Dissecting Comicsgate (Conclusion): The Comic Book Industry Strikes Back

Despite all of the bigotry and controversy surrounding Comicsgate, it is my great pleasure to inform you all that their activities have not gone unnoticed or unopposed. In addition to several media outlets like Bleeding Cool, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, and even The Washington Post denouncing the movement, several people working within the comic book industry have publicly spoken out against Comicsgate. The most prominent of these individuals is Mark Waid, a long-time industry veteran whose worked at both Marvel and DC and has written several critically acclaimed comics like KINGDOM COME, CAPTAIN AMERICA, FANTASTIC FOUR, and 52. Waid has been one of Comicsgate’s most frequent targets ever since September 2017, when he posted the following message on Facebook after being informed that Richard C. Meyer would be attending Baltimore Comic Con:

“For anyone attending this weekend’s (excellent) Baltimore Comic Con, I have an important request. There is a serial YouTube harasser named Richard C. Meyer who I’m told may be attending as a fan. If anyone sees this gentleman or any of his friends, I need you to come find me and tell me immediately. Even if I’m on a panel, come up and interrupt.

Please circulate this request as widely as you possibly can through all your social media accounts. Fellow pros, tell each other. This is about attempting to lessen the harassment of women in comics, and it is important. Please spread the word. Thank you.”

Although many of Meyer’s supporters accused Waid of threatening Meyer with physical violence, Waid clarified that he simply wanted to engage in a civil discourse with Meyer. Despite this, these very same people continued to accuse Waid of trying to silence free speech and criticism. Waid disputed this accusation, stating in a later Facebook post that “criticism of the work itself is fine, but no reasonable person would fail to draw the line at direct personal threats and attacks on gender and race and orientation.” This argument was supported by Waid’s earlier comments that although he himself was able to withstand many of Comicsgate’s attacks since he was both a white male and an industry veteran, several of his colleagues lacked that same privilege. Essentially, Waid was not trying to silence criticism but was merely trying to stand up in defense of his fellow female and minority co-workers, as not only were many of them afraid to show up at conventions or stores, but some had even received death threats like being “burned to death” or being “put down like a dog” (which Waid states are some of the more tame threats they received, believe it or not). Nevertheless, Waid’s efforts fell through since the Meyer not only failed to show up at Baltimore Comic Con, but Waid stated that in a later phone conversation with Meyer, “[they] mutually agreed that all that need be said is that it was unproductive.”

This wouldn’t be the last time Waid and Meyer would clash with each other, as Waid has been a central figure in the controversy surrounding JAWBREAKERS. The controversy began when it was announced in May 2018 that JAWBREAKERS would be published by Antarctic Press, which led to several comic book stores openly refusing to stock the comic due to its author. Meyer responded intentionally posting the specific stores, their contact information, and even the names of their retailers that refused to sell his book, which may have resulted in the breaking and entering and theft of one comic book store. In light of this news, Mark Waid contacted Antarctic Press to inform them of Meyer’s history of online harassment and connections to Comicsgate, and Antarctic Press later announced although it stood for creator’s rights, it would no longer be publishing JAWBREAKERS. This not only led to Meyer starting up another Kickstarter to try and form his own company to publish JAWBREAKERS, but Meyer later went on to file a lawsuit against Mark Waid on September 19, 2018 for “tortious interference with contract and defamation,” claiming that Waid used his status to threaten and bully Antarctic Press while accusing Meyer of being a bigot and “serial harasser of women and minorities.” This is in spite of the fact that Antarctic Press publicly stated that:

"This is an untrue story. Please do not spread it. Nobody at AP contacted Marvel. Mark Waid did not bully anyone at our company. Though he did call and express concern. No letters were written between us and Marvel. Mark shed more light on the situation, and other factors that came into play that do not involve any staff or freelancers at any other company, that led us to our decision.”

In response to Meyer’s lawsuit, Waid has hired Mark S. Zaid, a Washington D.C. attorney with experience in high-profile defamation cases, and started a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $75,000. Fortunately, it appears Waid's efforts to combat Meyer in this case have largely been successful, as not only did the campaign raise more than its intended goal, but Zaid managed to dismiss Meyer's lawsuit through a Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction, since Meyer sought to sue Waid in a Texas court of law, whereas Waid lived in California.

But Mark Waid hasn’t been the only industry veteran to fight back against Comicsgate. On August 21, 2018, a random Twitter user claimed that late-comic book writer Darwyn Cooke would have been supportive of Comicsgate, which led to Cooke’s widow Marsha retweeting the following:

"Hi guys, this is Darwyn’s wife and I can guarantee he thought you comics gate idiots were a bunch of crybaby losers ruining comics. because you are.”

This resulted in several Comicsgate supporters harassing Marsha and accusing her of not really being Darwyn’s widow, and when Marsha requested Ethan Van Sciver put a stop to the situation, the latter instead blamed the SJWs for the harassment she was facing and demanded them to apologize instead of his own followers. In response, several prominent figures within the comic book industry who up until that point remained silent or neutral about Comicsgate, came rushing to Marsha’s defense. It all started with OLD MAN LOGAN writer Jeff Lemire tweeting “Comicsgate is based on fear, intolerance, bigotry and anger,” along with NEW MUTANTS artist Bill Sienkiewicz stating on Facebook that Comicsgate promotes “hateful, misogynistic and plain-old ugly dogma.” ALL-NEW WOLVERINE writer Tom Taylor later tweeted, “I believe comics are for everyone. There’s no excuse for harassment. There’s no place for homophobia, transphobia, racism or misogyny in comics criticism.” Taylor’s comment was later retweeted by several other prominent industry figures including Deadpool’s co-creator Fabian Nicieza, and BIRDS OF PREY and SECRET SIX writer Gail Simone. Even the artist of Alan Moore’s legendary WATCHMEN Dave Gibbons spoke out against Comicsgate after reading Sienkiewicz’s Facebook post. Furthermore, this event helped inspire later incidents in which prominent comic book writers have risen up to defend marginalized creators, as was most recently evident with prose writer Eve Ewing. When it was announced that Ewing would be writing the new IRONHEART series, several Comicsgate proponents lambasted her for being supposedly inexperienced and unqualified since she had never written a single comic before. Consequently, writers Tom King and Neil Gaiman came to Ewing’s defense, with Gaiman stating that he managed to get hired by DC decades prior despite having only published three short stories beforehand. 

