Tag: SJW

SyFyWire isn’t quite sure what ComicsGate is, when it started, or why it started, but they know a) it is Very Bad, and b) Ethan van Sciver and Richard Meyer are ComicsGateNaziHater He-Men Women Harassers.

In the current climate of internet discourse, the latest story of online harassment is always just around the corner. That’s especially true in the comic book industry. If you’ve been following most comic creators during the end of August, then you’ve likely seen the latest developments in the ongoing saga of what’s become known as “Comicsgate.”

Comicsgate, for those not in the know, is the name of a group of comics readers who believe their beloved medium has been corrupted by political correctness. It is their stated belief that Social Justice Warriors (SJWs, or people with vested interest in women, POC, and members of the LGBTQ community) have infiltrated the comics industry and are simultaneously profiting off of it and destroying it from the inside. In order to combat this invasion, they have taken to their keyboards to harass, dox, and threaten any creator they believe to be a part of the problem.

The actual timeline of Comicsgate — tracking down where and when it started, who exactly started it, and what the inciting incident may have been — is complicated, to say the least. It may have begun as many as three or four years ago, coinciding with the rise of its mutated brethren Gamergate and the Sad Puppy take over of the Hugos. It may instead have begun when Chelsea Cain completed her run on Marvel’s Mockingbird, or when Heather Antos, formerly an editor at Marvel, posted a photo of herself and other staffers enjoying an evening of milkshakes. We did our best to track the start of this so-called “movement” earlier this year, but wherever you believe it started, Comicsgate has now entered a new chapter. Much to the chagrin of those involved, many of their heroes are now denouncing them altogether.

In the final week of August, countless comics pros began posting a copied and pasted message to their social media accounts. The message was one of solidarity with marginalized creators who had been experiencing extended harassment, many for more than a year. The message read, “I believe comics are for everyone. There is no excuse for harassment. There is no place for homophobia, transphobia, racism or misogyny in comics criticism.”

Whatever. The Evil Legion of Evil is not ComicsGate, we’re not on Twitter or Facebook, and all this back-and-forth online harassment is simply Not Our Problem. We have more important things to do. For one, publishing three of the top 50 bestselling superhero comics and graphic novels. That’s not Kindle either, that’s everything. It’s fascinating to see that some of the print editions are actually outselling the Kindle editions on Amazon, particularly when we know how well they are doing on Arkhaven Direct.

For two, we’re now entering the final stretch of the Alt-Hero: Q campaign. Trust the Plan. Join the Win. Get on Board. Crush the SJWs. If you’re still on the fence about this one, today is the time to jump. There are just 17 hours left.

ComicsGate is making the same mistake as the Sad Puppies and trying to make nice with the SJWs who hate them. But cowering, cringing, and smiling hopefully in an attempt to convey your harmlessness is not going to stop an SJW media swarming any more than wagging its tail will permit a puppy to fend off an attack by a school of ravenous flying piranha.

UPDATE: A rare Brightstream addressing the closing hours of the campaign. Also, I’ll be on with Alex Jones at 1 PM Central.

The thing that you have to understand here is that this can happen to anyone. SJWs will abuse their positions if given the opportunity. Once you become a target, for whatever reason, however harmless you are, however harmless you believe yourself to be, however moderate you believe yourself to be, they will attempt to monkeywrench. It’s guaranteed, and again, it’s not just people like me, you know, actually, someone like me doesn’t get attacked that much because the SJWs know perfectly well that I’m not going to give in to them. I will actually go to the trouble of doing the exact opposite simply because I’m not willing to let myself be manipulated by them, but if you look at what’s happening with the Linux kernel….

Now, we all thought that the Linux kernel was unassailable because Linus Torvalds had established such a ruthless meritocracy, with no respect for feelings whatsoever. Now, suddenly, what we’re seeing is that thanks to the cancer known as Coraline, SJWs have managed to successfully oust Linus and they’ve managed to establish a code of conduct that they’ve already weaponized. They’re already using it to go after non-SJWs and try to eject them from positions of influence within the project, and so, you know, you have to understand that this is not a figment of my imagination!

