The Four Color Media Monitor

Dixon is a veteran with interesting insight, but he most unfortunately has some connections and employments he's worked on in the past decade that decidedly don't his reputation any good. Specifically, that he's worked for author Theodore Beale's publishing outfit, and "Vox Day" as the latter's sometimes known as, has a disturbing record of antisemitic comments and such, as seen in the screepcaps below: I hadn't thought about Beale much of recent, but if Dixon's still working in any capacity for this guy, who had the alarming gall to make antisemitic statements, that's very embarrassingly bad, and doesn't do favors for his own image. Beale also made disgusting statements about Blacks, and 3 years ago, Dixon was interviewed by Comic Book Historians, where the Beale issue came up:

Jim Thompson: So, I guess that goes back to my line of questioning about Miss Marvel and Miles Morales that these are for kids of that age. They’re young characters, and they’re– And yes, they have names attached. Because let’s face it, if you don’t have a name attached, it’s harder to sell a new comic, it’s hard to have static and have it sell. Whereas it’s easier to have something like ultimate Spider-Man. And it certainly was successful in that the movie made a ton of money, and people saw the movie and now we’re going to go and buy. And so it’s good for the industry in that respect. I respect your view on that. I want to ask you one final question because Alex brought up somebody, but I want to bring up a different name, which would be Theodore Beale, who has a pre-existing as Vox Day. I think that’s a different thing to some degree. You have done or doing work for him on something that’s named Alt-Hero, which was the very name of it is inflammatory to a lot. It’s poking.

I don’t think that’s a coincidence that it’s named that way. And it does scare, maybe not the people that are going to traffic in those books anyway. But I just want to ask you about some of that because things like Daily Stormer as a title and I mean, these are names that are caused concern, but primarily, what has to stand with the people he associates with. And when Vox Day says that blacks are subspecies and half savages and that we have to secure the existence of white people, and a future for white children; comments like that don’t sound like the person I’ve spent the last hour and a half or so with. You know, and I don’t believe that. And you didn’t say these things. But when you’re working for somebody who does say those things, is there anything you want to say in response to that?

Chuck Dixon: Well, I did an interview with the Rolling Stone in which once they asked the same questions. And I’m like, why didn’t– I work for a lot of different kinds of people and nobody’s ever asked me about who I work with and what their personal opinions were. Nobody asked me who they were then. And a lot of interest in Vox. I understand Vox is beyond controversial. But he contacted me and basically set up a thing where I could do whatever I wanted. He doesn’t tell me what to write. He doesn’t tell me what they’re actually going to. He doesn’t touch my work at all. I’m free to do whatever I want. But he’s giving me access to a global audience that I didn’t otherwise have. And as I said to the Rolling Stone guys, I said, “What am I supposed to do? I don’t have your permission to work. I need permission from the right people to work. Am I supposed to get a job at Home Depot?” I mean…

Jim Thompson: And some of this is probably because ageism may have shifted you toward that, wouldn’t you say?

Chuck Dixon: Yeah, yeah. I heard that argument, it’s ageism. Well, if it’s ageism, it’s been happening since 47. And there’s other guys, you know, yeah, there are the guys my age out of work. There’s other guys my age still working. I don’t even agree with a lot of the stuff Vox says. I mean, I’m not politically in line entirely with Vox Day. He’s given me the freedom to work.

Alex Grand: Is it just you gotta pay your bills, so you got to work. Is that the deal?

Chuck Dixon: And also, interesting work. I like to work. I like doing it. It’s compulsive at this point. Every writer talks about burnout, it’s never been an issue with me. If anything, it’s the opposite. And I gotta have an outlet for this stuff.

Well I'm sorry, but paying the household bills is no excuse. Beale's got such a big mouth, and has caused so much embarrassment, that to take a job with him even to pay the food tabs is much too high a price to pay. If anybody's work for Beale results in money going into his pockets, then there's a very valid point to make that you don't want somebody as repulsive as Beale is to become rich so long as he doesn't renounce his offensive ways. I'm sure there's plenty of other publishers Dixon and others could work for that pay just as satisfyingly, provide creative autonomy, while retaining a moral backbone in sharp contrast to the awful Beale.

So if Dixon's still working for Beale, the time's come for Dixon to distance and disassociate himself, because it can and will taint his reputation. I think it's a shame he's doing this, because here, the Big 2 were very unfair to Dixon in the past, and it had nothing to do with his associations with men like Beale. It was simply because Dixon was a conservative-leaning scribe. I just don't understand how some conservatives don't know how to draw the line at whom they'll work for on their part, no matter how much it'll risk tarnishing their records.

Labels: indie publishers, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, politics