Come see the violence

Inherent in the insane, shamelessly hypocritical world of SJW comics:

Comics creators really hate criticism. Every time “Diversity and Comics” creator Richard Meyer reviews a comic book he doesn’t like, industry professionals lose their minds and wish violence on him. The last time it happened he was threatened by a Marvel professional and told to stay away from Comicon. This time, Image Comics’ transgender writer Michelle Perez tweeted that he wishes Meyer had died in an IED attack.

Michelle Perez@rubblewoman
richard c meyer, aka the diversity and comix guy. he did a 30 minute video about a comic book circular that featured an article of mine. hes a multiple divorcee piece of shit. hes a war veteran so of course he’s a cryptofascist. unfortunately an IED didnt blow him up

Michelle Perez@rubblewoman
my unvarnished opinion: man it sure sucks that this guy didnt get blown up by an IED

Twitter has not removed the posts for violating community standards.

Meyer is an Afghanistan combat veteran who survived multiple IED attacks and served his country honorably. He has now carved out a popular niche for himself reviewing comic books and has a huge following on YouTube. He has been at the forefront in bringing attention to the far-left ideologues who have taken over the comics industry and he isn’t shy about reporting their terrible behavior and penchant for always running to violent ideation any time they are offended….

Bounding Into Comics reported that Erik Larson, Image Comics co-founder and board member, responded to the uproar.

Larsen’s initial reaction was to explain Perez’s wish for Meyer to be killed is part of freedom of speech, “I can’t control what other people say or do anymore than they can control what I say or do. It’s just words, man. Nobody was hurt. That’s the freedom of speech in action. None of us have to like it.”

But comics artist and veteran Will Caligan lost his job at Short Fuse Media for expressing his opinion that men can’t change their DNA by wishful thinking. His First Amendment rights meant nothing to the mob. His innocuous truth about the impossibility of DNA morphing by the power of wishes took food off his table, but Perez can wish to see a veteran blown up in an IED attack and suddenly #FreeSpeechMatters.

We’re not fooled. The double standard for conservative voices in comics is deafening—and #Comicsgate is about to boil over.

It is increasingly evident that the entire “free speech” movement of the so-called Enlightenment was never about anything but getting Christians to relax their blasphemy laws. Obviously that was a tremendous mistake. Again and again, we have seen that tolerating evil merely leads to the rule of intolerant evil.

The sad truth is that Image and the other independents are actually more converged than Marvel and DC. At least the Big Two have to pretend to acknowledge the mass market, even when they make major mistakes like trying to claim this bare-faced Western whore is a Muslim. The indies are free to let their freak flags fly, and they make the average Lovecraft cultist look sane and reserved by comparison.

No worries. Alt★Hero is coming. And speaking of comics, don’t forget that Rebel Dead Revenge #2: Satan’s Army is now available and the #1 comic in four categories. I’m also pleased to report that our distributor has successfully addressed the technical issue and the first two Arkhaven print editions should be available on Amazon soon. But you don’t need to wait if you want to acquire both #1 issues.


Captain Black America

Bleeding Cool reports that the USA’s foremost black intellectual, Ta-Nehisi Coates, will be writing Captain America for Marvel:

Last July, Bleeding Cool heard the word that Ta-Nehisi Coates would be the new writer on the Captain America ongoing comic book. Same with Nick Spencer on Amazing Spider-Man. Though we only learnt that Ryan Ottley would be joining him as an artist in January.

None of these stories have been confirmed. None of them were in the Marvel May solicits. And none were mentioned by Marvel at ComicsPRO today.

However, I get the nod that we might be hearing more about Coates writing Captain America next week…. An American author, journalist, comic book writer, and educator, Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about cultural, social and political issues, particularly regarding African Americans. It is likely this aspect that will inform much of the coverage when the news goes official.

For Coates, it might be just one more notch. He’s written for The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, and Time. He has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, O, and other publications. In 2008 he published a memoir, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and Unlikely Road to Manhood. His second book, Between the World and Me, was released in July 2015. It won the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction, and was a nominee for the Phi Beta Kappa 2016 Book Awards. He was the recipient of a “Genius Grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2015. And he has been the writer of the Black Panther series for Marvel Comics drawn by Brian Stelfreeze for two years now.

But the man who wrote The Case for Reparations writing Captain America could make for a very interesting comic book indeed.