I wrote about this back in 2015. Nothing has changed. I even specifically warned about this in SJWs Always Double Down, I specifically warned of the danger of codes of conduct and about this Coraline creature. Specifically! And now we’re seeing Linux, of all things, being converged, and you see people like Roosh whose books have been under attack, and the thing is that virtue-signaling and trying to get back in their good graces like we’re seeing some of the ComicsGate people do is not going to work. It’s not going to work because it’s not about you, it’s about them! They need to be oppositional. You know, once they have you as a target, you are of use to them, and if you are a target who is willing to virtue signal, what you’re doing is you’re painting a target on your chest. You’re not signaling virtue to them to them you’re signaling weakness and they’re going to keep pushing at it and they’re going to keep coming after it.

In the Darkstream, we also discussed the optimal timing of the next major Arkhaven campaign, which will be for a new series totally unrelated to Alt-Hero or any of our existing comics. This comment by a strong ComicsGate supporter was informative.

The indigogo fatigue is real, I started feeling it a few weeks ago. I’ve backed 19 of the indigogo comics so far though so perhaps that has something to do with it. I remember watching Mike S Millers stream some months ago where he interviewed a friend/colleague who recommended against launching close to: tax time and both before and after christmas. Like you said Vox, most people want their gifts in time for xmas and probably would be broke afterwards due to paying off credit cards. I live in Australia so I am unware of tax time for Americans and Euros. I’d say Feb-Nov would be a safe bet for indigogo campaigns, taking into account regional tax periods. 

Quarterly campaigns (4 times a year) also seem like a safe bet. Though apparently launching a fresh campaign while leaving another uncompleted or unfulfilled is a big crowd-funding “no no”. Several Comicsgaters chided Diversity and Comics for launching Iron Sights whilst leaving Jawbreakers unfulfilled. However this may not apply to you as you have a history of fulfilling campaigns and Arkhaven has already a reputation for providing its products.

Share your thoughts, especially if you’re an Alt-Hero backer. We’re well aware of the fatigue aspect; it hasn’t escaped our attention that AH:Q has about half the number of backers that the original AH did. Keep in mind that for us a) these campaigns are as much to test the strength of the demand as to raise the resources required, and, b) we have different art teams on the different series, so there is no impact whatsoever on the speed with which the current projects are being completed.

That being said, I’m leaning towards mid-January at the soonest. I just don’t see how it would be a good idea to do anything before then and we’d like to see Alt★Hero: Q finish strong. Plus, waiting will give us more time to put together some truly killer campaign resources.

Marvel is doubling down more often than a reckless backgammon player.

Marvel Comics announced a brand new Miles Morales series will debut in December from writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Javier Garrón…. Writer Saladin Ahmed elaborates that Miles be “facing threats against the neighborhood rather than the multiverse.” He continues, “Super Villains, yes, but also other threats that speak to our times. He’ll be doing that while also trying to while dealing with bullies, assistant principals, and canceled teen dates. It’s going to be hard!”

“Threats against the neighborhood” = Donald Trump’s unconscionable assault on DREAMers.

“Bullies” = racist neo-Nazis

Assistant principals” = white supremacists

Canceled teen dates = neo-Nazi white supremacist girls named Becky Johnson who are too blonde and racist to go on a date with a teen Hispanic hero.

Sure, barely anyone is going to buy another failed comic series written by a failed SF-SJW. But don’t worry, Marvel will ship it to your local comic store and count it as a sale anyhow.

Like Iceman’s power set itself,  I’ve received double over ships on the new Iceman. Apparently nearly everyone did. I’m not sure if this is an attempt to spike the unit number but I think this is a failing publisher strategy, particularly for a limited series.

The marketing goal here is to give more capacity to retailers so that they hook new readers who were otherwise going to give the title a pass. Traditionally speaking I haven’t seen this ever work in my shop, but other shops have reported some success with it.

