Previously On Comics: Canon, Stan, and Protecting the Innocent

Good morning! Did you know Gambit nearly came out as bisexual? It was one of James Asmus’ ideas for his Gambit solo book in 2012. Marvel editorial nixed the idea, though, because it would have “redefined the character.”

Gambit letting his magic wand explode in Wolverine’s mouth.

Subtext? What subtext?

My curse to always and forever write about harassment in the news continues, as 2d Cloud has severed ties with Blaise Larmee over something not publicly defined. This announcement, the second such for 2d in the last year, was delivered over twitter:

https://twitter.com/2dcloud/status/948374358656987137

In addition to severing ties with Larmee, who was first a Marketing Director and then a Creative Director at the company, 2d Cloud is also recalling every copy of Larmee’s recent release 3 Books that they can and pulping them. It’s important to note that while the above tweet is vague, it does reference “predatory behavior”; 3 Books apparently contains multiple stories featuring a comic creator having sexual interactions with fans.

We do not know what Blaise Larmee actually did; 2d Cloud and its various associated personalities have been incredibly tight-lipped on the incident. As someone who is trying to share relevant news, that is irksome, but as a person, as a woman, I understand. Someone, or multiple someones, brought forth a complaint that was serious enough when investigated for 2d Cloud to terminate their relationship with Larmee. We are of course hungry for more information, we want to verify facts and details and be in the know. But we should also ask ourselves why, and for what purpose? We know that Larmee did a bad thing, bad enough to force a very public ousting and a destruction of his works. We can infer from the language that someone was hurt, has been a victim, and that is everything we need to know. People have been hurt, we cannot trust Blaise Larmee. People lose their jobs all the time; that 2d Cloud felt the need to say something whilst still protecting the victim (or victims) is significant, and we should trust that urgency on their part.

What we should not do is this:

Apparently deciding that one man behaving badly was not enough, Dan Nadel, a writer for The Comics Journal (and author of the review of 3 Books, linked above), took 2d Cloud to task on Twitter for…ousting predators, I guess? Nadel appears to be unhappy with the publisher for their choice of timing, or something, and advises that they should “take responsbility.” I’m not sure how firing creators for their behavior isn’t taking responsibility, but here we are.

Here we also are with Stan Lee; the former Marvel Comics creator made the news last week when The Mail Online [we will not be linking to the Mail Online —Ed.] reported that he’s been accused of groping nurses and demanding oral sex in the shower. After appearing in the Mail, the story was picked up by Nancy Grace’s Crime Stories, where it then filtered to comics press, notably Bleeding Cool. I’m inclined to believe accusers, and I have zero difficulty believing that these stories are possible, even probable— Lee would hardly be the first creator of comics’ Golden Age to be accused. Bleeding Cool later ran another story where it was claimed that Lee had groped the wife of a “prominent comic book creator.”

Folks, I am very tired of writing about these stories.

Not to be outdone by the man who helped put them on the map, Marvel Comics has decided to target a Pennsylvania clothing company for their depiction of a skull:

Marvel figures this design is too similar to their distinctive Punisher logo, which they make a lot of money off of selling memorabilia to racists and others. BLKYLO’s design uses the teeth of the skull to outline the Pittsburgh skyline, and also prominently features their company name and location.

Finally, Erik Larsen wants you to work for free:

Don’t listen to Erik Larsen, about this, or most other things.

That’s all I have this week. See you next time!

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Nola Pfau

Nola Pfau

Nola is a bad influence. She can be found on twitter at @nolapfau, where she's usually making bad (really, absolutely terrible) jokes and occasionally sharing adorable pictures of her dog.

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