Very interesting is one way of putting it. Very converged is another. I, for one, very much look forward to learning more about Captain America’s self-flagellating voyage into the discovery of his own internalized racism and his eventual retirement in favor of a black man who, completely coincidentally, looks very much like an idealized Ta-Nehisi Coates.

I love the smell of my competitor’s convergence in the morning!


DC will never be the same

“What we did today is going to change DC Comics forever. Forever. There’s no going back anymore.”
– John Cunningham, Senior Vice-President of Sales, Vice-President of Content Strategy, and Vice-President of Marketing at DC Comics/Warner Bros.

Music to my ears, though long-suffering DC Comics fans will probably disagree. This is why:

  1. Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.
  2. DC announced Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed by the Speak and Chains writer Laurie Halse Anderson. With a 15-year-old Wonder Woman on Paradise Island who sees drowning refugees and disobeys her mother Hippolyta to rescue them. She becomes caught up in their struggle, becoming a refugee herself. Washing up on a foreign shore, she is met by two UN workers — one called Steve and another called Trevor.
  3. Melissa de la Cruz’s Gotham High: a Multicultural Love Triangle Between Batman, Catwoman, and Joker. A Bruce Wayne high school graphic novel with a 17-year-old part-Chinese Bruce Wayne and DC villains as high school teenagers.
  4. Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh’s Harley Quinn is an Intersectional Activist Comic About Drag Queens
  5. Beautiful Creatures’ Kami Garcia Starts Line of Teen Titans Graphic Novels, Before They Were Superheroes. She will explore the Teen Titans lives before they realise they have powers, as a series of coming-of-age graphic novels.
  6. Minh Lê introduced us to the youngest Green Lantern, the 13-year-old Tai. Tai  discovers that his grandmother was a secret Green Lantern, and he inherits her jade ring. Tai then goes on to uncover his grandmother’s life’s secrets as well as grapple with the new powers he has. Lê he has drawn on his own life in an immigrant family and his own grandmother and her life story, and it has become a very personal story to him.
  7. His Super Sons story out in April next year, featuring Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, the sons of Superman and Batman, will be about climate disruption. With Lower Metropolis under twelve feet of water, with super storms cycling around the world destroying farmland and with what Ridley described as “a coastal ambush” of refugees heading to Denver and Lincoln, Nebraska as the coastline get flooded.
  8. DC Comics gave some more details of the Superman Smashes the Klan graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, and how it ties directly into the Superman vs The Klan radio serial from the forties. Because that is why the comic is set in 1946: it tells the story of an American Chinese girl who moves to Metropolis to find herself and her family’s ethnicity targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. Through her experience with Superman and the radio serial, she learns to overcome some of the trials and understand what it means to be American.

Perhaps DC should consider changing its motto from whatever it is to “comics by transgender immigrants with an unhealthy interest in high school teenagers for transgender immigrants with an unhealthy interest in high school teenagers.”

Now, perhaps DC is attempting to safely wall off its SJW insanity in a series of low-budget comics intended to distract the media and divert the focus of its internal SJWs. But the fact that some of these writers are established names in YA fiction combined with the fact that it brought in Marvel’s lead SJW and handed him its most important properties tends to indicate that DC is simply doing what converged companies do and doubling down on social justice.

I agree with Mr. Cunningham. What they have done will change DC Comics forever. Forever. But what they have also done is to ensure that Arkhaven will become at least the #2 publisher in the comics industry. At least. This panel from the forthcoming Chuck Dixon’s Avalon #1 should serve as an accurate metaphor of the eventual outcome.


PLEASE SHUT UP, they begged

Although SJWs are trying to characterize DC Entertainment’s new social media guidelines as a means of reining in Ethan Van Sciver, the reality is that DC is belatedly attempting to muzzle its SJWs before they do any more damage to the brand:

Dear DC Talent Community –

The comic book industry is a very special creative community dedicated to telling epic and legendary stories of action, heroism and intrigue with a rich and diverse portfolio of characters. Both DC’s employees, as well as its extended family of freelance talent, contribute to our success and are direct reflections of our company, characters and comics.

As such, DC expects that its employees and freelance talent community maintain a high level of professionalism as well as reasonable and respectful behavior when engaging in online activities. Comments that may be considered defamatory, libelous, discriminatory, harassing, hateful, or that incite violence are unacceptable and may result in civil or criminal action.

In addition, comments that may be considered insulting, cruel, rude, crass and mean spirited are against company policy and guidelines. We ask, and expect, that you will help to create an online environment that is inclusive, supportive and safe.

Below you will find the most current version of the company’s social media guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact DC Talent Relations department so that we can be of assistance.