In the future, kin mind that when we talk about our sales, we are talking about actual sales to actual customers. The numbers reported by Diamond and Comichron are merely distribution sales into retail, which historically average about a 60 percent sell-through… and that percentage is declining.

So, our 10,000 units sold is the rough equivalent of 16,667 in the Marvel world.

Christians are finally beginning to realize that their churches, and their church leaderships, have been infested and converged by Satanically-inspired SJWs:

In view of questionable sociological, psychological, and political theories presently permeating our culture and making inroads into Christ’s church, we wish to clarify certain key Christian doctrines and ethical principles prescribed in God’s Word. Clarity on these issues will fortify believers and churches to withstand an onslaught of dangerous and false teachings that threaten the gospel, misrepresent Scripture, and lead people away from the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Specifically, we are deeply concerned that values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity, manhood and womanhood, and human sexuality. The Bible’s teaching on each of these subjects is being challenged under the broad and somewhat nebulous rubric of concern for “social justice.” If the doctrines of God’s Word are not uncompromisingly reasserted and defended at these points, there is every reason to anticipate that these dangerous ideas and corrupted moral values will spread their influence into other realms of biblical doctrines and principles.

We submit these affirmations and denials for public consideration, not with any pretense of ecclesiastical authority, but with an urgency that is mixed with deep joy and sincere sorrow. The rapidity with which these deadly ideas have spread from the culture at large into churches and Christian organizations—including some that are evangelical and Reformed—necessitates the issuing of this statement now.

In the process of considering these matters we have been reminded of the essentials of the faith once for all handed down to the saints, and we are re-committed to contend for it. We have a great Lord and Savior, and it is a privilege to defend his gospel, regardless of cost or consequences. Nevertheless, while we rejoice in that privilege, we grieve that in doing so we know we are taking a stand against the positions of some teachers whom we have long regarded as faithful and trustworthy spiritual guides. It is our earnest prayer that our brothers and sisters will stand firm on the gospel and avoid being blown to and fro by every cultural trend that seeks to move the Church of Christ off course. We must remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

The Apostle Paul’s warning to the Colossians is greatly needed today: “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). The document that follows is an attempt to heed that apostolic command. We invite others who share our concerns and convictions to unite with us in reasserting our unwavering commitment to the teachings of God’s Word articulated in this statement. Therefore, for the glory of God among his Church and throughout society, we offer the following affirmations and denials.

It’s a cuckservative statement, weak and Biblically suspect on race, nations, and women, but it’s otherwise rather good. The denials tend to be stronger stuff than the affirmations. Regardless, the fact is that tolerance, equality, progress, inclusivity, and diversity are not merely wrong, they are evil, and can be clearly observed to be so by their fruit. Given what has been done to the Christian church, inside and out, in the name of the gospel of anti-racism, it’s rather remarkable that so many Christians continue to cling to the idea that racism is not only a sin, but the greatest sin of all.

I suspect Christians would better understand their current theological plight if Judeo-Christianity were referred to by a more historically and theologically accurate name: Phariseo-Christianity.

In any event, it is long past time for Christians to expel the SJWs from their midst. Let the inquisitions, the unseatings, and the excommunications begin!

John Trent interviewed me for Bounding Into Comics concerning our support for ComicsGate.

Bounding Into Comics (BIC): What kind of stories do you plan on featuring under this imprint?

Vox Day (Vox):  We plan on featuring any comics and graphic novels brought to us by ComicsGate-affiliated creators who wish to make public their support for ComicsGate.

BIC: Will this be a shared universe imprint like what you are doing with Arkhaven Comics and Alt-Hero?

Vox: No, this is not a shared universe. We set it up as a means of giving ComicsGaters a means of broad and reliable distribution that cannot be shut down by SJWs in the comics industry.

BIC: Do you have any creators already lined up? Who are they?

Vox: Will Caligan is the first. We do have others lined up, but I prefer not to identify them until their comics or graphic novels are ready for publication. As you know, we don’t talk much about our future products, we prefer to wait until things are ready to go before we announce them, as we have done here.