Regardless, while it is good that comic book industry veterans are finally standing up against Comicsgate, many including Marsha Cooke have argued that it took them too long to respond, which in turn has allowed Comicsgate to continue thriving and infecting the comic book industry just like a festering mold. The movement still continues to grow strong and currently shows no signs of dissipating, which begs the question of what should be done. Well, in my personal opinion, I feel not only should veteran writers and artists continue to vocally oppose Comicsgate, but also that the CEOs and higher-ups at companies like Marvel, DC, Image, and IDW should throw their voices into the arena as well. They shouldn’t necessarily outright call their fans and customers bigots, as that’s the type of language that has and will continue to antagonize Comicsgate’s supporters. However, they should openly denounce all forms of bigotry and harassment while continuing to promote inclusiveness and tolerance in both their books and their working staffs. Speaking of which, companies should also provide additional support to marginalized creators who are or have already suffered from online harassment, such as more actively promoting their books. As for us the fans and customers, I believe that it’s moral obligation to provide support for the victims and targets of Comicsgate, whether it’s by simply complementing them on social media, or by buying their products. I myself, for instance, not only follow creators like G. Willow Wilson, Sana Amanat, Sina Grace, Heather Antos, and Magdalene Visaggio on Twitter, but I’m also currently purchasing titles from Marvel’s featuring their newer diverse characters like MS. MARVEL, UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL, and ICEMAN. On the matter of voting with our wallets, I also propose boycotting any of the given works being published by Comicsgate’s members. While I’m normally not one for advocating the boycott of any given product, since I personally feel that it’s unfair as all works should be judged on their own merits, I propose making an exception in this case. People like Richard C. Meyer, Ethan Van Sciver, and Vox Day have fueled their internet careers off of the harassment and discrimination of others, and buying books like JAWBREAKERS: LOST SOULS, CYBERFROG, and ALT★HERO will only serve to give them more money and attention. And on that same note, ignore YouTube channels or Twitter accounts that are supportive of Comicsgate like “Diversity and Comics,” “Capn Cummings,” “Douglas Ernst,” “Yellow Flash,” “Mim Headroom,” etc. As the late Stan Lee said in one of his famous soapboxes, “Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today… sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance.” 

Take Stan’s words to heart people. Let his legacy live on by demonstrating to the world that comics are a community that is all-inclusive and do not allow it to be infected by the intolerance and hatred that Comicsgate promotes!

Dissecting Comicsgate (Pt. 4): Revenge of the Bigots

What makes the visceral surrounding Comicsgate even worse is that the movement has actually received validation from a few prominent figures within the comic book industry. The most prominent of these individuals is undeniably Ethan Van Sciver, who is second only to Richard C. Meyer in being the leading voice of Comicsgate. For those who don’t know who Van Sciver is, he was formerly the artist on popular comics like Geoff John’s runs on GREEN LANTERN and THE FLASH as well as Grant Morrison’s NEW X-MEN. While Van Sciver is certainly a very talented illustrator, his online rhetoric leaves a lot to be desired. Not only has he engaged in cyberbullying, such as when he notoriously told a fan on Facebook suffering from depression to “kill [himself]” in May 2017, but he is also an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump and has retweeted popular Alt-Right memes such as images of Pepe the Frog. Speaking of which, Van Sciver has been frequently accused of including Nazi imagery in some his artwork, with the most infamous case of this being a sketchbook he released in 2007 entitled “My Struggle.”

Ethan Van Sciver's sketchbook. From My Struggle Volume 1 (2007). Art by Ethan Van Sciver. Copyright © DC Comics .

Not only does the title translate to Mein Kampf in German, but the character on the cover is Sinestro, a Green Lantern antagonist who’s basically the space-equivalent to Adolf Hitler seeing as how he’s a dictator who used the power of fear to seize control over his home planet’s populace. Furthermore, Van Sciver himself has mentioned that the title of the sketchbook was a joking reference to his own struggles of becoming a comic book artist, thereby adding more unfortunate implications to the situation.

In relation to Comicsgate, Van Sciver has publicly defended its members, while describing the movement as such:

“Comicsgate is a consumer-led revolt against what is clearly a left-wing dominance in the comic book industry. It’s an opportunity for displaced comic book fans, fans who have often quit the hobby, to take control and make or support the comics they’d rather read. It’s an opportunity for creators who cannot find work in mainstream comics for political reasons, or any reason, to create again, free from the oppressive social justice warrior harassment and blacklisting that made work difficult or impossible for them.”

Basically, rather than denouncing Comicsgate for the hate campaign that it is, Van Sciver instead attempts to paint the movement’s members (i.e., white men with conservative political views) as the actual victims of oppression and harassment, which again is a form of “whataboutism” that I referred to back in Part 2 this essay. Van Sciver has also shown support for Comicsgate by hosting both Richard C. Meyer and Alt-Right spokesperson Vox Day on his YouTube channel “ComicArtistPro Secrets.” But more egregiously, Van Sciver has encouraged and directly participated in the harassment of Comicsgate’s opponents. A notable example of this was when he repeatedly pressured cartoonist and critic Darryl Ayo to appear on his YouTube channel after the latter criticized former Marvel artist Jon Malin for literally comparing SJWs to the Hitler. Ayo declined Van Sciver's offer. This led to several of Van Sciver’s twitter followers harassing Ayo, while Van Sciver claimed that he himself was actually the victim of harassment since Ayo accused him of being a Nazi based of the “My Struggle” sketchbook. He also was reported to have stated that he “[thought his] fans [were] the best” following the incident. Van Sciver has also proven himself to be hypocritical and indecisive, since he has not only publicly condemned online harassment whilst participating in cyberbullying himself, but he stated that he was leaving Comicsgate on November 10, 2018, only for him to declare two days later that he was “back in.”

