Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 264

Please, Please, Please

BEFORE WE BEGIN

Lemme just say I appreciate you all. It is not lost on me that there’s a level of self-importance to this endeavor, and I’m grateful you indulge me.

First, greetings from Spain! Orange juice in Valencia was good.

Ok, and with that, I’m gonna really crawl up my own ass.

---

JUST A TASTE

A Maurizio WIP. Colors coming soon. Announcements coming soon.

---

WHEN YOU DON’T MATTER BUT YOU LIKE TO HURT PPL

Mark Wahlberg is in a new movie. He’s bald. And a fugitive. And the first response I saw to the announcement of this film was, “Is he a fugitive for blinding an Asian man?”

Now, I’ll forgive you if you’re healthy-minded enough to not get the reference. Wahlberg, prior to becoming a star, was arrested for assaulting a shopkeeper in a racially-motivated (and PCP instigated) attack.

That was in 1988. Wahlberg was 16.

Johnny Trinh, his victim, has stated he forgives Wahlberg.

Because, of course he has. If you haven’t forgiven someone who punched you in the eye 36 years ago, you’re mentally ill. Don’t tell Jezebel.com that, however, as it holds one of the citations on Wahlberg’s Wikipedia regarding this incident and clearly does not forgive him.

Which is a bizarre space to occupy. Being aggrieved on a stranger’s behalf because you can’t stand to see another stranger win. Again, this would qualify as a mental illness.

And I’m quite sick of sick people.

Everything is a gotcha. Everything is a ‘this you?’ Everything is an effort to undermine each other and take each other out. As if it was all a game. Which, I suppose would be fine if the people utilizing these methods ever ‘won.’ But the reality is they stay who they are, in the life position they occupy, no matter what happens to Wahlberg. We’ve gamified hurting each other, but the real game is being played on all of us.

Morals are nice. Morality is nice. Moralizing is for dull, dim, losers who rot in jealousy.

How does this pertain to comics? The only safe criticism you can make in 2024 is of a creator’s character. If you suggest that their work sucks, you’re ‘gatekeeping’ or being superior or bullying. Not allowed. However you are allowed to offer falsehoods delivered as fact or exaggerations given as unvarnished truths, assuming it’s about anything other than what’s on the page.

And I don’t mind gossip. I generally find it harmless among focused people who have their own lives to worry about. But this is not mere gossip I’m referring to. It’s the efforts to coordinate and collaborate in the project of destroying a stranger. Burmese Days.

---

COMIC NEWS, SUCH AS IT IS

• Cofounders of DSTLRY are ‘sighted’ at Netflix headquarters… in the respect they took photos of themselves there and posted them. I forget sometimes this is all it takes to make the news in comics. I don’t know what type of arrangement DSTLRY has with their creators, but I assume the publisher owns a piece of their work, otherwise each creators’ individual representation would be at Netflix pitching these properties. Regardless, who cares? Everyone with an agent or manager is always within meeting range of Netflix, Amazon, etc. This whole thing may count as anti-news. News void. News hole.

• Chip Zdarsky posted a Cameo video of Rob Liefeld (unknowingly, solicited under false pretenses) giving writing advice to Jonathan Hickman. Whatever. An inside joke because Liefeld doesn’t care for Hickman’s work. Some saw it as a mean-spirited effort to make Liefeld look like a fool. I hope not. Both because efforts to clown Liefeld are misguided -I say that as no fan of his work- and because Zdarsky would be going off-brand. Can’t do the “golly gowsh!” twee idiot thing and secretly be a malignant dickhead. Liefeld’s advice was the type of Shooteresqe storytelling guidepost that one could actually apply in the service of delivering good monthly comics. Kevin Mellon put some shirts together to counteract what felt like bad vibes radiating off the incident.

• BREAKING: This just hit my feed, so I’ve only had time to view the posted highlight. I’d like to apologize in advance if some context was lost, but I have something to say and a limited time to post this before I get on a plane.

At one point they discuss the freezing of speech as a result of cancel culture. Andrews says something obvious but perhaps worth saying, and Camp responds with a canned bit about how underrepresented people are merely speaking up. He goes on to state, as proof of something, he said some radical things in his 20th CENTURY MEN book and didn’t receive pushback.

I don’t know Camp and I’m not trying to diminish his work with this next statement. I don’t believe he has an obligation to challenge anything, offend, not offend, etc. He’s free to make whatever books he likes.

But it’s fucking insane that he believes he’s playing the same game as the other men in this chat.

If you read 20th CENTURY MEN, you’d know that there was nothing that could offend THE PEOPLE YOU NEED TO AVOID OFFENDING. And that’s the difference here. Camp offered basic liberal-in-progressive’s-clothing talking points in 20th CENTURY MEN. Who could it offend? Conservative comic readers? What does he perceive the cost of that to be? Because I can answer what the actual cost is: Zero. There’s noise. But you will NOT LOSE YOUR JOB. In fact, YOU WILL GET A JOB. I mean, can we just cut through the bullshit of the culture war and get to the brass tacks of feeding families? You offend the liberals in managerial positions and you do not work again. Period. You offend the conservatives who buy the books? There’s some Youtube videos made about you.

