Wait. I got Black Listed from what now?

It’s going around Twitter that apparently I got black listed again. That by itself isn’t shocking, because at this point of my career whining dipshits have tried to black ball me from a bunch of things. (most recently social justice howler monkeys got me kicked out of a gaming convention, and then tried and failed to get me kicked out of DragonCon).

However this is the first time I think I’ve gotten black balled from an industry I’m not actually in.

There is some list going around about “ComicsGate” and all the badthink people who should be banned from proper, politically correct, goodthinking comic books, because as you know, like all forms of art, comic books should be politically homogeneous to promote social justice, yadda yadda yadda. And if you disagree, obviously it can only be because you want to drag homosexuals to death behind your jacked up truck, something something Handmaid’s Tale.

So I’m on the banned list.

Okay… Only problem is that I don’t work in comic books.

I’ve never written for a comic book. I’ve never had a comic or graphic novel made of any of my properties. I talked about it once with a company a couple of years ago, but nothing panned out, and I kind of forgot about it.

Okay, to be fair, I have been a GI Joe character. But they can’t ban Spreadsheet! Who will take care of GI Joe’s budget?

My only connection to “ComicsGate” is that I’m friends with Chuck Dixon (who is apparently kicking ass and making piles of money doing independent stuff). I’ve never once commented on whatever this latest controversy is, because frankly I’ve paid little attention to it.

As far as I know, it’s more of the same thing we’ve seen before, where an industry gets taken over by a bunch of bossy liberals who assume everybody good in the world thinks the same as they do, and if you are tired of all your entertainment turning into preachy boring virtue signalling, then obviously you are Evil Fascist Hitler who should be shunned and never work again until you starve in a ditch. When actual creative types–who just want to make fans happy so they can Get Paid–get loud and upppity against the establishment circle jerk, then it’s the end of the friggin’ world, racist/sexist REEEEEEEEEE x 1000.

Hell if I know. That’s just a guess. But apparently by just existing I’m part of this terrible evil movement, and I am now black balled from the comics industry.

Well whoop de fucking do. That would probably hurt if I knew anything about comic books.

Seriously, you assholes need a new hobby.

Normally when the Screaming Harpies Of Tolerance try to get me banned from something, it’s regular book publishing, or pitching a fit until I get thrown out of anthology I’d been asked to be in, or getting me kicked out of a con that I’ve been invited to be a guest. That at least requires our noble social justice types to pay a little attention, but now you’re just phoning it in.

You know what though? This REALLY makes me want to make a comic book. Because nothing makes a American want to do something more than having a bossy busy body tell them that they can’t.

BOOK BOMB! Primordial Threat by M.A. Rothman
October Update Post

220 thoughts on “Wait. I got Black Listed from what now?”

  1. You need to write a comic book with “Social Justice Howler Monkeys” and “Screaming Harpies Of Tolerance” as the evildoers. Maybe a Tom Stranger comic book.

      1. The question is, do these social justice howler monkeys of doom throw flaming balls of shit, setting the building on fire

        and…

        1)Does Harry Dresden get blamed for it?
        2) What’s the PUFF on one of those?
        2a) The monkeys, not a White Council Wizard
        2b) Especially not Harry Dresden
        3) Would we buy a comic crossover where the Dresdenverse and MHIverse meet?

        …yes please

          1. The PUFF on a wizard would be fairly substantial; a White Council one would be huuuuuge.

            Any on Harry would probably equal a Vampire Master’s, at least, post Changes…

          2. While I would absolutely love to see a “Harry & Co. team up with MHI” book, I have a feeling that if they ever did do a crossover novel, it would more likely be a “vs.” than a “team up” book. I wonder how Harry’s Winter Knight status would affect his PUFF (fairies don’t carry PUFF bounties in MHI, do they? Or do they? Can’t remember). And you know Thomas would be worth a lot. Do foo dogs have PUFFs?

            Granted, there’s the whole “They’re not hurting anyone (well … usually) and save the world a lot” thing, which one would hope MHI would take into account. Maybe MCB goes after Harry & Co. and MHI gets caught in the middle?

          3. @Shawna

            I had an entertaining thought.

            Harry, Butters, and the Alphas have their gaming night, playing a new game Butters found called Monster Hunter International…

            and on the flip side, Owen finds a gift for Trip, the Dresden Files RPG…

            Crossover ensues?

        1. Well, Jim Butcher wrote a short story for Monster Hunter Files about MHI’s janitor.

          MHI seems like it could become an awesome comic book. Or Tom Stranger.

        2. I have actually been waiting for a MHI/Dresden crossover short story/novella. Larry, any chance of you guys ever collaborating? After Peace Talks is finally done 🙂

    1. Do an episode of Thrilling Adventure Hour (they’re back and lookin for writers). “Sparks Nevada and the Screaming Harpies of Tolerance”

      “I’m… from Earth.”
      “I am from G’loot Praktaw.”
      “Which is Mars.”
      [enter Harpy] “REEEEEEEE!!! HOW ABSOLUTELY DARE YOU CALL IT MARS!”

