Comic timing
Trent Kaniuga
I haven't bought or read a Marvel or DC comic since I was a kid, back in the '70s. I've neither had, nor shown, any real interest in comics for decades. So I don't understand why YouTube's algorithm should keep throwing up channels on the subject. And I don't understand why I click on the thumnails. Hey ho.
But it's made me aware of the politicisation of comics, by whackjobs who value signalling
, Twitter clout, and echo chambers over entertaining readers. And then there was a thing called ComicsGate, a few years ago. I don't know what set it all off, but dummies were spat, toys were thrown from prams, and several creators went independent. The ComicsGate set still seem to live, rent-free, inside those same whackjobs' heads.
Some DC nonentity, riffing off a bitter little bitch at Marvel, recently attacked the ComicsGate movement, claiming that they fleeced their supporters. As an outsider, this makes no sense whatsoever. Many ComicsGate creators have sold multiple titles, and still receive enthusiastic backing; fleeced customers don't return for more. Needless to say, if there were widespread problems, it'd be all over social media. A cynic might think that he's simply jealous of their success, and worried about the current poor sales at the big two.
Anyhow, it got me looking at Indiegogo, and I've backed a campaign. My first ever. Yay me!
Specifically, it's Trent Kaniuga's CreeD RE:Imaginary, alongside his collaboration with Ethan Van Sciver, CreeD vs Cyberfrog. The artwork appeals, and the story sounds cool. It will be the first comic book that I've read in over forty years, and I'm looking forward to it.
Van Sciver is one of ComicGate's central figures, and a bête noir for mainstream comics pros. Furthermore, the CreeD comics are published through his ALL CAPS Comics imprint. It's fair to say that, if the tossers at Marvel and DC knew, they'd so block my Twitter account for ever and a day.
So, it's probably just as well that I don't have one, really. You can't be affected by things that can't affect you.
For clarity: DC's nonentity, Jerry Ordway; Marvel's bitter little bitch, Patrick Zircher.
What Ordway actually tweeted was:
It’s really a shame that the liberals aren’t throwing money at non CG creators,like the CG crowds are willing to do, to “own” the libs. I mean, look at the Trump crowd fundraising. They are being fleeced for hundreds of millions.
Jerry Ordway, @JerryOrdway, Twitter
From that, it's ambiguous as to whether his fleecing reference is to CG or Trump supporters, although they may be one and the same to him. A lesson in clear communications, and how not to do them.