BIC: What will the first title from Will Caligan be? Can you give us any details on the story?

Vox: The print edition of Gun Ghoul. It has done very well in digital, and we expect the graphic novel will also be successful.

Read the whole thing there. The comments promise to prove amusing. Remember this sort of thing from Kotaku In Action?

Nope. Nope. Fuck Vox Day. He has been trying to worm his way into ComicsGate branding for a long time. VOX DAY IS NOT COMICSGATE.

ComicsGate wants politics OUT of comics. We do NOT want to trade SJW bullshit for his alt-right bullshit. Vox is a snake oil salesman, a demagogue, a cult of personality.

Disavow.

See, that’s NOT how you beat the SJWs, kiddies.

Wil Wheaton demonstrates that he has no ability to recognize irony, justice, or karma:

M. A. Murray 31 AUGUST, 2018 AT 12:08 PM
I do not hate you. But what’s missing from this post of yours, as is true of so many of your tweets, is any sense of self-awareness. Everything is always something someone else has done to you. You refuse to accept any responsibility yourself for anything. You have, over the years, said terrible things about people you disagreed with politically and about people who supported GamerGate, as but two examples. You have not only participated in the climate of hate you now decry, you have helped foster it yourself. You have helped make the world bad for others, and you have expressed not the tiniest bit of self-reflection or remorse about it.

Charlie Kilo 31 AUGUST, 2018 AT 12:17 PM
You left Twitter because they wouldn’t deplatform someone you think is a hater, and are complaining that you got deplatformed from Mastodon by people who think you’re a hater. Did this experience teach you anything?

Wil 31 AUGUST, 2018 AT 12:23 PM
Yes. It taught me that people will seek out and create false equivalence to feed their narrative.

You see, to the insufficiently enlightened, one deplatforming for being deemed hateful by others is exactly the same as another. But what these social justice-challenged troglodytes fail to take into account is that while one deplatforming happened to Wil Wheaton, the others did not, therefore the equivalence is obviously and necessarily false.

Meanwhile, John Scalzi continues to blithely pretend that he has never heard of this hateful Wil Wheaton unperson….

I’ve made a choice not to say anything publicly, because, quite frankly (and I know you don’t want to hear this) I don’t owe anyone anything, no matter how loudly and persistently they demand it. If someone has decided that they are owed my public comment on this, or anything else, and will hate on me because I’m not giving it to them, that’s entirely their choice and their right. It is also my choice and my right to not engage with or respond to random people on the Internet.

Oh, I’m sorry. That was Wil Wheaton explaining why he wasn’t going to say anything about Chris Hardwick, not John Scalzi explaining why he wasn’t going to say anything about Wil Wheaton. It’s just so hard to keep these chinless gamma males straight.

On Day 2, the AH:Q campaign is at 87 percent of green light, with $43,401 raised by 581 backers. And at the bottom of the latest MASSIVE QAnon post by Neon Revolt, he graciously closed with the following:

No promo for my stuff today (though that free shipping promo on my shirts is still going on – check the bottom of the last article for the discount code). Instead, I’m gonna plug Vox-Day’s upcoming Q-related comic (and no, he’s not paying me for this. He doesn’t even know I’m doing this). I’m plugging this because I think it’s cool, and may interest you guys. Cheers!

It will be interesting to see if the QAnon crowd embraces AH:Q or not. We’ll definitely need them to do so if we’re going to catch up to Ethan van Sciver’s Cyberfrog, which is back with a Salamandroid varient cover.

And speaking of Ethan van Sciver, I’m not sure what is outrageous, the fact that a DC artist working with Zoe Quinn on the new Vertigo line sexually harassed the former DC artist by sending him unsolicited photos of the artist’s intimate anatomy or the way in which more than a few comics SJWs have actually attempted to defend Robbi Rodriguez doing so. There is still no comment from DC regarding this, nor have they taken any public action regarding Mr. Rodriguez yet.

