark Horse was historically inclined to NOT take action in similar circumstances, the fact that two institutions whose natural inclinations were to cover things up are instead distancing themselves from the accused serial rapist is a fairly strong indicator that the other publishers who are more heavily invested in their business relationships will eventually follow suit, however reluctantly.