Going back to Richard C. Meyer though, Meyer has made various attempts to influence mainstream comics beyond his online presence. In addition to claiming that he has insiders at both Marvel and DC, Meyer has taken public credit for the firing of former IDW writer Aubrey Sitterson. Sitterson faced controversy when he posted a tweet about performative guilt in relation to 9/11 on September 11, 2017, which led to him being fired by IDW two days later due to fan boycotts of Sitterson’s G.I JOE series SCARLETT’S STRIKE FORCE.

Aubrey Sitterson's cancelled series. From Scarlett's Strike Force #1 (Dec 2017). Art by Nelson Daniel. Copyright © IDW Publishing.

Later in December 2017, Meyer told PJ Media that he personally encouraged the boycotts, stating:

"My hope was to get Sitterson fired and for IDW to stop peddling SJW politics. I’m happy with how he was removed.”

Meyer’s purported reasoning for getting Sitterson fired was not just because of his deservedly criticized tweet but mainly because his book portrayed women and overweight characters in the military, an idea that Meyer seemed to be offended by. Fortunately, however, the industry seems to have learned from the experience with Sitterson, as Meyer and his followers so far have failed to get anyone else they don’t like fired. Meyer’s most significant attempt to change direction of the comics’ industry, however, has been the attempted publication of his own indie comic JAWBREAKERS: LOST SOULS.

Richard C. Meyer's "Magnum Opus." From Jawbreakers: Lost Souls. Art by Ethan Van Sciver.
From https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jawbreakers-lost-souls-graphic-novel#/.

But before I discuss JAWBREAKERS itself, I feel that it’s important to provide some context about this book and how it’s representative of the movement’s larger mission. While for the most part Comicsgate has been focused on harassing and silencing the voices of progressive creators, one of the movement’s other goals is the publication of comics that they feel are more reflective of their own standards of storytelling. Several of its members, including Meyer, have claimed that comics have been an apolitical medium until just recently and that the quality of their writing was at its peak during the 1990s since that era had the strongest sales figures of any decade in comics’ history. There are multiple fallacies behind this argument, however. The most obvious failing is the idea that comics have always been apolitical, completely ignoring the fact that political ideologies and themes have been included in superhero comics since their initial inception in the late 1930s. Take for example the first appearance of Superman in ACTION COMICS #1, which has Superman taking on real world issues like domestic abuse and senatorial corruption. Or how about the first appearance of Captain America in CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1, which not only has its cover featuring the sentinel of liberty punching Hitler in the face, but was published a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor and was created by two Jewish men at a time where pro-Nazi sentiment still existed in the U.S.? How on Earth is that not a political statement?

Captain America punching Hitler in the face! From Captain America Comics #1 (Dec 1940).
Art by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment. 

Not to mention that even some of the more infamous comics from the 90s era that Meyer seems to hold in high regard contained political themes and social commentary. For instance, Rob Liefeld’s YOUNGBLOOD #1 had its characters operating as government agents and assassinating foreign dictators like a stand-in for Saddam Hussein. The latter is an incredibly overt political statement considering that the comic was published in 1992, only a year after the Persian Gulf War ended. Overall, Meyer’s assertion that comics have never been political is completely ignorant of comics’ history as a whole. 

There are also various problems with Meyer’s statement about the 90s being the best era of comics due to them having the strongest sales figures. First of all, judging the quality of a story based solely on its financial success is problematic in and of itself. For instance, there are several movies that were critical and box-office bombs when they were initially released but in later years became cult classics like THE WIZARD OF OZ or John Carpenter’s THE THING. On that same token there are been countless films that were box-office hits despite being critically panned like the Michael Bay TRANSFORMERS films. Secondly, while I freely admit that there are several comics from the 1990s that I personally enjoy like THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN, BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL, and even parts of the otherwise infamous SPIDER-MAN: CLONE SAGA, the 90s era as a whole has been described by many scholars and critics as “the Dark Age of Comics.” This is because the comics of this era tended be viewed more as commodities than quality stories since people mostly bought them primarily for their artwork and collector’s value, thus resulting in the speculator boom. Consequently, the comics of era featured stories with rushed and terrible artwork (and equally terrible writing) like the aforementioned YOUNGBLOOD and the majority of Image Comics’ early titles, constant crossover events that ranged from good like X-MEN: AGE OF APOCALYPSE to outright terrible like AVENGERS: THE CROSSING, as well as gimmicks like foil covers and trading cards that unnecessarily raised prices.

Foil Covers from the 1990s. (Left) From Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #365 (Jun 1991). Art by John Romita Sr.
(Right) From Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #50 (May 2006). Art by Ron Lim and Tom Christopher. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment. 

Additionally, while sales were initially strong for Marvel during the 90s, seeing as how Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-MEN #1 and Todd McFarlane’s SPIDER-MAN #1 still rank among the highest-grossing single comics’ issues of all-time, the speculator boom eventually collapsed under its own weight and Marvel experienced financial troubles so severe that the company was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1996.

The highest-grossing single comic issues of all-time. (Left) From X-Men Vol. 2 #1 (Oct 1991). Art by Jim Lee.
(Right) From Spider-Man Vol. 1 #1 (Aug 1990). Art by Todd McFarlane. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment. 