DC Entertainment Social Media Guidelines for Talent

This policy has been developed to empower DC Talent to participate in social media activities, represent their creative endeavors well and share their passion for DC’s characters, stories and brands. We recognize the vital importance of online social communities and this policy reflects our commitment to the best possible use of social media. Below are DC’s recommended guidelines when partaking in social media.

Stay positive when you post and we also recommend that you avoid negative comments in this very public forum.

You may want to refrain from engaging with individuals who may be speaking negatively about you, other talent, DC, our fans and the comics industry as this is a no-win situation.

If there has been a personal threat to you or those around you then in addition to alerting DC, please involve the proper law enforcement authorities.

Use good judgment when posting, reposting and liking comments, photos and videos as these may have unintended consequences.

Talent should take special care when using social media to ensure that comments and postings made by you are not associated with DC.

Under all circumstances, please indicate that you do work for DC, but that your comments are your own and do not reflect those of the company.

The internet is permanent regardless of “privacy settings” or other limits you may try to place on your posting. Think before you post, comment, retweet or like something.

Do not reveal plot points, storylines or launch timing — including photos or video of in-progress assets, artwork, story outlines, scripts, panels, announcement details, etc. without coordinating with DC Publicity. Members of the press may follow you on social media, and your posts can — and probably will — become news.

Don’t break news on social media. If you have any questions on what you can or can’t post on any platform, DC Publicity or Talent Relations departments are available to assist.

If you’d like to share DC news on your social pages, we recommend sharing news from DCComics.com, DCE-sanctioned social media pages and other news widely reported on credible news outlets.

If you are contacted by members of the press or asked to participate in an interview about your work for DC, please coordinate this with the DC Publicity department so that news can be rolled out in an orchestrated fashion and elevated on DC digital and social channels as well.

And finally, we recognize that there can be a dark side to social media and to that end if you feel that you are being harassed or bullied through social media channels because of your work for DC or your association with us, please feel free to contact the DC Talent Relations department so that we can be of assistance.

Needless to say, it won’t work. The Comics-SJWs are already trying to play the victim and absurdly wringing their hands about “a chilling affect” on free speech… as if there is anyone on the planet outside of North Korea who hates genuinely free speech more than they do.

DC guidelines to freelancers on using social media “…comments that may be considered insulting, cruel, rude, crass and mean spirited are against company policy and guidelines.”It’s been a while since I worked for DC so I guess I can still say “Fuck you, Trump!”
– David Hine

While on the surface it seems like a good step, I think it could have a chilling affect on the free speech of their employees and freelancers. Also- I’m afraid it’s just too broad. There is no mention of homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, or racism. They use catch-all phrases, but it leaves a lot open to interpretation. While obviously they can’t write an “Anti-Ethan Van Sciver policy” (and let’s be clear, Ethan is what it is in response to) I think you’ll see a lot of people who just post political stuff get swept up in this.
– Tim Hoyle

Others contacted me worried that all sorts of people could go through DC Comics creator social media history looking for anything to use against them. 
– Rich Johnston

This is why SJWs always prefer nebulous Codes of Conduct and Community Police to clear, objective guidelines that can be impartially applied. You see, the “rules” are supposed to be applied only to those who violate the Narrative, while allowing complete freedom of action to the SJWs.


You ARE being lectured

America is getting increasingly tired of Corporate Globo’s endless and inescapable lectures on social justice:

While watching TV advertising, I often get the feeling I’m being lectured to.

The Super Bowl yesterday was a series of lectures with this message: “As often as we’ve tried to educate you people out there in flyover country, you remain resistant to our efforts to civilize you. We continue to detect traces of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia in your makeup; so it’s our moral imperative to disabuse you of those ideas.”

If a young girl and a boy are in some kind of competition—running, shooting a basket, doing a science project—put your money on the girl. She’s a shoe-in. It’s all terribly cute, of course. Look, the girl beat the boy! But the schtick is getting a bit tired. Ad folk, lay off the ideology for a bit, for goodness sakes, and let the poor boy win every now and then.

There seems to be some kind of law in advertising that if you show two kids, one of them has to be black. The rule is so strict that there must be some kind of jail (probably on Madison Avenue) for those who break this law. In a group of seven or so, three or four will be “people of color.” They’ll sometimes show an Asian in a group shot, but Asians just don’t count as much as blacks. We’re being lectured to, folks.

