(Potentially) Interesting Topics: Rock 'n Roll Internet, or Killing Comic Writers

So, I'm pretty new around these parts. But I was reading some post a day or two back about how we needed more interesting threads, so I'm going to make an attempt here. Maybe it'll fail; it'll probably fail, but I have topics that I think are interesting, so I'm going to give it the ol' Oxford try.


Now, here's something that's happened recently that you may have heard about being on a comic book board. The current writer of Spider-Man, Dan Slott, had this super controversial idea for the book. Something about Spidey being Doc Ock or some ****. Tell you the truth, I don't know because I don't follow Spider-Man, never have, probably never will. The only real interesting thing to me about this is the reaction of Dan Slott to the reaction to this story.


See, Slott received a lot of death threats from Spidey nerds because of this. And Slott's response? Well, gosh darnit all, Dan Slott isn't going to take this. He rebutted to many people on his twitter, calling them out on being too extreme. The crème of the crop? He threatened to contact the cops on one guy. Yeah, no kidding, he did this.


I don't know how much of it came around in these comic forums, but I lurk over at CBR, and there was huge debates about how Slott did good by this. Huge, lengthy, heavy debates about how, by God, we shouldn't take cyber bullying. We need to call these bullies out. No one deserves to be threatened over the internet over a comic book storytelling.


Well, here's how I feel about it.


What a load of horse****.


It's not that I have a problem with Slott's reacting to these people. In fact, it's good that he did. My complaint? The horse**** I smell in all of this? His rebuttal was way too civil.


But hold on? Isn't that a good thing. No, I don't think so. And here's why.


Professionals who post in comic forums or open up their twitters (no one should have a twitter anyway, and you automatically get dangerously close to losing your artist status if you have one, but that's another topic) know that the anonymous style of the internet is a nasty place. And if they don't, they sure do figure out pretty ****ing quick. And comic book fandom? Horrible, disgusting, monstrous, hateful, cankerous nerds who get off on spewing bile on every aspect of the hobby that feeds their “lives”. That's a mean thing to say, but just look at many comic book web forums and you'll see it. Maybe it'll even look a little stable on the surface, but boy oh boy, as soon as one thing in their beloved franchise isn't to their liking...watch out. They become the worst of the stereotype (that isn't to say they aren't any perfectly good posters in this community, but most of the truly good ones abandon that **** when they get a girlfriend, as those are usually the ones capable of such, and start getting laid. This explains why I registered in '11, but quit posting so quickly , but also why I'm back now ).


So, what is the point I'm driving out? In all of Slott's reaction, as far as to my knowledge, he never told these death threaters, “Hey, shut up, you stupid ****. If you don't shut up, I'm going to write a story where Gwen Stacy comes back, then ****s the Green Goblin on Uncle Ben's grave while Peter watches, and then dies from excessive orgasm. Actually, hey that sounds like a great pitch to Marvel. BRB.”


I know what you're thinking, though. Oh, he's a professional, he's not going to stoop to that level. And you know, that's the problem. He's already stooped to that level. Really, below that level if he's doing it over twitter, since that's the lowest you can go. If you're going into that warzone, you better be goddamn ready. Call the cops? Are you kidding me. These are a bunch of ubber nerds who aren't going to do jack **** to you. If there's a legit threat, it's not going to matter who you call that person will try to act on you. Not that there is, by any means, but if we want to visit that fantasy, okay.


If a professional doesn't have the balls to do that, is afraid big papa DC or Marvel isn't going to like you being a potty mouth, or if you just don't want that image, there is a solution there: get off of the goddamn internet, or at least, off of web forums, twitter, or anything with comment systems and all that ****. A good example is Grant Morrison, another well-known comic writer. He had his own website with essays and web forums, but as soon as death threats came in about him writing X-Men, he pulled the plug and left it.


That's why I'm going to give praise to an unlikely source. Rob Leieild. If you don't know who that is, google it real quick. He was an artist big in the '90s, and he recently had an incident on tweeter where he was bashing people left and right, many other writers and artists replied, and he pretty much became a laughing stock, but he spoke his mind and hit hard with his words. Unapologetic, unprofessional, real old school rock 'n roll style. He came off like a fool, especially since he was a bashing artists who are infinitely better than him, but that's the backfire. Plus, he was attacking peers, not internet nerds who wanted to kill him because his art sucks. But it's that embraced internet nastiness, the no-holds barred approach, that deserves recognition.


To simply rebut with a “Hey, you can't do that” or use some hollow threat of “I'm going to call the cops, young man”, you frankly have no business doing what you're doing. It's not like you need to do it constantly like those trolls who have no life will do. Just a single, **inappropriate comment removed**, maybe followed by a “you are a lifeless little festering maggot who feeds on the phelgm I spit on this paper”, and then go about your way. Otherwise, keep off the internet and keep writing your stories without worry about what folks are saying on it. But if you're going to come here, it's old school rock 'n roll: no rules, no cares, only bile and hatred for no ****ing good reason. If that's not your style, the door to the classical concert is over there. Have fun, because it's better then this ****.


