The Four Color Media Monitor

According to this video commentary, there are employees at Antarctic Press who were galled at the mishandling of Richard Meyer's Jawbreakers comic, and even at Marvel/DC, some were angry at how Mark Waid went out of his mind sabotaging somebody else's marketing. There is a legal case to be made here that Waid broke the law and could be sued for engaging in behavior that was completely avoidable, and he should be fired to send a message.

The Federalist's already on the subject, and I'd like to make a point regarding one of theirs:

The comic industry has been embattled over the last several years, with Marvel Comics sinking to new lows in sales. Marvel went to extreme measures in their business to signal their political correctness, with every one of their books being penned by vocal anti-Trump and anti-conservative writers. DC Comics has followed suit, with multiple books pushing pro-transgender narratives in recent issues, along with launching a line of new young adult books which the company claims is aimed at capturing a more diverse market.

There's just one little thing: DC began pandering to the SJW and diversity propaganda pushers several years before Marvel did, with a Black Firestorm, Asian Atom, Latino Blue Beetle and even a female Manhunter in the mid-2000s, with the worst part being that Identity Crisis served as the precursor they spun out of, denigrating the white protagonists for the sake of replacing them with the racially diverse ones (Elongated Man wasn't even replaced at all, just killed off along with his wife by the end of the overrated 52 maxi-series). Even during the post-Flashpoint era of 2011-17, they did this with at least a few characters connected with the Justice Society (a gay Alan Scott, Islamic Dr. Fate, black Hawkgirl, and possibly even a black Wildcat) in the Earth 2 series, which is now defunct. Say, did I mention the first Mr. Terrific, Terry Sloane, was turned into a crook in this rendition? As though it weren't bad enough Geoff Johns and David Goyer had to make his granddaughter (Roulette) a criminal in the early 2000s. So Marvel was just following up on their antics, taking them to major extremes. Those who think Marvel started it all should take a look at what DC was doing nearly a decade before.

Now, of all the people in comicdom who could be conspiring, look who else were involved:

“Gee, I can’t imagine why publishers wouldn’t want to affiliate with this audience,” tweeted Gail Simone, a feminist icon in the industry.

“Is that the thing where those twits started bullying female Marvel editors after Flo’s memorial? Yup, that was creepy,” said Neil Gaiman, speaking of #ComicsGate and citing left wing op-eds as his source for his alleged facts.

My, why am I not shocked Gaiman's being so knee-jerk hostile? He once said it's vital to defend even icky speech, but when it's the mediums he works in, he suddenly changes his inferior tune. No wonder I didn't approve of his handing of Lyta Hall in the Sandman series, and didn't even find it as good as the Swamp Thing under Alan Moore.

Regarding the stores refusing to carry it, Critical Blast found one retailer who was troubled by the news:

We spoke with Arkansas retailer Michael Tierney, owner of The Comic Book Store in Little Rock and Collector's Edition in North Little Rock, for his insight. While he has not participated in any online retailer forums, he stated, "If retailers are colluding to block the guy from market, that is very concerning." Tierney noted that, while it wasn't quite at the level of price fixing, a violation of the Sherman anti-trust laws, "to actively bar someone from having their product sold" was certainly a cause for alarm.

Those store managers who deliberately conspired obviously won't consider the divisive atmosphere they're creating, nor how it may have already cost them consumers.

Now as for Waid, Meyer's filed a complaint with Federal Trade Commission and Texas AG's office:

Complaint filed with Texas AG against Mark Waid and @Marvel regarding Mark's interference and intimidation of Antarctic Press that led to them dropping my book.

Complaint number is CGS-175197. pic.twitter.com/2jJeqFns4T

— Diversity & Comics (@DiversityAndCmx) May 14, 2018

It won't be easy at this point for him to salvage his ailing reputation. Naturally, it's a terrible shame it had to come to this, but literature doesn't always reflect the personality of the authors. In hindsight, outside of the Flash, what successes did Waid truly have? I sure don't consider his run on Daredevil a success with the politics shoved into it, and again, since the mid-2000s, he's long lost any energy he once brought to the table. I think it's time he went into retirement. After all, Roy Thomas has been retired for some time, so why doesn't Waid just consider the same, if he wants to be remembered on positive notes? He could've just ignored Meyer's project and then nobody would've cared. Instead, he's led to the opposite result and now faces legal motions as a result of his apparent disregard for the law. What a shame.

Labels: crossoverloading, Daredevil, dc comics, indie publishers, Justice Society of America, marvel comics, moonbat writers, politics, violence