The Four Color Media Monitor

Obviously a decision made following all the sexual abuse scandals now coming out of Hollywood, and, no doubt, the Eddie Berganza scandal as well, Image decided to take the disgraced former Dark Horse editor off a special they were preparing that's supposed to serve as a charity book for victims of the Las Vegas shooting, and replace him with a different guy. However, what's peculiar about this CBR report on Allie's offenses is its lack of the words "sexual" and "physical" in the text:

Former longtime Vertigo editor Will Dennis has joined Image Comics’ Where We Live anthology in place of controversial former Dark Horse Editor-in-Chief Scott Allie, the publisher announced Tuesday. The anthology is a benefit for the victims of the Oct. 1 shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that left 58 dead and 546 injured.

Dennis will serve as volunteer editor, “curating and coordinating the project,” according to Image’s press release. The original announcement of Where We Live on Oct. 31 left many fans and observers conflicted on whether or not to support a charitable cause that had Allie, who has a reported history of misconduct, closely involved. Allie’s involvement drew heightened criticism due to current increased scrutiny on harassment in the entertainment industry, including comic books. CBR has confirmed with Image that Allie is no longer involved with Where We Live.

Again, as you'll notice above, they don't use the word "sex" in their notes on harassment and assault. What's going on here? Why do they suddenly have cold feet about stressing the exact topics involved? That's no way to combat serious issues like sexual abuse.

Presumably, Dark Horse is no longer employing the freak, even on a freelance basis, and they'd be strongly advised at this point to distance themselves from him entirely regardless. I checked his Twitter page, where anything new he's added is almost entirely retweets, and couldn't help notice his avatar's filled with support for Planned Parenthood. Now that's certainly eyebrow raising, I'll say.

And since we're still on the subject of Image's special, here's some more notes to ponder, not just who's contributing, but also the exact subjects involved:

Neil Gaiman, Mike Mignola, Kurt Busiek and James Robinson have all been announced as contributing to Where We Live, with more creators set to be named. Page count, price and release date have not yet been announced.

The comic is set to explore the themes of: “value of a compassionate society, need for communication/conversations, mental health stigmatization, access to healthcare, gun violence, common sense gun control, history of the 2nd Amendment, why the 2nd Amendment is important to gun owners, role of the NRA in national & local politics, balance of safety & privacy/freedoms, aftermath of tragedy and how individuals & communities persevere, role of the media in tragedies, ongoing need for survivor support, and appreciation of Las Vegas as a community.”

My my, why does this give me such a worried feeling about the political leanings bound to turn up inside? Or, will the above writers, 3 out of 4 who're definitely left-leaning, go that very route in the scripting angles they provide? At the end of the article, again, only a superficial description of Allie's own misdeeds:

In October 2015, Scott Allie became embroiled in controversy following the revelations of a reported history of misconduct, with one event at Comic-Con International in San Diego 2015 coming to light in detail.

And again, one can only wonder why they're so shy about stressing what exactly went on. Not even use of the word "physical". Comics Beat's report is only slightly more to the point, but still falls way short:

Allie recently left his job at Dark Horse, but remains controversial because of past allegations of harassment. And social media hasn’t been shy about complaining about Allie’s continued employment, with Marykate Jasper at The Mary Sue suggesting his presence on the project would cast a chilling effect on contributions by those he’s harassed in the past.

It seems the complaints may have had an effect.

Even so, the above site's equal failure to use the words "sexual" and "physical", or even "assault" make it difficult to comprehend just what was going on, and form a judgement. What does this mean? That the court of public opinion can't determine what to think? All the omission of key words does is suggest these journalistic phonies aren't so concerned about the real menace of sexual and physical assault in the entertainment biz. And that's why major comics news sites as run today are not a reliable source for researching sordid incidents going on behind the scenes at the offices and conventions.

Update: in contrast to the two aforementioned sites, Comic Nexus at Inside Pulse did cite the allegations against Allie more clearly:

Scott Allie was an employee of Dark Horse for over 20 years and rose to the rank of Editor in Chief before stepping down in 2015 after allegations of sexual misconduct with male creators the most prominent of which was prolific writer Joe Harris.

So obviously, it's difficult to figure out why, if this third site had no problem with stating the exact reasons for the outrage against Allie, the other two chickened out. All they're doing, as noted, is suggesting they're not fit for their jobs.

Labels: bad editors, indie publishers, misogyny and racism, politics, violence