In the Super Bowl T-Mobile ad showing a bunch of babies, more than half of which were “babies of color,” we were told that “Some people will be threatened” by the varied hues of these babies. “But,” we’re told, “you will love who you want.” Why do I get the feeling that person who considered himself enlightened was scolding me for my benighted ways?

The Kraft ad in the Super Bowl featured gay couples and interracial couples. “There is no right way to family” (using “family” as a verb) we were told by an ad that obviously was tweaking the noses of the unenlightened.

One can’t really call it “Corporate America” anymore. There is nothing American about it.


DC doubles down

That didn’t take long. Only 12 months after declaring “political fatigue”, DC Comics is back with a brave story about Superman taking on that most dangerous and influential of U.S. political groups… the Ku Klux Klan!

It was only a year ago that a storyline for the Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman comic book Trinity was canned by DC Comics due to what they internally dubbed “political fatigue”.

The original story had would have had Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman protecting a bigoted hate speaker from an angry mob, that seemed ripped out of the recent headlines with Milo Yiannopoulous visiting UC Berkeley to give a talk, to find it cancelled after protest and riots.

However this free-speech-protecting storyline was proposed and approved long before those events. But a topical turn saw DC Comics dump the three-part story written by Francis Manapul and drawn by Clay Mann, replaced with a one-off story by Cullen Bunn and Clay Mann, with a new story to follow.

Could the political fatigue be over? Because one of the upcoming Young Adult graphic novels under DC Comics’ Ink label is called Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang, $16.99 for 192 pages.

So brave. Thank you for this. I eagerly anticipate more courageous and timely political titles from DC, such as Batman Terrorizes Tammany Hall, Wonder Woman Whacks the Whigs, and Green Arrow Tarreth and Feathereth Ye Traitorouf Torief.

And if it’s historical comics you’re after, allow me to suggest a very alternative spin with the current #1 Kindle bestseller. Specifically, #1 in Kindle Store >Comics & Graphic Novels > Historical & Literary > Historical Fiction


The convergence cometh

When he’s not writing hit pieces on artists, Rich Johnston is observing the ongoing convergence of DC Comics.

Brian Bendis‘ arrival at DC Comics, taking over Superman and Action Comics as monthly titles after a Man Of Steel six-weekly series does seem to have changed existing plans considerably. I think it is unarguable that the work of Jurgens, Gleason and Tomasi has created for Superman a new comic book level of success for the character than it has enjoyed in comic books for a very long time. Restoring the marriage, giving Superman a son and exploring his own father/son relationship as well, all while doing very Supermanny things. Critically and commercially, the Superman books have been a success for DC Comics, and a marked improvement over what had come in the decades before.

And now the publisher is changing horses in mid-stream

You don’t say… As expected, Brian Bendis is going to do for DC what he has done for Marvel.

Bendis is quoted as saying “The last runs on Superman by Dan Jurgens and Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason have been phenomenal runs, and my run will be following their runs. We’re not throwing anything out, we’re not abandoning anything, we’re following what’s been going on and taking it to surprising new areas” but also “It’s some of the biggest status quo changes to Superman literally since Crisis.”

Translation: Superman is going to have an affair with Aquaman, and be revealed as a transgender Dreamer. Then he’ll convert to Judaism and dedicate himself to imposing peace in the Middle East.

It occurs to me that I should be a little more careful about these satirical suggestions. Marvel might offer me a job.


Google exec threatens whistleblowers

Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President at Google, is determined to hunt down every employee who isn’t 100 percent SJW-converged.

Sometimes, like yesterday, I am…saddened? taken aback? disgusted? by the thought that there are Googlers coming to work filled with gate towards their colleagues. I’m not even sure what adjective to use….but it’s sad. No matter the topic, there’s just no room for hate at Google.

But then again, I remind myself that 99.99{f34b2ed14022567e3962d98ceb517f14c2acb643b80147bdb11c1357fe49acc6} of our colleagues do not fall into that group, and that we can’t let a small fraction of employees dominate our thoughts, feelings, and culture. That makes me hopeful that we can overcome the attempts to create a culture of hate and fear.

But that is little comfort to the Googlers who are being doxxed or harassed. I hope we will identify those behind this reprehensible conduct. All Googlers are responsible for upholding a workplace and culture that is free of harassment, discrimination, misconduct, bullying, and retaliation.

So tragic, all these gate-filled Googlers. Of course, if Google wants to uphold a workplace free of harassment, discrimination, misconduct, bullying, and retaliation, the very first person they should fire is Urs Hölzle. The man is a genuinely nasty little thought-Nazi, full of the very worst kinds of gate.