    1. See, this is yet another opportunity for Larry, and whoever gets hired as the artist, to make piles of money, seeing as we happily capitalistic sorts will eagerly buy …

      actually, why indeed is MHI not yet a comic? Wouldn’t the shorts be easier to convert to comics?

      1. Turns out comics are surprisingly difficult to do well. I spent a week at a comic book artists course, there’s a lot going on that the reader doesn’t notice when you do it right, like directionality and flow between frames. But when you do it wrong, then they notice.

        Writing for comics is also very different. You’re storyboarding a movie, but it is also a printed work. So there’s some things that are very different.

        Adapting MHI to a comic would be a lot of time consuming work. Writing a new MHI story for comics would be much easier, IMHO.

          1. Yeah, but I could see the ILOH having the same reaction to where he might want to take things that he did to Ringo:
            “Dude, my kids read these books.”

        1. There was some discussion of such in the post Larry made YEARS ago about Spreadsheet. (Y’all will have to do the search for it yourselves. I tried to link it and my comment got eaten/put into moderation purgatory)

          This is worth doing anyway, as the comments in that post were greatly entertaining ^_^

  2. What they don’t know it’s now becoming a shopping list for people who’s sick of the PC industry. For some reason Jordan Peterson is also on it, and the closest he came to the industry is some gag Jojo dojin casting him as a Jojo character.

    1. Indeed. I’ve come to look at these “blacklists” as an opportunity to find awesome new creators.

      And yeah, I would buy the hell out of a Larry Correia comic.

    2. Jordan Peterson has a self-help book that was illustrated by EVS, so at least he’s tangentially related to comics in some way…

  3. You can’t buy advertising like that.

    You could license someone else to do the work and listen to the Reeee’s when it made a best sellers list.

  4. I’m dubious at best about that list. It looks like it was made up by a Trumpster to me.

    Butch Guice, for example, has worked with Mark Waid, Brian Bendis, Ed Brubaker, etc. in recent years. I can’t find anywhere he’s ever stated a political opinion about anything or been dinged for one. The only connection is that he drew Winterworld for IDW years back when the writer was… Chuck Dixon.

    Skeptical.

    1. I too am also dubious about that list, and am not fully sure there’s a blacklist.

      I don’t think that Larry wants to do a comic book because of all the work needed to create one; he might just want to keep to what he does.

  5. So. . . . That’s what it takes huh? . . . . . . Hello netflix. . . .there is this guy who should blacklisted. . . . His name is Larry.

  6. You guys keep spelling it wrong. Its Handmaid’s Tail.

    Its also Official Canadian Literature, which fact tells you all you need to know about the book. I’m told the TV show is so much worse than the book it’ll make your brain shrink.

    1. Show isn’t that bad but it’s funny cause my lesbian coworker was watching it and had the exact opposite reaction the producers were probably expecting. She basically said oh crap I need to go buy guns so this doesn’t happen to me…

    2. How the frak do you know that both book and TV show are bad? You do know that recent events have proven Margret Atwood was spot-on in writing said book? And that people feel that Trump’s rise is just like what happened in the book?l

      1. “You do know that recent events have proven Margret Atwood was spot-on in writing said book? And that people feel that Trump’s rise is just like what happened in the book?l”

        Are you a parody account?

        1. Are you one, sir? I know that the novel can be somewhat strident for people to read, but it is a great work of literature, recent events (and recent protests staged by women dressed in costumes from the novel) notwithstanding.

    3. How is The Handmaid’s Tale crap to you, Phantom? Not all sci-fi has to be about space and starships.

      1. Because it’s utterly unrealistic in a “people don’t work this way” fashion, rather than a ” we may not ever have this tech” fashion.

        1. Or from a different perspective, because it’s another “sci-fi” story created not with the mentality of “what social and moral concepts and messages would logically arise from this particular premise”, but the ever-popular “how much can this premise be warped and twisted, in order to fit the designated social and moral concepts and messages”. It’s not about space and starships, it’s about developing an actual setting rather than a pretentious caricature.

          For that matter, unlike the Soviet Union or 1960’s USA, where science fiction was indeed useful for social parables due to the heavy censorship or general media avoidance of certain taboo topics, nowadays such stories are mere redressings of already widely discussed issues. That’s why Star Trek went down the drain – it no longer offered anything not already on the news and talk shows.

        2. Really? Because from what I can see, it seems to be about to come true in the near future due to the machinations of Der Trumpster and his cronies. Of course you and others are welcome to prove me wrong.

          1. So instead of addressing the criticisms that other commenters took the time to offer you, you invited them to prove a delusion of yours wrong.

            That’s what you’re going to run with?

          2. In her interviews, Atwood offers up Afghanistan as examples of religious theocracies forcing women out of the public sphere and into their homes, as in Gilead. That’s, you know, one of those Islamic countries whose inhabitants with their regressive social views that people like you, Lefty, seem so desirous of importing.

  7. I just saw Mike Williamson’s post on his blog about this happening to him, too. Chuck Dixon’s name came up there as well.