Supposedly, this era is the benchmark of quality that Meyer and his followers believe that all comics should aspire towards…

These are the flawed foundations upon which Meyer’s comic JAWBREAKERS: LOST SOULS was founded. Written by Meyer himself and illustrated by Jon Malin (the aforementioned artist who compared SJWs to Hitler), the premise behind the book according its Indiegogo page is that “a team of ex-superheroes attempt to save a ‘monster’ from a vicious warlord who wants to exploit it!” Additionally, Meyer pitched the comic on his Kickstarter as “a cross [between] THE AVENGERS and THE EXPENDABLES” and “superheroes who take on real evil like ISIS.” These statements further serve to highlight Meyer’s hypocrisy since he claims that comics have always been apolitical whilst producing a comic with heavy political connotations behind it (only in this case the politics are conservative rather than liberal). Furthermore, the “monster” the Jawbreakers are trying to save according to the preview pages is a giant mutant gorilla. This last point especially frustrates me since Meyer once criticized an issue of MS. MARVEL for including a giant mutant-cyborg iguana, which he described as being “silly-billy” or “cringe-worthy,” and yet now he’s doing something similar in his own comic. Again, hypocritical much? Ignoring the hypocrisy, while I haven’t read it myself (and I refuse to give Meyer any of my money), JAWBREAKERS appears on the surface to be a very generic and boring mercenary comic. This is most especially apparent in the character designs, which are very cliched as not only do two of them look a lawsuit-level similar to the Comedian from WATCHMEN and Sam Wilson's Falcon, but all of the others wouldn’t seem out of place with the characters from YOUNGBLOOD. Not to mention that the preview images seem to exhibit slight hints of bigotry which is unsurprising coming from Meyer. For instance, there is a page featuring an African tribeswoman who is wearing nothing but tiny cloths to cover her breasts and nether regions.

 

An African tribeswoman meets the Jawbreakers. From Jawbreakers: Lost Souls. Art by Jon Malin.
From https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jawbreakers-lost-souls-graphic-novel#/.

While this image already falls into the territory of being a racist caricature, it is made even more uncomfortable by the fact she is portrayed in a very sexual manner with her being drawn with ridiculously large breasts and panels focusing of her butt. Not to mention that image is just poorly drawn in general considering that the woman has the type of cracked spine you’d normally see in badly drawn 90s comics. Despite all of these factors, JAWBREAKERS has managed to find an audience in the form of Meyer’s supporters, as the book accumulated over $400,000 through crowdfunding.

Furthermore, Comicsgate has also attempted to publish other various indie titles aside from JAWBREAKERS through similar crowdfunding campaigns. While I could discuss Ethan Van Sciver’s independent project CYBERFROG: BLOODHONEY, I instead feel that ALT★HERO and its author Vox Day are far more deserving of my scorn since they're more eerily reflective of the types of toxic ideologies that Comicsgate stands for.

Vox Day invades the comic book industry. From Alt★Hero #1 (May 2018). Art by Cliff Cosmic. Copyright © Arkhaven Entertainment. 

The Investigative Fund describes ALT★HERO being centered around a “Confederate flagwaving superhero named Rebel, and a white vigilante who turns immigrants over to ICE.” And just like with Meyer’s JAWBREAKERS, I have not and absolutely refuse to read this comic since I fear it would make me feel uncomfortable to degrees that Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR could only dream of achieving. Regarding the book’s author, Theodore “Vox Day” Beale is a science fiction writer and video game designer who’s a leading online figure in the Alt-Right and was heavily involved in both Gamergate and the Sad Puppies controversy. While he’s most infamous for his novel SJWS ALWAYS LIE: TAKING DOWN THE THOUGHT POLICE, Vox Day recently attempted to establish a new comic publishing company entitled of course “ComicsGate.” While Meyer is reported to have been a fan of Vox’s anti-SJW novels, and Van Sciver has both given platform to Vox on his YouTube channel and was even allegedly on board with inviting Vox into Comicsgate, there were apparently many Comicsgaters who believed that Vox was too toxic even for their movement. On that note, it's worth mentioning that Vox Day wrote the Alt-Right's unofficial manifesto (which included a passage of him supporting "the 14 Words," a mantra cited by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists worldwide), he once tried to defend the Taliban shooting Malala Yousafzai by stating that educated women are "bad for society," has advocated that Syrian refugee boats be sunk with the passengers still on board, and worst of all, Vox is an open and avid supporter of the Neo-Nazi mass-murdering terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in the 2011 Norway Attacks (the majority of whom were children). 

So while both Meyer and Van Sciver tried to disassociate Comicsgate from Vox once their followers spoke out, the fact that they were both receptive to Vox's dangerous ideologies and were at one point even willing to incorporate him into their movement, speaks negatively to the characters of both Meyer and Van Sciver. However, Vox Day’s attempts at appropriation of the name "Comicsgate," as well as both Meyer and Van Sciver's previous support for him, means that the movement will forever be tainted by its connections and association with the Alt-Right, a label from which it can now never escape…

Dissecting Comicsgate (Pt. 3): Attack On Creators

In addition to making racist comments towards comics like MS. MARVEL on YouTube and Twitter, Richard C. Meyer and the members of Comicsgate actively insult and make inaccurate assumptions about creators of books that they personally dislike. Going back to the example of MS. MARVEL from the previous column, Meyer has repeatedly called G. Willow Wilson a “self-hating white woman” and a “fake cosplay-Muslim who converted to Islam solely for the oppression.” This assertion is completely inaccurate since Wilson has openly stated in her autobiography THE BUTTERFLY MOSQUE that she originally grew up in an atheist household but converted to Islam after dealing with adrenal problems in college since she had begun to fear for her own mortality and out of all the various religions she studied, Islam appealed the most to her since she interpreted it as a personal pact between the individual and God. This information is also available to read on Wilson's Wikipedia page, but apparently Meyer was too lazy to bother doing actual research and instead jumped to bigoted assumptions based on his own inherent Islamophobia.