Anyway, that's my thoughts. If you've got any thoughts about anything said here, feel free to discuss. If not, you can just make fun of me for starting this thread. It's okay, I'm pretty rock 'n roll. Until the (potential) next topic, Be Seeing You.

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Hey, that's getting into the spirit. Good deal, bro, you brought that down to the level like a proper internet poster.

But I will own up to the twitter bit. I really don't know anything about it. If there's real potential there, I'll just take your word on it. It seems to me it's mainly used for a bunch of nonsense and ********, but hey, I'm sure many of artforms have been denounced as such.

 

You must've come from a pretty hardcore third grade. I think the worst I have heard at that point was probably "jerk". Maybe I'd heard damn at that point. It's been a long time. I actually don't recall a lot of the third grade. I think I mainly played on the swings and with toys in the playground.

 

I would never encourage cyber bullying, that wasn't what I was trying to put across. Mainly, it's aimed at professionals who actively post in these environments, and they know what kind of nasty environment these kind of places can be (and if they don't, they find out), it's more about just not being afraid to tell these people to **** off and not bother with the pretense of politeness.

I think the context does change when we're talking more poster to poster. But, and I know this may be controversial to say as well, I think a lot of the same logic applies. Learn to leave it, or grow a thicker skin and hit back. Now, this is talking mainly about web forums, twitters, blogs, and the such. I know there's far more extreme versions of this such as cyber stalking, hacking into other's accounts and computers, but I consider that more heavy material than just being nasty on forums and the such.

 

There is no stooping, though. It's like I said, they're already at that level when they come down to web forums or reply to those bashers. It's like going into a warzone dressed in your best Sunday suit, and somehow not expecting someone to shot at you because you look fancy. It's about adaptation. Either get into the concert, or leave.

Perfectly understandable, and I addressed this. If you don't want that image or are afraid your bosses are going to let you go for it, take the Grant Morrison route and just don't do it, leave it totally to the inmates in the asylum. Don't post on web forums, disable comments on twitter (I'm assuming you can do this), your blogs, or delete them and keep your promotion to interviews and the like.

And, for the record, it has nothing to do with "cred" of any kind. It's like I said above, it's about adaptation, and just being real, dropping the pretense of politeness in the face of the unpolite and uncivilized.

Yeah, I guess my view is mostly tainted by that 75%. CBR has twitter feeds for a lot of comic writers and artists, and can't ever recall any real useful information. Occasionally, I'm see some promotion of a new release of their or a link to some finished art, but you would generally see the same thing in any interview or something like that. But, yeah, the vast majority was just sort of stuff you put on FB's status feeds or something, if even that. But it's cool that there is more out there on twitter to warrant it's existence, though.

 

No, you are right, of course. There are well adjusted folks on the web, but speaking from my experience, the internet is definitely a bit of a safe haven for those without social lives. I really think that goes without saying considering the rise of internet forums and MMO video games that create a social environment without the risk of human contact. But, yeah, you're totally right, this is by no means the grand rule of the web.

But yeah, that is what I was implying more or less, though. I joined, and then started dating a girl, found I didn't have the time or care to get on the internet and discuss anything haha. I was traveling, too, so there was that.

There is no need, of course. In the case, as I've replied to others, just walk away from it all together.

I didn't get a chance to see SH2. I really enjoyed the first film.

Well, first of all, I'll just go ahead and say I really don't see how you got this picture. I certainly didn't mean to paint such a picture. And more so, I haven't mentioned anything about real life. I've been talking about purely the internet here. It's the world of personas and fiction suits. Maybe some people act exactly the same as they do off the web, but I'd say it's pretty few and far between. That's why I've been using the analogy of a rock 'n roll concert. People just on another entirely different facade, do things they'd do, when they're in the middle of a concert.

I'll give you that the politeness may not be a pretense, but come on, when someone says "**** you!" or "I'm going to kill you!", is you're reaction deep down really polite? Is most peoples? I can only speak for myself and the personal experiences of those around me, but rarely. And that's one of the props to being a persona; you can go to places where you either wouldn't be able or don't have to gall to. Of course, for professionals, it all comes down to how much you see value in this. For some, it can mean a job, true. But in the end, what is the point and what value comes from holding back. You've already devalued yourself somewhat by coming down to that level to reply. Maybe that value isn't enough to get you fired, but you've still stooped down to a low level just by acknowledging that kind of nonsense from the kind of people who do it. Really, the only way to save face in that situation is to just ignore it, laugh it off, shrug. But if you're to stoop to that level, whether you want to call it 'conformity by devoltuon' or whatever, it's still an adaptation to where you're at.

I would not say that advice translatable to real life really. Not entirely anyway. If someone heckles a writer or artist in an obviously nasty and aggressive way at a convention, I know I wouldn't look down on them if they just told the guy to go **** himself. Comedians do that (Bill Hicks had an infamous example when he completely went off on a female heckler). But those situations rarely arise, and if anything else does it creates another host of issues separate from anything this kind of discussion is hitting on.