    I rather suspect The Usual SJWspects have just made up a NAUGHTY list and are sharing it around for every else to use, just to make double-secret-ultra-sure that no badthink/funhavers can play.

    Kinda like printing off signs to cover every possible USSC nominee ahead of time, and trashing any that weren’t needed. (That’s ecologically unfriendly, too, wasting all that paper and ink, tsktsktsk.)

    Comics wouldn’t be a bad idea, really – less writing to set the scenes, no SFX budget other than paying for decent illustrators, and if you go indy there’ll be less Hollywood douchbaggery in trying to vanilla everything up for the lowest common denominator/kiddies.

  8. You DID have a graphic novel of the Christmas Noun, and I’ve seen your doodles. That’s as close to comics as I’ve seen you get. It a gritty MHI graphic novel would be AWESOME!!

  9. This is the second “who banned me?” I’ve seen in my feed. Now I’m curious if they actually banned any comic book authors. I only read comic books at the barbershop as a kid so I’m not real familiar with things anymore but I imagine that the writers of “Sgt. Rock” would not be welcome now-a-days.

    1. You would be wrong about that; Sgt. Rock could get published today at DC Comics (the SJW/emoprogressive mindset isn’t as prevalent there as it is at Marvel), but these days, DC’s on to new things like The Silencer, among other new characters.

  10. “Spreadsheet,” was that a code name for a Steel Brigade character or some other creation? We really want to know (and that’s half the battle!)

  11. DO EEEET!

    Seriously, Larry… I’d love to see the results and watch these clowns, who you’re dead on right about telephoning it in, have their heads detonate violently.

  12. Make a comic. Stick it to em. Also I’d read the hell out of a comic that’s from one of your properties. Also let’s not call them howler monkeys. That’s a insult to real howler monkeys. Haha

  13. Look up Diversity & Comics on YouTube. He’s become notorious for pointing out how comics have started to suck thanks to SJWs and has been challenged to write his own comics by the industry leaders he criticized. So he did and they all lost their sh!t and tried to blacklist him too. So he found a way to print his comics anyway. He’s also a Marine so you know he has experience with firearms.

    To be honest I think you two would be a perfect match. 🙂

  14. Heh. Larry, you should have a couple of good photos done of you “crying”, and drying your tears on wads of money. Post that in response to the next great Puppy Kicker Kerfuffle. That is virtually guaranteed to blow their little skulls to mush.

  15. Larry, MHI would make an AWESOME comic!
    I would buy every issue.
    Once you totally dominate that industry definitely resurrect Sgt. Rock and all the other old “military” adventure comics.

  16. You know, I hadn’t really thought much about reading any more comics (other than webcomics) in quite a while. Now I’m seriously thinking that a CorreiaComic would get some of my hard earned dollars, should it happen. Because screw those guys.

    This is a thing that should happen purely to add another oder of magnitude to the shREEEEiking outrage.

      1. Please find someone to make an author-approved Cabbage Point Killing Machine album.

        Even better if you can find a James Gandolfini-look-alike who can play guitar.

  17. Maybe we need a running ticker on the sidebar: Industries you’ve been banned from that you’ve never worked in.

    (Also, the autofill Name, e-mail, etc had the info for one JimC in it. Deleted because duh, but something might be buggy with the comment box)

  18. It’s the awesome Christmas Noun Graphic Novel that threatened them in their mediocrity. With so much HOOOONNNNN they could not help but be cowed by it….

  19. Option 1: Just give Vox a call. He has all the infrastructure in place. Watch histrionics ensue.

    Option 2: Ingram has great color POD printing and will do offset printing for over 10,000 copies that almost rivals China in prices. I would not say its easy but I’m on my second imprint–totally doable on your own. Separate from the the artist, most labor intensive part of Build Your Own imprint would be finding a graphic layout specialist.

    Personally, I’d not only buy MHI and Grimlore graphic novels, I would buy multiple and give them as gifts! MHI is totally a comic-adaptable series.

    please please please

  20. On a related note, in case anyone was unaware, the screaming SJWs apparently got to Indie-Go-Go: Vox Day’s latest project. Alt-Q (an other comic line) was canceled (by Indie-Go-Go) after it successfully funded. An email was sent out that the backers would be refunded.

    It sure seems like the SJWs are getting very desperate.

  21. Chuck Dixon is working with Vox Day and creating new comics. I would love to see some of your work come to life with a good artist.

  22. I tweeted your post to a you-tuber named Diversity & Comics. He was complaining about the quality of Lefty comics and was told to put up or shut up. So he started an Indiegogo campaign, because kick-starter preemptively blocked him, to make his own comic. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jawbreakers-lost-souls-graphic-novel#/ When he went to publish it with a small publisher one of the Lefties scared them into breaking their contract and now he’s suing the Lefty for tortuous interference. And he made 400,000 in sales on his first comic. Then 135,000 on his second one. He effectively outsold the guy who tried to block him from outside the system. It would be like self publishing your way onto the best seller lists.