Several of Meyer’s followers have followed in similar suit. For instance, Comicsgate member Capn Cummings made the video “Ms. Marvel Writer G Willow Wilson Deflects for Marvel” when Wilson spoke out against Indonesian artist Adrian Syaf on Tumblr. Following the release of X-MEN GOLD #1 on April 8, 2017, several critics noticed that the comic's artwork contained hidden references to the controversial Quran verse 5:51, which allegedly encourages Muslims not to take Christians and Jewish people as leaders, advisors, or friends. Syaf hid these references in an attempt to spread an anti-Semitic and anti-Christian message in the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia, which had then-recently appointed a Christian governor.

The X-Men Gold #1 Controversy. From X-Men Gold Vol. 2 #1 (Apr 2017). Art by Adrian Syaf. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment. From http://entertintname.com/2017/04/12/marvel-fired-an-artist-after-he-snuck-religious-and-political-symbols-into-a-new-x-men-comic/.

Although Syaf was rightfully fired from Marvel a few days later, Wilson, a fellow Muslim comics' creator, was still naturally furious over the artist's actions and wrote an essay-length Tumblr post denouncing the Indonesian interpretation of the verse referenced in the comic. In her post, Wilson elaborated how the verse's usage of "friend" or "leader" was actually a mistranslation of the original Arabic word "awliya" which actually translates to "legal counselor" or "guardian." Wilson was simultaneously critical of the original interpretation, stating that it had "very little relevance to a democratic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state," and that Muslims have had non-Muslim legal representatives throughout history. She further supported her arguments by providing a credible source about the surrounding context in which the verse originated. Despite this, Capn Cummings completely dismissed Wilson's arguments as "nonsense" in his video and he falsely accused her of being a liar and an advocate for "Sharia law in America.” Cummings’ only supposed evidence to support this claim was Wilson supporting the 2017 Women’s March that was partially spearheaded by Linda Sarsour, a divisive Palestinian-American political activist who has faced similar accusations from the right. Ignoring the fact that Sharia is actually a series of religious guidelines rather than an official substitute for civil law (and has been subject to many misconceptions and conspiracies that have been used to demonize the Muslim American community), thousands of women in the U.S. supported the march, including both Muslim and non-Muslim women. That doesn’t automatically mean that they're best friends with one of its leaders or that all of their political beliefs align perfectly like Cummings seems to believe. Additionally, MS. MARVEL’s other co-creator, Sana Amanat, has been repeatedly targeted by Douglas Ernst, another Comicsgate correspondent and a writer for The Washington Times. The most frustrating of these instances was when Ernst claimed to have dug up old deleted tweets from Amanat stating “Brown will rule [through] inter-breeding. Muhahahaha,” and “One day, we will all be brown (And NO that does not mean I plan to spread Sharia law).” Ernst used these old tweets to compare her to Richard Spencer, i.e. the biggest white supremacist/Neo-Nazi in America.

Sana Amanat's tweets as presented by Douglas Ernst...

Except that not only were both of these tweets jokingly sarcastic in their overall tone, but the latter tweet was clearly edited by Ernst since he neglected to include the portion featuring the link to an article about London electing its first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, the subject of which Amanat was alluding to her tweet.

The full tweet, which Ernst fails to present...

Ernst (as well as the pro-Comicsgate website Bounding Into Comics) even outright lied about Amanat deleting the tweets since I actually searched for them on Twitter myself and they’re still there. And what was Ernst's reason for generating all of this pointless controversy? He was offended by the fact that Sana once stated in an interview that Marvel was no longer "a boy brand." It’s also worth noting that Ernst once gave the overtly Islamophobic comic HOLY TERROR a positive review, citing its author Frank Miller as “a brave man who wrote a brave book.” This immediately makes him lose all credibility with me, since it clearly suggests to Ernst having a prejudiced stance towards both Islam and Muslim Americans (not to mention that HOLY TERROR is objectively the absolute worst comic that I've ever read or reviewed). These examples effectively demonstrate how Meyer and his followers completely fail to do any research on the people they criticize, and instead make bigoted assumptions based on their own inherent biases.

But G. Willow Wilson and Sana Amanat are not the only people who have been targeted by Comicsgate, and it’s important to acknowledge the movement’s assaults against broader comics’ community. The members of Comicsgate like to single-out comics creators who fail to meet their desired quota, including being a woman, LGBTQ, a person of different ethnicity or religion, or even merely a person who holds left-leaning ideas. These people have been actively insulted and belittled by Comicsgate, which not only assumes that they're hired solely for being minorities, are not really interested in comics in general, and are instead utilizing the medium to further their own political agendas. This type of closed-minded thinking is reflected in the following statement Meyer made in an interview with The Daily Beast:

“One of the things about SJWs is that they get a job because of surface qualities, being a woman, being black, being gay, being trans, and there’s no adjustment on the ground to negative fan reaction due to low sales.”

Meyer has also encouraged the harassment of female and minority creators, which was most especially evident with the “Milkshake Crew” incident. Several of the toxic tweets aimed at Heather Antos and her female co-workers were actively goaded by Meyer, whose involvement is made clear with one tweet stating, “You’re right, @DiversityAndCmx. No Life experience, the creepiest collection of stereotypical SJWs anyone could possibly imagine.” Furthermore, Meyer himself has not only encouraged the lie about the controversy being manufactured by Antos, but has also made the following statements in relation to her and her colleagues: 

“They obviously seemed to not be qualified. They can’t spot basic typos, they can’t notice major plot holes, they antagonize the fans... I talk to all these people, actual, legitimate talents, who can’t get a job to save their lives. Meanwhile some airhead who calls the fans Nazis and turns out laughably bad work is getting Eisner awards.”

