The Four Color Media Monitor

Here's one amazingly positive step Marvel took to get rid of PR catastrophe from their list of contributors, though they still have a lot more to do if they want to prove they employ decent-minded folks, freelance or otherwise:

A writer for Marvel comics and the Star Wars extended universe has been fired from his job after posting a number of explicit tweets attacking Republicans and the GOP over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.

Chuck Wendig, the author of a number of Star Wars novels and the current Star Wars comic book published by Marvel Comics, has been fired from Marvel following his explicit-laden tweets about conservatives, Republicans and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In a series of tweets, Wendig stated that he was fired from writing the remainder of the Marvel Star Wars series: “because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring… It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.”

The offending comments in question can be seen in the screencaps provided here (and at the link):

Chuck Wendig, Lucasfilm writer in their EU, goes off the rails. #soylo pic.twitter.com/9hCliKkxf3

— Morgan Lewis (@guywazeldatatt) October 7, 2018

Plenty use of the S-word, F-word, among other colorful forms of dialect, I see. Dear dear dear. Anybody who dives that low into the mud cannot be surprised if it torpedoes sales and dwindles audience in the end. Chances are nobody's going to buy even the issues not written by Wendig.

But wouldn't you know it, the guy unfortunately has his sympathizers in the mainstream press, with Indiewire writing up one of the most dishonest pieces of all, alleging there's "more" to the story:

The story goes deeper than that, however, as Wendig says he’s been targeted by abuse from angry readers who disapprove of him introducing the openly gay character Sinjir Rath Velus to the world of “Star Wars.” That led to a flood of negative reviews even before most people had gotten the chance to read “Star Wars: Aftermath,” the 2015 novel in which Velus first appeared.

Looks like they're trying to divert attention from the seriousness of Wendig's postings with allegations of homophobia, all without providing any screenshots of the offending tweets in question. Another leftist tactic that's tiresome. Even Deadline Hollywood seems less interested in what he actually said and more in what he's claiming now. Which only leads nowhere.

Certainly Wendig's dismissal is a positive step, though the question remains whether Marvel did so because he's seen as a lesser member of their favored pool of closed-shop writers whom the publishers decided was expendable, or because he was assigned to adapt a highly recognizable franchise from Lucasfilm, and Disney can ill afford to sink the Star Wars brand any more than they already have with the social justice pandering Kathleen Kennedy turned to. The challenging query now is whether the publishers are willing to let go of more writers, artists and editors who led to PR embarrassments on social media, including Mark Waid, David Walker, Dan Slott, Richard Pace, Saladin Ahmed, Ramon Villalobos, Mike Deodato and even Mike McKone. Last time I looked, the latter drew variant covers for one of the current Spider-Man series and even one for Dynamite's Dejah Thoris adaptations. It'd be strongly recommended Marvel, DC, along with their smaller counterparts, distance themselves from any of the offending contributors, at the very least, by not renewing any contracts they may have. And that they avoid making distinctions between who's white and who's not. What matters is not race or ethnicity, but whether the contributors in question have engaged in offensive dialect and other awful behaviors online, and how it can damage their sales more than need be.

Wendig's ouster from Marvel is justified. But it cannot be simply a token dismissal. There's many other people in comicdom, freelance and interns alike, who've embarrassed their employers with revolting attitudes on social media, and not only is a set of guidelines required, it has to be enforced as well. So far, Marvel's coming off looking better than DC, if only because the former threw out an offending contributor while the latter hasn't lived up to the guidelines they issued but didn't follow up on with affirmative action.

Labels: licensed products, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, politics, technology, violence