    The only thing you missed in your description of the issues in comics is the part where the writers go out of their way to attack their fans.

  23. I just so happen to be a comic book artist and sculptor here in Saint Paul. Perhaps you and I should talk. I would love to collaborate.

  24. So, I’m chugging along in “uncompromising Honor” and lo and behold our favorite ILOH has a new title: Vice Admiral Correia.

    Did you, Mrs. ILOH, or a fan buy a nod in at auction or do you know the Mad Wizard Weber?

  25. Just saying, an MHI comic book series would make bank. I know I’d buy them, and not just to piss off SJWs, either!

  26. What a complete bunch of asshats. I have several friends on the left. We often have “lively” conversations about political subjects without any real animosity whatsoever. I find it rather enjoyable, as I make no claim to knowing everything, and neither do they. Yes, they call me their gun nut libertarian friend. But not anything like this bunch of SJW’s. It always seems to be this loud little group of turdlings that give that whole side a bad name. It would be better for everyone if they would crawl back into their “safe space”, plant their thumbs back into their mouths, and break out a coloring book.

  27. What I see is fear of competition masquerading as social outrage. I can’t help but recall the comic controversies back in the nineties, regarding the excessive violence and moral decline of that generation of anti-heroes… meaning, the way they greatly outsold the clear cut capes backed by traditional company policies. And now that age is loudly reviled by the trunerds (you know the kind – the self-styled moral guardians of every fandom, ready to berate anyone who doesn’t share their taste in characters, stories etc.), even though a lot of its characters are still enduring in print and, wouldn’t you know it, in cinema.

    Speaking of which – the Deadpool film was blocked for almost a decade in spite of the massive popularity of the character, and when it came out, it was a hit without even tapping into the Chinese market. The Transformers films – just about the only popcorn flicks where the US armed forces are among the good guys – are routinely mocked by critics and trunerds alike, but are quite popular with general audiences come to be entertained rather than indoctrinated.

    All in all, I reckon this sort of counter-productive “blacklisting” is really just the desperate scratching and clawing of a dying subset of the industry/fandom, increasingly aware of how noncompetitive it has become.

    1. Sadly for Transformers fans, the most recent movie seems to have not grossed a lot of money, making the future of the series in doubt (I have high hopes for the Bumblebee prequel movie.)

  28. A Monster Hunter comic does sound like something I’d invest in. And is it just me, or does the whole thing sound like Mike Mignola’s B.P.R.D. crossed with the 80’s GI Joe cartoon – that’s be sweet!

  29. Only an accountant would name a military character “Spreadsheet.” It should be Excel, universally abbreviated XL.

    “Hey, big fella, what’s your name?”
    “XL”
    Woman glances down, licks lips, “I’ll bet you are.”

    ***

    “Sir, Lt. Joe Buckley reporting.”
    “At ease, Buckley. I’m Captain Smith, the Executive Officer. What do they call you?”
    “XL, XO, I’m your new S4.”

    ***
    “Hey XL, it’s me, 1-2-3. Hey, you sleepin?”
    “Nah, 1-2-3, just trying to clear my head. These pay records are impossible.”
    “Yeah, man, you should try, like, meditating, cross your legs and stuff.”
    “That’d be Lotus, 1-2-3.

  30. So, the great bane of comics is apparently some mysterious horde of racist/sexist/whateverist bigots… and not the fact that your average modern comicbook has impossible-to-follow continuity, cringeworthy dialogue, boring artstyle, and stories with horrible pace, mediocre action and no satisfying ending to speak of.

    Dunno about a comic book proper, but I’d love to see a flash-animated motion comic in the MHI universe – like the cutscenes in the old Freedom Force video game (also known as the parody superhero game better than most actual superhero games). Even just as an advertising teaser, I’d say it’s worth a shot.

  31. Heh. Social Justice Howler Monkeys sounds like a good name for a thrash metal band specializing in lyrics of dark irony. 🙂

    1. Tell me about it. It’s been years I’ve seen something genuinely fun coming from the mainstream publishers, as opposed to muddled melodramas with no sense of action or adventure.

  32. Grimnoir would make an awesome setting for a graphic novel, just saying. (looks in savings account, confirms money exists for future purchase)

  33. Let’s see:
    – Monster Hunter, graphic novel edition
    – Tom Stranger, graphic novel edition
    – Wendell’s Roughnecks graphic novel
    – Christmas Noun graphic novel

    The end product would be epic, and the SJW meltdown would almost certainly be worth the price of admission, and … oh, SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

  34. Getting banned from an industry you aren’t even in. Wow, the snowflakes hit a new low. Although I could see an “MHI files” comic as being way cool.

  35. I want to pre-order any and all comic/graphic novel you want to put out. MHI, Dead Six, Tom Stranger, etc, they are all good. Sign me up! Shut up and take my money!

  36. Don’t leave out the graphic novel version of Son of the Black Sword. The world and characters would give rise to some wonderful illustrations.
    And if artists from India are hired for the work, that’s extra diversity points. If they’re female artists from India, that’s twice the diversity points, and twice the REEEE!

