Why, Will: Tom King was right (but we all still lost)

Just when you think you have all the answers, it’s time to change the questions.

The Splash

In the fracas between writer Tom King, artist Jae Lee and comic book fans who want works created by people who aren’t intolerable assholes, there are no winners.

Not King, who now looks like a bully for taking on a freelancer from his position on high as one of DC’s top guys.

Not Lee, who swears he knew nothing of the movement his work and association gave credibility to.

And not decent comic book fans who, again, just want to read and enjoy stuff made by people who aren’t belligerent, misogynistic and racist twits (because those people are still out there making truly wretched books).

But that doesn’t mean King, who called out Lee’s work on a variant cover for “Rorschach” #1 only for the artist to say he doesn’t align himself with the scum he’d already produced art for, was wrong here.

King is a man blessed with privileges — a reasonable amount of fame, whiteness, maleness, employment, power and probably some more we could list if we thought about it long enough. When King tweeted Friday, he brought all of those privileges to bear squarely against his pocketbook interests and the interests of his employer. Not everyone has the gumption to do that — and yet King did it.

In better times, I’d call the people out there who still cling to bigotry and small-mindedness a virus, but that seems pretty gauche these days. So let’s think of them like a fire — a menace to be monitored, controlled and eventually extinguished. In order to rage, a fire needs three things: a source of ignition and subsequent heat, fuel and oxygen. For these people, there is no hope of removing the first two; their movement of grifters, white grievance and malcontents is already energized, and there are legions of new followers to be found with the right meme, pinup or imagined fault within the comics industry. But the leaders, the organizers, the miscreants galvanizing the masses need jobs and relationships, the sort of occupational oxygen that fuels the profession. Deprive them of this, and the fire will eventually choke on itself, galloping through one unsettled corner of the internet before flittering out.

King did a thing that Dynamite would not do, and he did it in a way that was designed not to be performative but to achieve results. Lee may well be an innocent party to this (and his reaction seems genuine and unfortunately situated in personal tragedy) but he did the “Cyberfrog” work of his own accord. 

We are accountable for the company we keep.

If you still want to go after King for this, consider who your allies might be — fine, upstanding gentlemen who write for notoriously right-wing publications or use “SJW” and “estrogen” like they were slurs. You really want to stand and be counted with that lot?

King thought he saw a snake and tried to crush it under his boot. Even if it wasn’t actually a snake — and especially considering that Lee will be fine after this episode — it was still a service.  

Letters Home in a Time of Joker War

Dear Ferdinand, 

Rations are high, but morale is low. Today, we were all transfixed by the television screen as one anchor after another explained to us how Bruce Wayne is no longer in charge of Wayne Enterprises thanks to his embezzlement to fund Batman. For some reason, this means that Joker is now a billionaire. This made our heads heavy, my Ferdy, but we persevered — although some of us grow weary waiting for this “Punchline” character to serve a purpose other than to attract the speculators who have long plagued our city.

But, my Ferdy, it is not these things that have us so vexed; rather, it is the sheer sense of exhaustion that has pervaded our very bones that has us so low. We lived through the City of Bane. Many of us remember the War of Jokes and Riddles and Zero Year. The oldest among us even recall No Man’s Land. What we have before us is nothing new. It does not — as of this moment — speak to anything about us or our city or the man who has sworn himself to protect us. My dearest Ferdinand, we are simply inextricably bored by the state of this world.

I know it does not have to be this way. When Batman is defined by existential threats, he loses a part of what he is, much as I lose a part of me whenever I am away from you. The remedy, I believe, is to never forget that the World’s Greatest Detective should occasionally do some detecting and use his brain frequently, much as I should often be in the warm embrace of your loving arms.

I do not know where this war will take me, my love. I hope it will be to some place interesting. But as of now, I fear the worst.

Yours eternally,

Ernest 

P.S. — I have not the strength to do so, but someone should explain that there is no such thing as a “multibillion-dollar cease and desist” unless it is printed on the rarest paper imaginable.   