While Marvel’s new editor-in-chief appears to wish to at least slow down the rate at which the Big Two publishers are committing seppuku, the fact that they continue to employ people who would be fired and blackballed for life for such wildly inappropriate behavior in more professional organizations speaks considerably louder than their words.

“Marvel has always been, as Stan always said, the world outside our window,” Cebulski answered. “It’s the reflection of the modern times that we live in. Marvel has never shied away from that, around what happened with 9/11 or what we were doing with Secret Empire. And we’re going to continue that tradition. There are a couple of comics coming up of a couple comics recently that are going to reflect things that are going on in the real world.”

“However, one of the things I want to make sure is when we do tell these stories — I don’t know how to put this in the right way — they still have to be entertainment,” he continued. “If we want to see the real world, we can turn on CNN, we can turn on the TV, we can pick up a newspaper and see what’s going on there. And yes, it’s our responsibility as a comic book publisher, especially Marvel, given the history that we have, to reflect those times, but they still have to be fun. They still have to be fiction and they still have to be escapism.

“We can’t get too deep into the politics,” Cebulski finished. “And the characters can take sides, choose sides, turn evil, turn back to good, but they still have to entertain. That’s first and foremost, no matter what real-world events we are going to reflect, they are going to be fictionalized and they’re going to have the classic spin that Stan always brought to them. They will be serious, but they may make you smile.”

Translation: so, um, guys, there has to be more than just SJW preaching to the choir if we’re going to stay in business. So, can you at least, like, tone it down a little?

UPDATE: Unlike the SJW-converged comics media, Bounding Into Comics isn’t afraid to cover the news that AH:Q is the #1 trending campaign on Indiegogo. Read the whole thing there.

Vox Day’s Arkhaven Comics’ Alt-Hero: Q which will be written by Chuck Dixon is currently trending #1 on IndieGoGo. Not only is the project trending #1, but it’s already received $43,896 from 590 backers in less than 48 hours.

If you’re in the UK, it’s time to contact your local comic store and ask them to:

1. sign up with Ingram’s iPage.
2. start carrying Arkhaven and Dark Legion comics

Needless to say, the Comics-SJWs are just thrilled to hear that we are doing exactly what we said we would be doing six months ago.

rosie knight@RosieMarx
Just a heads up that @IngramContent have picked up distribution for Arkhaven Comics (alt-hero etc) in the UK and are randomly sending their racist books to shops out there as an attempt to get them to order them.

After all, why would comic stores have any interest in carrying anything new, considering how well they’re doing with Marvel and DC products. From Comichron:

As noted here Friday, the comics shop market made up considerable ground in July comparison with a weak July 2017, thanks to the Batman wedding storyline and several high-profile launches. Retailers ordered $44.64 million worth of comic books, graphic novels, and magazines in the month; the year-to-date deficit, piled up in winter, was cut in half to less than 2{e1b6c4ee08d0f44a6a5b11eb06b9139d63cfe72acbaefd7257f78696d447c626}. Click to see the comics sales estimates from July 2017. Both Marvel and DC contributed, combining for a dual market share of 70.69{e1b6c4ee08d0f44a6a5b11eb06b9139d63cfe72acbaefd7257f78696d447c626}, the highest proportion of the market seen since October 2011.

Market share leader Marvel beat its July 2017 dollar sales by 16{e1b6c4ee08d0f44a6a5b11eb06b9139d63cfe72acbaefd7257f78696d447c626}, aided by Amazing Spider-Man #1 and Captain America #1, among other launches. DC’s dollar sales were up 29{e1b6c4ee08d0f44a6a5b11eb06b9139d63cfe72acbaefd7257f78696d447c626} year over year.

The SJWs have turned it around, right? Well, not so much. The following list of bestselling issues is why Marvel and DC managed a one-month positive blip on a weak annual comparable. The top four issues for the month:

We don’t have a name. We don’t need a name. But it is eminently clear that the growing community around Arkhaven and Dark Legion are to Comicsgate what the Rabid Puppies were to the Sad Puppies. Comicsgate is the Tea Party to our Trumpslide. And you all know how those things turned out.