      1. SyFy.com (remember why SyFy.com was relevant? Neither do I.) has recently been posting fiery essays by Some Nobody (probably not her real name) about how all the most popular and cool anime and manga are automatically and innately….EVUL NAZI ALT RIGHT RACIST SEXIST EVIL EVIL EVIL….I’m sure Japan is -so- concerned.

        1. I do find stuff in anime and manga that I think is legitimately pro-Axis revisionist history.

          The Japanese teach history to a centralized curriculum that makes slant inevitable, and prevents robust discussions that would naturally expose people to the blind spots in the official truth.

          I’ve been known to ask if maybe we didn’t nuke the Japanese hard enough, and if maybe we will find we have to go back in and finish the job of nuking them. There are lots of people who will have reservations about my opinions on Japan and Japanese media.

          The columnist is probably the sort who would defame Arthur Harris and Curtis LeMay.

          1. “Pro Axis”, no, that wasn’t her objection. Her objection was that some manga and anime characters WEAR UNIFORMS, and in Current Year all the Right Proper thinking people know that anyone in a uniform is automatically and innately a scumball and merely looking at an illustration of someone in a uniform causes people to become Nazis and…wait, why don’t the X-Men get in trouble for this again?

          2. So, someone who attacks the Nazis because the Nazis have no real base of defenders, because attacking them serves some end, but who does not have enough coherent objections to Nazi policy or crimes to attack more than the most cosmetic of features.

            Are they proposing that looking at JK in seifuku makes someone a Nazi, or do they at least stick to things like bus drivers, cafe waitresses, or even actual purported members of a military service?

            There are uniforms in Sailor Moon, Dragonball, and Pokemon. Which very many Americans have seen.

          3. @John

            I think they’re going that route because screeching about pretty anime women tends to backfire.

            Especially as bishounen and biseinen exist there too.

            The latter then to also be very common in yaoi, shoujo and jousei targeted genre manga and literature.

  37. Go Larry! A “Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Hunters” would be an awesome comic book! (Like Jonah Hex on steroids!) Go for it!

  38. Well, what goes around comes around: Chuck Wendig reports he just got fired by Marvel and “taken off an as-yet unannounced SW (Star Wars) book.” So no more weebling-and-wobbling TIE fighters from Chuck, I guess.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1050822080130895878.html

    Chuck says he was fired “Because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark, the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.” Of course he blames the Right for it.

  39. Larry’s banning from comics is like the European preventative prision. That way he can’t published now that he’should banned in advance 🙂 of course Larry like target practice so a comic book would make heads explode.
    The joys of content creation

  40. What the world needs now is CorreiaTech-brand high explosive reactive targets. (See if you can persuade Joe Huffman to license his Boomershoot recipe to you in a two-container mixable format so mere mortals without ATF explosive manufacturing licenses can buy them.)

    What the world needs now is CorreiaTech-brand integrally suppressed AR-15 uppers (.223 AND .330 Blackout, keep that one in the pocket for when Congress does the Hearing Protection Act as part of reconciliation on a finance/tax bill after the midterms).

    The world needs CorreiaTech Combat Wombats (double-stack .45 Super/ACP integrally suppressed pistols for this planet, partner with SilencerCo and a Boberg style action, maybe)

    Before you were a writer, you were an accountant and merchant of death. How many copies of House of Assassins and Grimnoire-next do we need buy to truly establish you as the International Lord of Hate in his fastness atop Yard Moose Mountain, defended by CorreiaTech in irony exquisite and puissant?

  41. I request — nay, demand ! — to see a comic about Spreadsheet, the G.I.Joe accountant. There’s no way that won’t be epic.

  42. So… shut up and take my money? I’d buy your comics and pass them out JUST to spite these, ah, poo flinging howler monkeys.

    1. I wouldn’t buy any product just to spite my political opponents; that’s not how capitalism works. I’d buy a product because it’s actually good.

      That said, I think that MHI might work really well in comic format, so I’d totally buy that. Especially if LC manages to get Jon Malin and/or EVS as his artist. That’d be awesome.

      1. Malin maybe, EVS has said repeatedly he has too many of his own ideas to even think about working in someone else’s universe.

        If you were to go the graphic novel route, maybe test the waters with Tokyo Raider or Murder on the Orient Elite; bring in an established comics writer, artist, colorist, letterer, and edit the proofs.

        In any case, you might reach out to Ethan Van Sciver about going on one of his live streams, would be an entertaining show, that’s for sure.

        1. Absolutely, I’d love to watch LC and EVS on stream, especially if they could also get D&C a.k.a. Yaboi Zack… That probably won’t happen, though — but still, one can dream.

  43. Just how is this sort of blacklisting supposed to work anyway? It’s one thing for certain major publishers to refuse to hire certain authors, but that’s not an absolute restriction on the industry as a whole. There might even be another Image comics situation like back in the nineties – the writers and artist starting their own band, so to speak.