William C. Nevin Memorial Pick of the Week

Billionaire Island #3
Writer Mark Russell, Artist: Steve Pugh, Colorist: Chris Chuckry, Letterer: Rob Steen, Publisher: AHOY

I enjoy the simple things of this cruel life: black coffee, neat bourbon, rare steak and seein’ folk get what’s comin’ to them. While “Billionaire Island” hasn’t quite yet paid off on its promise to eat and/or kill the rich, it’s easy enough to see that dream coming together in this third issue as stand-ins for Steve Bannon and Mark Zuckerberg prance about with our hero in captivity. I wouldn’t say that this series is subtle — its themes are writ large and loud — but we do not live in subtle times. 

It’s fun.

More importantly, it’s cathartic.

And Now, Your Questions

The Why, Will mailbag has returned. Tweet me (@willnevin) or just scream at me with some stupid thing you want answered. Here’s a best of sampling from the past:

@PELightning: Democratic candidates the Ninja Turtles support: 

Leo: Buttigieg 

Raph: Biden 

Donnie: Warren 

Mikey: Bernie

@crypttrash: I was reading this as which candidate would be which turt and I was like UHHH WELL I HAVE OPINIONS.

Two questions for the price of one. LEGGO. The first is easier (and Pierce has it *mostly* right): Leonardo wants someone solid, steady, reliable and profoundly uninspiring. But Buttigieg is too young, so Biden gets that spot. Raph is impulsive and reckless, with anger and resentment driving his decisions. Classic Bernie Bro behavior. Donnie is a pragmatist. Maybe even a touch idealistic. Warren is a perfect pick for him. Mikey…just wants pizza. Failing that, UBI for pizza. So he’s #YangGang all the way. (Even though Yang has dropped out, which is a thing that Mikey would neither know nor care about. “I’m still writing him in, dude.” That’s why no one likes you, Michelangelo.)

Candidates as Turtles (or Turtles characters) is harder, but Bernie as Raphael and Warren as Donatello still work, so I’m keeping them. Biden is too broken down to work as Leonardo, but he’s not a heel, so maybe a Casey Jones with the edges sanded down. Buttigieg is the result of a lab experiment/focus group gone horribly wrong, and that’s got Baxter Stockman all over it. Klobuchar has an April O’Neil-like tendency to butt in where she doesn’t belong, but Klobuchar doesn’t do any good for anyone, so I don’t think that quite works out.    

Importantly, there’s no Krang, Shredder, Foot or other henchfolk on the Democratic side. (Baxter is too incompetent to do evil, and that’s the harshest thing I’d say about Pete, too.) The bad guys are all over there. 

In the White House.

@dagsly: What was it about 1985-86 that made it such a pivotal time for comics? Crisis, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Secret Wars. What happened that made that year such a game-changer? Culture? Politics? Printing technology? What was the secret sauce?

Inside comics, I think we have two central factors — namely that we are both in the dying age of the Comics Code and before the Image/independent publisher boom. Comics are beginning to grow and change and mature, and since we’re still in an era of Big Two dominance, naturally those are the companies and characters that are going to experiment and have the best results.

Outside of comics, everything just sucked. Reagan (or “Ronnie Roundworm” as Dad called him) sucked. Yuppie consumerism sucked. Deregulation sucked. You know the rage and disgust that went into making “Robocop”? Anyone with a brain and half a heart thought the same thing as Paul Verhoeven.

It was a toxic shit stew.

That we somehow found ourselves in again. 

@dagsly: Is Dr Pepper cola?

Dr Pepper (and the rest of your professional sodas, Mr. Pibb, Dr. Thunder and the like) is both a cola and not a cola, sharing some cola tastes while borrowing others from root beer.

See the definitive diagram below.

Your ‘Why, Will’ Weekly Planner

Today, Monday, July 27: Watch as Major League Baseball attempts to salvage a less-than-a-week old season after at least 13 Miami Marlins test positive for coronavirus. 

Tuesday: “Batman/Superman” #10, “Gotham Nights” #15, “DC Cybernetic Summer”

Wednesday: “Bleed Them Dry” #2, “Lost Soldiers” #1, “Pulp,” “That Texas Blood” #2

Thursday: Happy birthday, Tom Green. You are something that continues to exist, as does “Freddy Got Fingered.”

Friday: NBA play resumes in Orlando. Good luck. 

Saturday: It’s the first day of August even though time no longer has meaning.  

Sunday: Las Vegas’ Burnt Offerings restaurant is celebrating National Girlfriend Day with a “limitless” mimosa bar that includes various juices and…cotton candy. Vomit can be yours for the low price of $19 per person.

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Have a good week, y’all.