The Four Color Media Monitor

Since I'd mentioned Marvel editor Heather Antos the other day, here's some tweets she and at least 3 other comic contributors who've worked for Dark Horse past and present recently posted where they give a positive citation to a certain Dark Horse editor who got himself in a heap of trouble over the past few years:

...@droog811 gave me my first lettering lessons over the phone while I was still working a corp design job! @ScottAllie Taught me to use an editor’s critical eye while I letter. Mark Evanier Taught me to respond to fans as much as is possible...

— Nate Piekos (@blambot) December 8, 2017

I will forever be greatful for the guidance and advice from @ScottAllie, @mikemarts, and @cracksh0t early in my career. Never would I be where I am now without them. https://t.co/FRJEFqDcAG

— Heather Antos (@HeatherAntos) December 9, 2017

In order of appearance in my life, Jim Valentino over at @Shadowlinecomic , @ScottAllie over at @DarkHorseComics and @greglockard and @bcunningham71 over at @DCComics ! Always and forever grateful to these men!!! https://t.co/FnDSvZvF0E

— Juan Ferreyra (@juaneferreyra) December 10, 2017

Besides my own damn self (haha), @ScottAllie has provided me so much more opportunity in the field I love, than I could have achieved alone.

— Matt Strackbein (@theletterhack) December 11, 2017

And I thought it was stupefying enough when Kurt Busiek spoke positively of Allie! Tsk tsk tsk. Are none of the above aware Allie was accused of physical/sexual assault on at least several people, and the DH staff did nothing about it for a long time? Image recently fired him as editor on one of their projects, and Dark Horse, presumably, quietly dropped him from even the freelance payroll since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke and led to a flood of sexual misconduct accusations this year. You'd think most contributors to comicdom would be embarrassed to obliviously mention Allie after the embarrassment he caused, yet once again, we have here a case of creators continuing to act like nothing happened. In Antos' case, her endorsement of Allie is at odds with her complaints of harassment over the milkshake post. I guess we can see now why she's not somebody looking to restore the Spider-marriage.

After finding these items, it's made me wonder: how many Weinsteins does Marvel have working for them who're being let off the hook? Or, how many does Dark Horse still have who're giving the company name a whole new meaning? None of the above's endorsements of Allie do much to assure they're concerned about serious issues.

Since we're on the subject, Inside Pulse reported that artist Mick Gray's apologizing for supporting the now disgraced senator Al Franken, who's also been exposed for sexual harassment and assault (and announced his resignation the other day), and also said he was sorry for victim blaming. But:

Then, to muddy his earlier apology concerning Franken, Gray shares a post that calls on the Democratic Senators who called for Franken to resign to do the same thing concerning President Trump who has also had sexual misconduct allegations leveled at him.

That last post clearly signals that while Gray is probably genuinely sorry about his earlier Franken support he’s still displeased with Democrats for essentially calling out Franken and forcing him to resign.

You know, one can only wonder if some of the people who worked with Allie (and Eddie Berganza, whom Gray worked with at one time), feel the same way about anybody who called for Allie to resign. For now, the ignorance of the case at DH's offices is certainly troubling, and indicates there's a certain contingent of people in the higher echelons of comicdom who aren't genuinely concerned about abuse in the workplace any more than Hollywood is.

Labels: bad editors, dc comics, indie publishers, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, moonbat artists, politics, violence