  44. Larry- Doing a comic is a great idea. So, if you do decide to do what these bastards say you can’t do, I know a colorist who I can hook you up with. He works on a lot of well known books.

  45. I l̶o̶v̶e̶ hate you all sooo much! HOON! Every idea I had, scroll, oh, there it is, oh, but wait, scroll, there’s that, too! And again, and again.

    Can’t wait to see Franks v. Owen v. Skippy’s clan v. Dresden v. Everything else crossovers in full-color graphic novel format!

  46. I don’t know the current market. But, MHI seems very adaptable to a Graphic Novel format.

    Making some bucks because the Screaming Harpies of Tolerance gave you the idea seems… fitting somehow.

    (I thought it was Screeching Harpies though)

  47. I recommend Adam Warren to do the art for the Monster Hunters Comic. I want this! Do it! My life will not be complete until I see a comic of Owen killing a werewolf with office furniture.

  48. Just curious if what your thoughts were on Chuck Windig getting fired by Disney/Marvel off a Darth Vader comic and a new Star Wars book. After he went on a psychotic, vile profanity laden rant on Twitter after the Kavanaugh vote. For myself I think it’s freaking hilarious.

    1. Cowboy Samurai –

      A friend of mine was telling me about a Star Wars writer who had had some some sort of mental episode on Twitter (even more so than the usual dysfunctions on display there) and gotten fired and I thought he was talking about a scriptwriter for the next movie. When I found out it was Wending, my first thought was ‘Shit, it’s about time. He should have been fired after ‘Aftermath’, that was crap.’

      1. I would like to see citations confirming of the details before believing it was so. Last I heard, Wendig was the source for information about the cause. Wendig has claimed that homophobia etc, are a plausible explanation for bad reviews and poor sales. I suspect he is not a reliable source.

    2. No one cares (or should) a great deal about my thoughts on Windig getting fired but it’s basically this —

      If the world worked the way I prefer, no one would get fired for being an idiot on social media.

      Since the world now works according to new purity rules and people loose their jobs for bad jokes and unwelcome (but utterly factual) opinions because someone somewhere got the vapours that someone who doesn’t agree with them even exists or is allowed to earn a paycheck and feed their family…

      Yeah… vile profanity laden rants get a person fired under New Rules and since thems the rules that his fellow travelers insist upon, it’s pretty danged funny and… apt.

      1. So, knowing essentially nothing about Wendig, I infer that he is a “woke” type who is somehow involved in comic books.

        I also observe that his name is one letter removed from a cannibalistic evil spirit from Algonquin folk lore.

        I can only conclude that these two data points are not a coincidence.

  49. On the one hand, I’d love to see an MHI comic; on the other hand, the major publishers are basically churning out spandex-clad soap operas and social justice polemics rather than actual action and detective stories, so in that regard, it’s kinda like being banned from a house fire – not exactly a party to join anyway.

    Still, I reckon Dark Horse, Dynamite and IDW would be a nice first choice to turn to. Food for thought.

    1. ComisGate creators seem to be doing really well on IndieGoGo; they’re bypassing traditional publishing and going straight to the consumer (full disclosure, I’m their consumer). I’m not sure if this model is sustainable in the long term, though.

    2. I’m pretty sure IDW is run by SJW nuts, GI Joe fans had to go through hell to get an author who openly hated them and told them only he was allowed to mourn 9/11 (yes, really) removed. I think the other 2 are as well.

  50. “You know what though? This REALLY makes me want to make a comic book. Because nothing makes a American want to do something more than having a bossy busy body tell them that they can’t.”

    Full adaptation of The Grimnoir Chronicles, script by Chuck Dixon , art by Mike S. Miller. That’ll teach them.

  51. Actually, something that’s been at the back of my mind since all the ComicsGate Indiegogos got started: do you think there’s any possibility of a Baen Graphic Novels imprint? Distribution beyond crowdfunding is a real problem. Peter Simeti of Alterna Comics is broadly friendly to ComicsGate, but he has very good reasons not to get too closely involved. Vox has the knowledge and stubbornness to be useful, but has yet to overcome his major stumbling point: he’s Vox. A company like Baen, with a history of innovation and a willingness to work with horrible evil non-people, could make a real difference in comics publishing.

  52. Avatar Press for Grimnoir. Just check out Uber or War Stories for an great examples, my favorite series currently (outside Manga).

  53. I’ll be honest. I don’t buy comic books. Never have. Made the mistake of reading them first. Sorry to say, Larry, but you’d never make it in the current comic industry. You’re too interested in telling a story. To be a successful comic book artist you must:

    -Be willing to retcon any and all characters twice a year (and retell their origin story) to fit better with the social justice warriors’ current mores, such that they are.

    -Reference no less than five (5) other intellectual properties to boost the sales of (major comic book title that has been around since the 1940s here), and possibly (other comic book title here) as well, in an orgy of continuity masturbation. Per Book. If they can understand what’s going on without buying $40 in other comic books, you’re doing it wrong.

    -Stop making female characters wrong. Stuff any competent female characters in a fridge. All significant female characters must be feminist approved Mary Sues.