One of the more infamous cases of harassment involving Meyer was a private-video he made titled “The Dark Roast,” wherein he and his followers made incredibly harsh insults and assertions about certain creators without their consent. I have not seen the video myself (and I refuse to watch it…), but from what I’ve read it features Meyer slandering Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Slott, and Mark Waid by calling them pedophiles, stating that female creators like Devin Grayson “literally sucked their way into the comic industry,” and even had him calling Heather Antos “a c** dumpster.” Similarly to Donald Trump’s infamous ACCESS HOLLYWOOD tape, Meyer’s “Dark Roast” video was eventually leaked to the public and has since become one of the single most-used sources of criticism against him.

On top of other examples of Meyer's bigotry such as him calling Ta-Nehisi Coates a “race hustler” or constantly using the words “Autism” and “Asperger’s” in a derogatory manner, Meyer and his followers seem to hold a particular grudge against gay and transgender creators. For instance, transgender writer Magdalene Visaggio has been one of Meyer’s most frequent targets. On top of making videos with clickbait titles like “SJW Mags Visaggio Takes Advantage of Trans-Trender [sic] PRIVILEGE To Get Hired And Make Money,” Meyer has repeatedly misgendered Visaggio by calling her a “man in a wig,” and he has equated being transgender to mental illness on his Twitter. His ire towards Visaggio appears to stem from her having only recently risen to prominence as a writer and even being nominated for an Eisner award for her series KIM & KIM. Meyer seems to believe that Mags was only able to achieve success by supposedly weaponizing her transgender status, a n assumption that is both ridiculous and transphobic. Additionally, Meyer also seems to despise anything that even remotely defies traditional gender roles. This is best evidenced by his criticisms of the character Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, who in recent years has been less sexualized in her physical appearance as she’s been drawn with smaller breasts, a short haircut, and a more modest costume.

Carol Danvers Before & After. (Left) From Ms. Marvel Vol. 2 #1 (May 2006). Art by Frank Cho. 
(Right) From Captain Marvel Vol. 9 #1 (May 2006). Art by Kris Anka. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment. 

In response to this, Meyer and his followers started calling her “Carl Manvers" while joking about her being secretly transgender. Furthermore, the aforementioned Daily Beast article mentions Meyer stating:

“I started noticing a lot more weird stuff. Feminization of men, masculinization of women, basically, all the classic heterosexual pairings being destroyed... you realize this is a trend, and you start wondering why they’re doing it. Why is Luke Cage, the quintessential blaxploitation tough guy, why is he pushing a baby carriage and he’s the wimpiest, most soft-spoken — this is not done on accident.” 

Further highlighting Meyer’s homophobia is the fact that the two comics he’s attacked the most on his YouTube channel are ICEMAN and AMERICA, both of which feature LGBTQ-leads and are written by gay authors Sina Grace and Gabby Rivera respectively. It was also in one of these videos that Meyer made the following statement about Grace:

“We really need a world war and a draft. We need stuff like this winnowed out of society. This guy is -- let’s look at his picture -- Yeah, we’ll get him on a nice artillery crew. He’s probably good at math, he’s good at doing range tables. Tragically taken out by enemy counter-battery fire. Nice medal to his mom. Never has to explain why he was never married to a woman. Yeah. Yeah, that would settle it up.”

I still maintain this is the absolute worst thing Meyer has ever stated. It truly is sickeningly horrific and homophobic. In essence, Comicsgate is at its fundamental core, a movement dedicated to harassment and espousing racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and Islamophobic beliefs, no matter what its defenders might claim.

Dissecting Comicsgate (Pt. 2): Enter the Meyer

There are several prominent figures who make up Comicsgate, but at the epicenter of the movement is an individual named Richard C. Meyer. Meyer is a conservative comic book fan who formerly served during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has written indie comics like NO ENEMY, BUT PEACE. He currently runs the ironically named YouTube channel “Diversity and Comics” (now renamed "Comics MATTER w/Ya Boi Zac"), which was launched in April 2017 after Gabriel made his infamous speech, and at the time of my writing this essay has over 92,000 subscribers. His videos are reliant on clickbait titles like “How To Spot An SJW Marvel Story” and “Marvel Comics AMERICA-Hip Hop Segregation Comic,” and are unscripted rants about SJW-politics and diversity supposedly ruining Marvel.

I myself first learned about Meyer's existence in November 2017, when his most highly watched video, "Captain Marvel is everything wrong with SJW Marvel,” randomly appeared in my recommended videos section on YouTube since I had actively started searching for other comic reviewers besides Linkara. 

Meyer's most viewed video ever...

I watched the video and almost instantly disliked it since it was simply a diatribe about the Carol Danvers’ incarnation of Captain Marvel supposedly being unpopular with readers and how nobody liked her because Marvel was continuously trying to promote her series in favor of more well-known characters like Spider-Man. While it is true that Carol had heavily fallen out of favor with some readers because of her actions during the CIVIL WAR II event comic, Meyer completely ignores the fact that Kelly Sue DeConnick's run on the book beforehand was favorably received by critics and gave birth to the “Carol Corps” fanbase. However, since I wasn't as emotionally attached to Captain Marvel as I am to other Marvel superheroes, I was able to simply ignore "Diversity and Comics" move on, thinking that he was nothing more than just some random small-time YouTuber who lacked much of a base. One month later though, I inadvertently stumbled upon another of Meyer's videos, "MS. MARVEL is Another SJW Marvel ‘Hero’ Obsessed With Being Oppressed," wherein he inaccurately labeled MS. MARVEL #19 as being racist towards white people.  He was completely dismissive of the bigotry currently aimed at Muslim Americans, and the video ended with his literally washing the comic in his sink (and flushing the ripped-up/burnt pieces down his toilet in two follow-up videos).