It is deeply amusing to see how the comics-SJWs are reacting in such an over-the-top manner to as harmless and inoffensive a group as Comicsgate, which is about as self-consciously centrist and politically correct and equalitarian as one can get. Just ask their defenders:

No one believes comics is a ‘boys club.’ Female creators have been a phenomenal core element of many celebrated characters and stories from across the medium. From Pia Guerra’s amazing art in Y: The Last Man, to June Brigman’s fan-favorite Power Pack, or even Hiromui Arakawa’s global sensation Full Metal Alchemist, women have long been celebrated and embraced by comic fans.

To call the movement racist is also in poor taste, as people of color are represented heavily in the movement. Race has also been a non-factor in comics for some time, with creators like Christopher Priest who is currently producing a fantastic run on DC’s Deathstroke, Image Co-Founder and current DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee, and long-time The Amazing Spider-Man artist Humberto Ramos enjoying long and celebrated runs and careers. If the goal of the movement is as intolerant as Sienkiewicz believes, then creators such as the aforementioned would be denounced and lambasted by ComicsGate, rather than receiving the praise and support seen for these and many other non-white creators.

It’s just a matter of time before Comicsgate is bragging that they pick up their litter and denouncing DC as the Real Racists. Sooner or later, they will learn that Being the Good Guy and Moderation and Talking Sense to the Enemy are neither strategies nor tactics, get rabid, and begin to fall in with us. Because the comics-SJWs are NEVER going to stop attacking them and calling them names, no matter how much they cuck and appease and ritualistically denounce us.

“So stop being awful ambassadors for the worst of our natures. Stop being brownshirts. Stop being goddamned ugly dicks. And to re-jigger an ugly phrase you sling at women, I’m instead going to channel it here in the spirit of my Aussie friends: Stop being such insufferable clueless cunts.

The medium didn’t call on you to be the best version of assholes you could be. Neither did we.

Knock it off.

Either step up. Or step off.

We, Comics, and The Audience- will be absolutley fine without you.

And you won’t be missed one damned bit.”

Absolutely fine? Perhaps, if an annual 10 percent decline in sales can be redefined as “fine”. Eight more years of that and we’ll have the comics industry to ourselves. But to be clear, I’m not at all against Comicsgate, I’m just amused by it. It’s harmless and largely irrelevant, but if it keeps the SJWs occupied while we overrun their flanks and baggage train, that suits me just fine.

That being said, after the Alt-Hero: Q campaign begins and the incendiary Alt-Hero #4: The War in Paris is published, I don’t know how much longer the SJWs will be able to restrain themselves from going openly after us. Not once they see how we are finding success in directly assaulting their assumptions about Diversity and their sanctimonious equalitarian pieties, while Marvel and DC proceed headlong down the road to oblivion.

On Monday, Marvel announced that Riri Williams, the teenage super hero who took over the mantle of Iron Man in the wake of Civil War II, will debut in her own solo book this November. Riri Williams: Ironheart will feature several developments for the fledgling super hero: her first solo title, a brand new suit designed by Kevin Libranda, and the comic book debut of her writer Eve Ewing, whose announcement was met with a wave of backlash from the comic community.

Despite her lack of comic book writing history, one may ask how she came to be hired by Marvel. The answer is one that has appalled fans and caused further criticism of Marvel’s editorial board: she was hired because she looked like Riri and started a petition. The currently supported reason Ewing’s name was put forth to write Ironheart is because of Ewing’s supportive fans began spreading a petition to hire her based on a series of tweets in which she expressed the desire to write the book. These tweets were also supported by “evidence” provided by Ewing, which included the fact that she looked like Riri and had a small collection of various graphic novels on her bookshelf.

And yes, the Dark Lord laughed. You know, this just might be the right time to introduce a series about a billionaire in a high-tech suit with a pretty blonde consort.