    -Throw any hope of telling a good story under a bus for heavy-handed message fic.

    -Work in house for what the enlightened and benificent publishing house (which is totally not an EVUUL HUEG CORPORASHUN) is willing to pay you. Live on the coasts in a proper and civilized state, like New York or Massachusetts.

    -Immediately forget everything you know about logic, reason, tactics, firearms, and anything else. Firearms are scarybad doubleplus notgood and should be banned and confiscated by all Goodthinking peoples. If you need assistance with this, the publishing house will be happy to provide a commissar and a claw hammer.

    -Immediately ascribe to all approved goodthink positions. Any and all badthink will result in immediate expulsion from the writer pens, and you will be denied your meager salary and left to starve. Goodthink is subject to change without notice.

    … Needless to say, there’s a reason my shelves have stacks of your books, yet not a single comic book. If you really wanna do one, it’d likely be the first comic I’d buy. Assuming you can find it in the stores, which is occasionally difficult with even some of your regular works… I’ve had bad enough luck trying to buy things online that I’ve stopped trying.

    1. I’d also add:

      -Never, ever, resolve anything. No story should have an actual ending, but instead should segue into the next ultra-sooper-dooper-ultimate-final-infinite-crisis crossover… which also doesn’t resolve anything.

      -Waste half the story on deliberating over the aspects of the genre that require the greatest suspension of disbelief – like bulletproof secret identities, international legal privileges and zero accountability for the heroes; or virtually immortal villains that won’t shut up about how special they are… and again, never resolve these issues. Instead, try and strawman anyone pointing them out as a villain or generic loser – because nothing earns the love and respect of potential fans quite like demeaning them for any criticism they might have.

      And finally, speaking of villains…

      -Never bring attention to an actual problem related to organized crime or international terrorism – such as the murder rate in slums and ghettos, the drug and slave trade in developing countries, or the fact that the top ten most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world are either Islamic or socialist in nature. Instead, focus on “Nazis” that haven’t been relevant for fifty years, or evil tech corporations bent on world domination… as opposed to, y’know, selling overpriced cellphones to hapless tweens.

      In short, yeah, I don’t see a lot of common ground between, say, MHI and Grimnoir, and what the comic industry is peddling right now. The tabletop market is what I’d focus on – not just the full-blown MHI RPG, but simplified offshoots. Something like the old HeroQuest – a fast-paced, unpack & shoot’em up experience.

      1. It’s sad, really, such a nice format for storytelling. And, at best, it’s a third-tier also-ran shoved into the publishing ghetto and made to lick the boots of its enlightened masters.

        The rump-end treatment of comic books has even affected the publishing industry. What’s the first thing you hear of when someone suggests a book needs “more pictures?”

        I dunno who to blame, and I don’t care enough to actually find out, but it’d be nice to have books with pictures, maps, diagrams, and notes, sometimes, where they’d be appropriate or useful. I’d get a LOT more mileage out of the Silmarillion if I didn’t have to keep referring to Appendix 3, 5, and 2, thereby losing my place, and so on….

    2. FWIW, I’ve read some comics books recently, mostly due to ComicsGate recommendations:

      * Batman: White Knight: This was a self-contained mini-series, set mostly in the world of TAS. It was excellent, and I highly recommend it.
      * Green Lanterns (note the plural): A really interesting series exploring what it truly means to be a Green Lantern. I liked it a lot, though I think it’s still ongoing.
      * Mister Miracle: Honestly, I didn’t really like it. It went on for way too long. Would’ve been better as a one-off graphic novel.
      * Port of Earth: I liked everything about it but the size. The individual issues are way too short, ergo way too expensive. Had to stop reading because I’m not made of money.
      * Bonehead: Same deal as above. Great book, excellent art, but way too expensive for its length.
      *Punisher: the Platoon: Straight-up Punisher adventure mini-series. Liked it a lot.
      *The Wild Storm: Warren Ellis’s reboot. It’s Warren Ellis, so you know it’s good.

      Anyway, those are just off the top of my head. Some hits, some misses, but overall my experience has been positive. None of the issues you mention really came into play — but, I do acknowledge that most of those comics are indies or one-offs, not major AAA properties.

      1. Most of the DC Comics titles (New 52 and Rebirth/Universe) don’t have any ‘SJW’ stuff it them (aside from Clark Kent quitting the Daily Planet due to his feeling that the Planet was focusing on non-essential news in the New 52 Superman/Action Comics and Supergirl supporting a transgendered person in issue #19 of the current Supergirl title, and those are just parts of real life, as well as Superman & Supergirl being the good people they usually are)and shouldn’t be blasted by people as if they are being like Marvel.

    3. And that’s why all comic recommendations you’ll see of are their own canon, arcs or an author’s runs. Star Man (which only escape the problems due to rights issues), Spider-Girl, and Power Pack (well 56-62 were garbage, but the Holiday Special finale is great) are pretty much the only thing you can read beginning to end and come away satisfied

  54. Am I the only one guilty of reading the line “Seriously, you assholes need a new hobby.” as “Seriously, your assholes need a new hobby.”?