An introduction to Richard C. Meyer in the worst way possible!

Unlike the Captain Marvel video, to which my reaction was indifference and slight annoyance, I was greatly appalled and disgusted by this particular video since I’m a huge fan of Kamala Khan's series. Although I immediately recognized Meyer's inherent racism, I was greatly shocked to discover the number of likes the video had in comparison to dislikes. To be precise, the video currently has approximately 2,900 likes versus 225 dislikes. 

The disproportionate like to dislike ratio in Meyer's videos...

Baffled by how many people liked the video, I compelled to do further research, which, in turn,  led to my learning about Comicsgate itself and Meyer's association with the movement.

Meyer has frequently made inaccurate and offensive statements about Marvel’s current content. While I could discuss his ridiculous assertions about Squirrel Girl supposedly having Downs Syndrome due to Erica Henderson’s cartoony art style or Iceman being portrayed as stereotypically gay despite being written by a gay author, I’d be here all day if I were to go into detail about every single bigoted comment Meyer has made. So, for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to focus on a single character Meyer has frequently targeted in his videos in order to analyze the types of “criticisms” that he makes and provide counterarguments to them. I’ve chosen Ms. Marvel for this analysis since not only have I personally read nearly every issue of her series but also because while most other news sources covering Comicsgate have discussed Meyer’s homophobia and transphobia, I've noticed that none of them have touched upon his Islamophobic tendencies.

One of Meyer’s reoccurring complaints concerning MS. MARVEL is that the book is racist towards white people simply on the basis that it portrays characters like Zoe Zimmer as ignorantly racist bullies towards Kamala in the series' first issue. This an inaccurate assessment since not only are white people the primarily party responsible for the marginalization of minority groups in the real world, but the character Zoe evolves into a much more kindhearted person in future MS. MARVEL stories. The series' first issue also makes it clear that one of Kamala's best friends is Bruno Carrelli, a white adolescent with a genius level IQ who respects Kamala's faith and personality. Yet for some unfathomable reason, Meyer disqualifies Bruno as being white simply on the basis of his being of Italian descent. Furthermore, Meyer accusing MS. MARVEL of being racist towards white people while he himself is being racist is a common far-right tactic known as “whataboutism,” wherein one redirects one’s own offenses onto an opposing party in order to make themselves look less guilty. Additionally, Meyer claims that MS. MARVEL promotes SJW or left-wing propaganda, such as when he criticizes the line "Sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims has erupted along the border and in many major cities," from flashback in the CIVIL WAR II tie-in arc to Kamala's ancestors during the partition of India and Pakistan.

Kamala Khan's ancestors. From Ms. Marvel Vol. 4 #8 (Jun 2016). Art by Adrian Alphona. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

According to Meyer, "[the naming of] Muslims second [was] purposeful, deliberate, and propaganda [because] when you say violence between two groups people tend to blame the one you name first." This argument also falls flat when you consider that the American Revolution is often described as "the Americans vs. the British," and the Civil War as "the Union States vs. the Confederacy," and the British and Confederacy are often seen as the antagonists in their respective conflicts. 

In addition to his criticisms lacking any basis in reality, Meyer regularly makes bigoted insults towards the series’ characters. For instance, Meyer constantly judges people by their physical appearance, like with his stating Kamala’s polymorph powers make her look ugly and go against women’s standards of beauty, or fat-shaming Kamala's friend Michaela "Mike" Miller (whom he also inaccurately describes as looking "Asian" even though the author confirmed on Twitter that she's actually half White and half Hispanic). Meyer even goes as far as to claim that Kamala doesn’t even look Pakistani simply because of her having dark brown hair as well as brown skin. The latter comment especially demonstrates Meyer’s racism and ignorance since not only are there Pakistani women who share Kamala’s physical attributes, but the country is actually more ethnically diverse with its skin and hair tones than he realizes. Meyer has also made bigoted comments that have been used to demonize Muslim Americans in both the past and present. This was evident when Meyer critiqued MS. MARVEL #25, which contained a scene of Red Dagger, a Pakistani-exchange student and superhero, criticizing American retirement homes in comparison to Karachi’s treatment of the elderly.

Red Dagger's commentary on American retirement homes. From Ms. Marvel Vol. 4 #25 (Dec 2017).
Art by Nico Leon. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

In response to this, Meyer literally stated, “we can get you a flight back to Karachi, it’s obviously a wonderful place nobody would ever want to leave.” These words are reflective of people who would yell at Muslim Americans to go back to their native country even if they were natural-born U.S. citizens, which is one of the most common verbal insults Muslim Americans have suffered from in a post-9/11 society. But Meyer’s most infuriating insults are the ones that he regularly aims at Kamala’s older brother Aamir.

Kamala's older brother Aamir. From Ms. Marvel Vol. 4 #25 (Dec 2017). Art by Nico Leon. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

Meyer constantly refers to Aamir looking like a shepherd simply due to his wearing traditional Islamic attire in the form of a white thobe and taqiyah cap. He even outright, and inaccurately, calls Aamir an ISIS bomber in one of his terrible videos, stating, "Yes I'm profiling.” He has attempted to justify his Islamophobia by stating there’s no other reason for Aamir to wear such clothing, showing he’s unwilling to integrate into American society and therefore he should be viewed with suspicion. Where do I even begin with how wrong this is?! First of all, there are plenty of Muslim Americans in the real world who wear the type of clothing Aamir wears for various religious reasons, including adhering to more orthodox beliefs or trying to emulate the Prophet Muhammad. Secondly, Aamir has been portrayed in the series as being a nice person who cares immensely for his little sister and family, and even openly stated that he didn’t want superpowers when he was forcibly granted them during the LAST DAYS arc and that he was happy with who and where he was in life. Thirdly, and most importantly, Meyer stating that an individual should be profiled simply on the basis of his religious clothing is on the same level of awfulness as Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR stating that all Muslim foreign exchange students should automatically be viewed as terrorists in disguise and, therefore, be treated with derision. 

