New Brevoort Formspring

I’m sorry you feel this way. But stop a moment and take a look at the situation you’re talking about from my point of view.

This was the work of a few fans with an axe to grind against a particular writer misrepresenting a story to a large body of non-readers in the hopes of generating a write-in campaign that would cost that writer his employment. And in order to do so, they accused the writer in question of the most heinous things, often by distorting or ignoring the actual evidence within the stories themselves.

Given that situation, it is difficult to to respond with anything other than incredulity. I got several letters that said, flat out, that the letter-writer had not read the story in question, but they’d heard about it and were therefore angry about it. That is not a valid informed opinion, that’s just an angry mob being stirred up by hot-button terminology. Crying out about your legitimate issues from inside the center of an angry torch-carrying mob doesn’t really do your message all that much good.

If you want respect, you have to give respect.

I think that there are all manner of legitimate issues regarding the representation of people of all kinds within comics. Those are good discussions to have. But context does matter. I don’t have any problem with those issues being brought up legitimately. I do have a problem with stories deliberately being misrepresented in order to persecute somebody.

And always, my bottom line remains exactly the same: you are not required to read or follow the work of any creator you do not care for. You possess the final authority for yourself–you choose to read, or you choose not to read. That power is entierly in your hands.