The Four Color Media Monitor

Those of us who are realists know there's times when we have to be ready to face disappointments about our favorite contributors to comicdom. That doesn't make it any less terrible when it happens, and now one of the best veteran artists, George Perez, has, for the first time I know of, voiced his political positions in the most upsetting way possible, announcing he's boycotting all "red states" because they voted for Trump, and stating he buys into all the endless smears and lies the MSM force-fed everybody about the president-elect:

Just as a confirmation and clarification, since I have been flooded with requests for such, yes, I have indeed decided that I will no longer be accepting invitations to conventions and similar functions in states that supported and allowed a scurrilous and openly bigoted, misogynist, deceitful, homophobic, uninformed, philandering, sexist egomaniac to become our commander and chief and disgrace us in the eyes of the world. I have a lot of friends who will be adversely affected and run over by this crazy driver now that he’s been allowed the keys to the car, and I just had to take a stand somehow.

To me, it’s not a question of not respecting other people’s choice. This isn’t policy he was talking about; it’s oppression, it’s hate and fear, it’s tacit approval of violent action against those with whom one doesn’t agree with. It’s the denial and threatened removal of basic human rights and liberties. I am an Hispanic. I’m threatened. My wife is a woman; she is threatened. I have friends, fans and many members of my extended family, gay, straight, transgender, black, Hispanic, Muslim and, yes, even many whites, who are now scared and poised for disaster.

Man...does he realize he's done exactly what he accuses the right of doing? His primary error is fearmongering. It just doesn't sound real. He acts like not a single Hispanic even voted for Trump, when in this election, there were more who did. And, he's oblivious to Bill Clinton's offensive acts against Juanita Broaddrick, and Hillary's degradation of Kathy Shelton. How he can accuse one side of bigotry yet ignore the other for the same is devastating.

Mine is really a meek protest, but it is all I could think of. My actions won’t really cost anyone anything. No one will be hurt if I don’t come to conventions. In fact, I am the one who will lose a substantial source of income. I can live with that. My friends, my family and many of my fans deserve that much and so much more, from me.

Of course they do. That's why, if he really cared, he wouldn't boycott conventions in areas where there's residents whose politics he doesn't agree with. He's just punishing even the most leftist fans with his fearmongering, and making my jaw fall off my face in disbelief if he doesn't think Islamofascism is a problem. I knew something could be wrong when he nearly had a cover illustration published on a Superman issue that was potentially anti-American.

He actually considers politics more important than his whole prolific career as an artist? This is a shame, because I long considered him one of the most talented out there, ever since he made his debut in the mid-70s, illustrating books like Fantastic Four and going on to work on Avengers and New Teen Titans. Now, I have to discover a guy whose career turned out some of the best drawings you could find in superhero comics is that far to the left he'd even sacrifice his reputation for the sake of political mishmash? It's a real shame. And he's not the only one. Even Humberto Ramos is apparently taking this same path. I may not find his artwork as appealing as Perez's, but he too is setting the bar pretty low.

Not all the commentors and other respondents agreed with what he said, and there were plenty who felt disappointed. For example:

Wow. Perez use all the buzz words the left always uses. People are numb to it. That's what got trump elected. I also love how he provides NO fact. Women are threatened now? What? Gays? Trump has openly supported gays from way before the clintons. And FYI, writing "openly" before a bunch of opinions doesn't make them facts.

Yes, he used specific words some leftists always seem to resort to whenever they come upon a side whose standings they don't agree with. Another one said:

Well since Perez can't get work at DC, I can't boycott him. But I wouldn't anyways. He's a horrible writer but a good artist. Maybe he should ask that his books only be sold to SJWs

Ironically, those are just the kind of people who'd demonize his work because of all the hot women he drew and such. Yet he panders to their politics despite the strong unlikelihood they'd ever support him, and would continue to do everything they could to hurt his career, much like they're doing to Frank Cho and J. Scott Campbell, whom he might've helped inspire. And, I found clues of a comment that was erased by the webmasters: somebody, when answering one noting how Scott Lobdell is one of the worst writers out there, said:

I'll keep that in mind. Notice how the mods deleted my original post without my consent. I didn't do it.

I think I saw the aforementioned post before it was wiped, and the commentor was telling how he, a guy who had a terrible childhood that was saved by reading Perez's early work, once tried to converse with him at a convention, and Perez otherwise ignored him, much to his disappointment. The reader tried to tell everybody this as a lesson that the people whose work we admire can just as easily turn out to be real letdowns. If that's what Perez was like, or is, yeah, that is saddening to know he may not be the kindly gentleman we'd wish guys like him could be. Here's another comment:

So let's substitute "red state" for Muslim or African American and you have bigotry.

The hypocrisy and ignorance is ridiculous. This fight they are picking - all of them - they will lose. Trump won 30 states, which is the majority and why we have the electoral college.

He is free to do this but like many people did this election, his over confidence will be his undoing.

And it's astonishing he wants to throw away his reputation, fans and plenty of residuals by going so political. Until now, whatever his MO in person is like, I'd never known Perez to insult his audience like the Marzs, Slotts and Busieks out there. Even now, he usually doesn't do that literally. So far anyway. And while I realized he could be a big leftist, I rarely ever saw him bringing up politics in what he said on social media, so it's regrettable he'd suddenly lose his cool and go this distance. Another said:

Too bad, GP is a really good artist whose work I respect, but stamping your feet because you didn't get your way is unacceptable. There is an election every four years, every four years someone wins and someone loses. Every four years a lot of people are happy and a lot aren't. Acting like a spoiled brat only makes your side look stupid, congrats George, you've proven case for the winning side.

And:

I'll still cherish the comics he signed and the sketch of the Beast he drew for me just a few weeks ago... in the red state of Tennessee... for a guy from the red state of Mississippi.... who didn't vote for Trump... who has spent a HELL of a lot of hard-earned money on his comic books over the last 40 years... and will continue to do so... even though he's judging ALL of his fans of ALL political views because of the state they live in.

Even I still admire a lot of the older stuff he drew, and now that I think of it, his politics, liberal or not, were nowhere near as heavy handed in the past as what we see today in mainstream superhero books. Here's another by somebody on the same political side as him:

I've always been a fan of Mr. Perez and have ample amounts of his past work in my collection. He is a gregarious and talented man who easily interacts well with his fanbase. He is however wrong in taking a stance that will punish fans in those states and I can not abide his "it's all about me moment" so as much as I do not prefer not to have to do so, until and unless he revokes this political stance I will not purchase anything that has his name on it. If he avoids those states for a number of years, I will sell all of the comics featuring his work and be done with it. I feel his pain on the election outcome and twice voted for the losing candidate myself, Bernie first; but that does not mean that every citizen in those states are responsible for this outcome and this is a bullshit call .... by George!!

See, he's let down even his liberal-leaning fans. Take an extreme stance like that and what can you expect. Now maybe he'll reconsider and recognize that it's absurd to boycott any state and lump everybody together, alienating fans of both sides alike. I certainly hope so, because this is just what's destroying a medium with potential for innovation that's being thrown away over politics, and any contributor who wants to save it would not take the same approach Perez is current doing. Until then, it's a shame he's basically drawing attention to himself in a most inappropriate way that benefits nobody.

Labels: good artists, misogyny and racism, moonbat artists, politics