Anyone can see the difference there, but I’ll make it as stark as possible:

Offend comic book liberals = no work

Offend comic book conservatives = who cares and/or pat on the back

I’m able to get away with saying this because my progressive bona fides are iron clad. You’re not pinning some bullshit conservative label on me. And I’m indifferent to corporate work. So there’s not a whole lot to hang over my head. But, Jesus. I had no idea creators actually BELIEVED what Camp is saying here. You hear Twitter people echo that type of nonsense, but if you’ve been around for any length of time you know what is manifestly true: it’s different rules.

All those Trump guys who cried because they don’t work in corporate comics anymore? They weren’t lying. That is literally the reason they don’t work. Now, it’s entirely up to you if you think that’s good or bad. Up to you if you think that’s a form of necessary gatekeeping because conservative beliefs are so dangerous they need to be throttled. Up to you if you believe editors have such closely held beliefs in opposition to conservatism that they could not effectively work alongside one. Up to you if you think the cultural temperature was just too high leading up to Trump to allow certain voices a platform. Your call. But there’s no need to paint it over.

Conservative comic readers can scream until they are blue and the corporate publishers act encouraged by their howls. There are low-selling creators who are seemingly kept employed because they provoke the conservative readers. Let’s just be honest. I mean, if this is what it is, why not own it?

Let’s run a thought experiment. Check Pew. Most Americans believe gender is determined at birth and cannot be changed. If you’ve ever been outside the internet, you’d quickly know that average people feel this way. Now, put it in a comic. Not as the villain’s perspective, but as an understood idea the average person is not making any effort to challenge. What do you think happens next? Do you think you get an opportunity from Corporate Publisher A? What about Corporate Publisher B? Do you think you get ANY opportunity ever again? Even as I type this I’ve gotta include the disclaimer that my ally certificate is freshly renewed. Don’t shoot the messenger that conservative views are the ONLY views likely to offend the hiring class. Progressives don’t get to be rebels in the arts in 2024. What sincerely-held belief could we espouse that would COST us anything? Israel was the last threshold. I thought for sure that taboo would stick. But now even that dam has broken. I called Israel an apartheid state in this newsletter a few weeks before October 7. I remember the passing thought, “that might cost me a job.” Now? You could call for the nuclear destruction of Israel and still get a gig in the mainstream. Radical progressives would have to break their backs to find something offensive to say in 2024. Liberals? There’s nothing they could say.

Also, can we just be real that there hasn’t been any real risk in liberal views for a long time. Critiquing the military industrial complex in a Dr Strangelove fashion where no sane person can take the side of the warhawks ISN’T A RISK. It’s a layup. It’s a challenge to no one. Reviewers will love you. Condemning imperialism ISN’T A RISK. It’s where 99% of people, even imperialists by action, would describe their political beliefs. Editors will love you.

I hate the lack of stakes in these ‘statements.’ Add risk. Portray something morally gray. And allow it to be gray. Offer no moralizing judgement from afar. Don’t offer solutions firmly rooted in a low-information but privileged western worldview. DON’T SAY THE SIMPLE, CLAPPABLE THING. NO EASY ANALOGS ALLOWING PARTISANS TO CELEBRATE YOUR LOYALTY.

Again, I don’t know Camp. And we all say dumb shit occasionally. So continued success. But, fuck, man. Let’s not buy what Twitter is selling. Because you only need to talk to an honest broker (including the editors!!!!!!) and they’ll tell you what it is. You didn’t get pushback because you can’t say anything offensive. You’re well within the Overton Window of Hireability. If you wanna test this theory, I invite you to do so. But have your Kickstarter game on lock before you do.

---

SOME VIDEOS I LIKED THIS WEEK

---

MEDIA CONSUMPTION

I’ve been walking on cobblestone and eating vegan club sandwiches while getting progressively more and more lost everyday. So, very little time for media. I did stop in three comic shops in Madrid and was tempted to pick up some Euro albums but I can’t bring myself to carry 30lbs of hardcovers across the planet this week. Was tempted to pick up a new printing of HARD BOILED with the old colors, but just couldn’t.

I did manage to watch Death Hunt, a Marvin / Bronson posse manhunt movie from 1981. Directed by Peter Hunt, who edited a ton of better-known movies, this one was the type of Mounties-in-the-snow action you’d want from a Canadian survival thriller.

---

OK THAT’S ALL BYE BYE

I’m off to another Spanish town tomorrow. Not sure which one, but then on to France. And then back to Spain. And then the US. Busy few days. Just wanted to get this out to you before then. Hope you have a productive and joyful week. Do for self.