To put it simply, Richard C. Meyer is a racist individual who is focused more on spewing hateful bigotry than he is in providing constructive criticism.

Dissecting Comicsgate (Pt. 1): Comicsgate Begins

While there are many factors which attributed to the formation of Comicsgate, the movement would not have been able to exist at all if not for Gamergate. Gamergate was a similar movement that claimed to be centered around combatting unethical practices concerning video game journalism but in reality was nothing more than a hate campaign against women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals within the gaming industry. The controversy erupted in August 2014, when game developer Zoe Quinn was accused by an ex-boyfriend of sleeping with a critic in order to receive positive press for her then-recent game, DEPRESSION QUEST.

Depression Quest. Copyright © The Quinnspiracy. From https://store.steampowered.com/app/270170/Depression_Quest/.

This, in turn, led to Quinn being the center of repeated harassment by having her personal information hacked and published on public forums.  She was also sent death and rape threats so severe that she was forced to flee her home and seek aid from the FBI. Other prominent female figures in the gaming industry such as feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, founder of the website "Feminist Frequency" and host of the YouTube series "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games," were met with similar targeted harassment when they attempted to speak out against sexist practices and tropes in the gaming industry. This outbreak of widespread internet harassment was primarily spearheaded by white cis heterosexual males who believed that video games were an inherently masculine medium, which they felt was being threatened with the increased presence of feminism and progressive politics. The targets of Gamergate were frequently labeled as “social justice warriors,” or “SJWs,” which is an ironic insult commonly utilized by the far-right to describe people who are left-leaning or promote progressive ideologies. Additionally, Gamergate has been cited by several news outlets as being a precursor to the rise of Alt-Right hate speech, since not only were prominent Alt-Right figures like Theodore “Vox Day” Beale formerly associated with the movement, but similar hate rhetoric and harassment campaigns were also witnessed during events like the 2016 presidential election and Brexit.

In a sense Gamergate served as the foundation for Comicsgate’s formation since it too is a far-right campaign founded on the absurd idea that progressivism is destroying geek culture. However, there were three major incidents that officially helped spark the origins of this particular movement. The first of which was the harassment of comic book writer Chelsea Cain. On October 16, 2016, Marvel released the cover image for the final issue of Cain’s MOCKINGBIRD series, which featured the titular character wearing a t-shirt stating, “Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda.”

"Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda." From Mockingbird #8 (Oct 2016). 
Art by Joëlle Jones and Rachelle Rosenberg. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

This led to Cain receiving several sexist tweets from fans, and eventually Cain was forced to temporarily delete her twitter account. Although several fans came to Cain’s support with the hashtag #StandWithChelseaCain, this incident has been viewed as one of the earliest instigators of Comicsgate since it involved the targeted harassment of a feminist creator in a vein similar to Gamergate.

The second major event was an infamous statement made by Marvel’s vice president of sales, David Gabriel on March 30, 2017. During the Marvel Retailer Summit, Gabriel the following statement when he was questioned about the cause of declining single-issue sales:

“I don't know if that's a question for me. I think that's a better question for retailers who are seeing all publishers. What we heard was that people didn't want any more diversity. They didn't want female characters out there. That's what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales.

We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked.”

This assessment was both incredibly offensive and inaccurate. While Marvel did indeed experience a sales slump in 2017, it was because of several other factors like the constant relaunches and renumbering of books, crossover/event comic fatigue (Marvel had released a total twelve event comics over the previous two years), controversial decisions like making Captain America an agent of HYDRA and the company relying solely on the sales figures for single-issues as a determinant for success. Although Gabriel later retracted his comments by acknowledging that books like MS. MARVEL, MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN, and UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL sold better through trade paperbacks and digital distribution, the damage was already done. Gabriel’s words unintentionally gave bigoted fans a sense of validation in their racism and sexism as several YouTube channels speaking out against “SJW Marvel” began to emerge, including one channel in particular, “Diversity and Comics,” which we’ll be discussing later. 

The final piece to the puzzle is the “Marvel Milkshake Crew” controversy. On July 27, 2017, the assistant editor of THE UNBELIEVABLE GWENPOOL, Heather Antos, posted a group-selfie of herself and her co-workers on Twitter drinking milkshakes in honor of the late Flo Steinberg.

The Marvel Milkshake Crew.
From https://talkradio.co.uk/news/new-gamergate-female-marvel-comic-editor-suffers-online-abuse-over-selfie-co-workers.

Although the tweet was meant to be a light-hearted tribute to a prominent female figure in comics who had then-recently passed away, the posting was unexpectedly met with a storm of sexist tweets and DMs from fans. In addition to labeling Antos and her colleagues “fake geek girls” and “social justice warriors,” some of the more infamous tweets that emerged included gems like “Gee, I can’t imagine why Marvel’s sales are in the toilet,” and “Can we just get off feminism and social justice and actually print stories.” In fact, one tweet even went as far as to state, “Better have her sign a consent form, she looks like the ‘false rape charge’ type.” The misogynist backlash led to several people in the comics’ community coming to Antos’ support and began retweeting the hashtag #MakeMineMilkshake for a period of three days. Despite this, several of the people (including those responsible for the harassment) claimed that the “Milkshake Crew” controversy was manufactured by Antos, which was a familiar self-defense tactic employed by Gamergaters. And since the hashtag #Comicsgate began to circulate in response to #MakeMineMilkshake, it was with this specific incident that Comicsgate was officially born.