Urs, did you really not realize that everything that passes through your corporate communication system gets leaked outside now? Just because outsiders don’t post very much of it doesn’t mean they don’t have it. You see, even your employees who are on the Left are totally freaked out by their legitimate concerns about what sort of insanity you lunatic SJWs are going to get up to next. They know it’s only a matter of time before you go after them as well. Once you root out the evil 0.01 percent, it’s on to the next 0.1 percent undsoweiter.

Sure, you’ve got access to all our emails and our browser histories. We know that. But are you absolutely certain that we don’t have yours? Beware the many heads of the Medusa!

By the way, Wired‘s Nitasha Tika denied coordinating her story, which SJWS at Google are circulating inside the company to try to intimidate suspected whistleblowers, with Jessica Guynn of USA Today. Just another one of those mysterious coincidences that seem to happen *COUGHGAMEJOURNOPROS* from time to time whenever SJW interests intersect, right? Actually, she is telling the truth, because it was a very small group of Google-SJWs coordinating their defense by press who were responsible for the near-simultaneous appearance of the articles.

Amateur effort, really. Even the SJWs at Tor managed to drum up international coverage from Entertainment Weekly to the New Zealand Herald after we blew up the Hugos the first time. But, as we’ve learned, the grunts at Google aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are.

Speaking of which, this email made me laugh.

I think you meant Hydra not Medusa in your Google post.  The hydra was a multi headed serpent.  Medusa looked like a cross between Grendel’s mother and Hillary Clinton.

You don’t say…. 


Smells like Girlbusters

SJWs are running their usual routine of breathlessly talking up a heavily converged product that they know the mainstream audience isn’t going to like very much.

Ash Crossan, Entertainment Tonight video producer
Ladies and gentlemen we have an AMAZING villain. #BlackPanther was so good I can’t breathe. AND DANAI GURIRA HOLY F@$&?!?!? I LOVE this movie.

Geeks of Color
Black Panther is the best MCU movie ever. I was blown away from start to finish and I’m not even being biased. This was by far the best marvel movie to date. Thank you, Ryan Coogler!

jen yamato@jenyamato
BLACK PANTHER is incredible, kinetic, purposeful. A superhero movie about why representation & identity matters, and how tragic it is when those things are denied to people. The 1st MCU movie about something real; Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger had me weeping and he’s the VILLAIN

Nate Brail@NateBrail
Black Panther is the best Marvel Film ever made. Nothing compares to it. Michael B. Jordan and Letitia Wright steal the show. The visuals are incredible. Go see it.

Adam B. Vary of Buzzfeed
BLACK PANTHER is just astonishing. Ryan Coogler has harnessed the superhero movie — and a really fun one! — to explore profound ideas and create vivid images of black excellence that so rarely ever make it to a giant Hollywood movie. Wow wow wow!

Peter Sciretta, owner/editor at Slashfilm
Black Panther looks, feels and sounds unlike any Marvel film to date. A visual feast. Wakanda is amazingly realized, the antagonist actually has an arc with emotional motivations. Marvels most political movie. So good.

IndieWire senior film critic David Ehrlich
BLACK PANTHER is like a Marvel movie, but better. the action is predictably awful, but this is the first MCU film that has an actual sense of identity & history & musicality. Wakanda is alive. whole cast is great but the women (and the war rhinos) steal the show — Danai Gurira!

Huffington Post Black Voices associate editor Taryn Finley
I’m so excited to see #BlackPanther again when I’m with friends. Not only did it live up to the hype, it exceeded expectations and exuded #BlackExcellence with every scene.

ReBecca Theodore-Vachon, Film/TV contributor Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, NYTimes, Roger Ebert, The Urban Daily
The representation of Black women in #BlackPanther made me feel seen. Seen in a way other superhero movies have not done well.

Now, perhaps the movie is genuinely good. Perhaps this time, the critics can be trusted and they aren’t simply blowing more SJW smoke up the collective posteriors of the moviegoing public. But the safe bet is that these critics are converged and have therefore lost their ability to perform their primary function of reviewing movies and it won’t be long before they are blaming racism, America, and the Alt-Right for the failure of the movie to bring in as much revenue as anticipated.

This is a really big deal to them, because they know that if Black Panther fails, there won’t be another big money diversity movie for another generation or two of movie-making. So it is not even remotely surprising that they are uniformly praising it the biggest and bestest and most importantest movie ever made.