  55. I like the recent idea of referring to SJWs as Non-player characters (NPCs) due to their limited repertoire of responses…

    1. More or less, yeah. It’s catchy and easy to explain; it’s dismissive without being racially, sexually or otherwise charged; and after two years of “muh Russian bots”, acting offended would only serve as a display of hypocrisy. Most importantly, I like how it detaches those worthy of the moniker, from anything to do with actual social issues – as it’s become clear such people don’t really care about that, as much as they’re looking for attention and other gains, and relying on mob mentality to obtain them.

  56. Apparently you can’t tell who the chara ters are without a program. I’d never heard of ComicsGate so I did a search, and the first thing that came up was an over-the-top, in-your-face SJW website ranting about the alt-right Nazis in ComicsGate who were urging people not to buy, ahem, socially progressive comics. They were claiming that ComicsGate were right-wingers blacklisting left-wingers. Did ComicsGate actually blacklist you, Larry? Do they know something we don’t? Are you secretly pink, if not dyed-in-the-wool red? Naw. Either they’re nuts, or the left is cannibalizing itself, or you got blacklisted by the Anti-ComicsGaters. But in any event, yeah, a comic book would be GREAT!

    1. From what I’ve seen, ComicsGate is a collection of prominent right-wing comics creators and/or YouTube personalities. Their main goal is to create a parallel comics industry, now that mainstream comics corporations have embarked on a campaign of aggressively purging right-wingers from their ranks. In addition, ComicsGaters wish to shift comics towards simple adventure stories, and away from overt political messaging that the mainstream comics industry often indulges in.

      ComicsGate recently did have a spat with Vox Day — a prominent alt-right activist — who wanted to co-opt the label as his own, in what can be arguably described as “a dick move”. In addition, most ComicsGaters decy Vox Day’s identiterian views. There was some other friendly fire type of drama, I think, but honestly I don’t remember what it was about.

      1. This is probably accurate enough. My take on most of the “gate” sort of things is that the definitions are essentially… SJW and everything else, no matter how liberal or left anyone objecting is, as Right Wing or alt-right. Because only crazy extremists object to poorly written stories that have something other than entertaining as their priority.

        I suppose this is my way of saying (as I know that Larry wants everyone to feel welcome because he’s an inclusive guy) that a whole lot of those “right wingers” in Gateland just… aren’t.

        And just speaking for myself as an observer on the fringes, I object to the authoritarian SJW crusaders BECAUSE I believe in inclusion and equality and everything they do is toxic and divisive and they deserve to be called out on it. Any goal of actual inclusion, welcoming diversity, treating people like people, can’t exist (and never has existed) with an authoritarian and thought-controlling mindset. It only exists where people are allowed to be messy and human.

        1. Well, from what I’ve seen, ComicsGaters really are conservatives: they are (on average) pro-guns, anti-abortion, etc. (basically the standard Republican stance on every wedge issue). However, as I said above, they decry both the Far Right and the Far Left (which is rapidly becoming just “the Left”) for the same reason — identity politics and crazy authoritarian ambitions, so you are 100% correct on that.

        2. As someone literally raised by oldschool commies in a Warsaw pact country, I’d say the currently fashionable “social justice” types are as far from the classical left as they are from the modern right. The extreme focus on identity politics (now complete with politicians literally testing their blood to see where they fit), the structuring of arbitrary-yet-inherent social hierarchies where one group is intrinsically morally worse than another, the abject disdain for blue-collar workers along with the glorification of millionaire celebrities – all this speaks more of some sort of pseudo-aristocratic elitism rather than anything to do with actual leftist policy.

          Consequently, the fictional worlds these people create as writers tend to be full of similar inanities, supposedly being social allegories, but actually having little internal consistency or logic at face value. It’s just bad fiction, but it gets lauded, for the same reason bad comedians get applause for insulting a designated target politician, rather than telling a good joke and actually making people laugh.

          1. Hey, don’t bash allegories, they can be really effective. For example, one reason why the X-Men became so popular (IMO) is because the comic shows you what it feels like to be persecuted for being different; it also shows you that there are no easy solutions to this problem (unless you consider “kill all humans” or “mind-control my way to victory” a viable solution). This works because everyone feels like that some times, for various reasons, so everyone can relate to the characters.

            Modern Marvel comics, on the other hand, usually flat-out say “being specifically gay in this specific way is good ! check your privilege !” or whatever. That’s just propaganda, not storytelling, and the book ends up being totally unrelatable (even to the minorities they’re targeting).

          2. True dat. There’s an interesting irony in how, for all the new diversity-oriented inclusions like Ms. Marvel and whatnot, the actual dark horse fan favorites are guys like Deadpool – one of the very few mainstream heroes to start out as a baseline human, with no trust fund or lucky encounter with superpower-granting phenomena. Sure, there’s the wacky humor, but I’ve always found that the character’s main appeal was him being as close as it gets to an average Joe, just trying to make do in a world of gods and monsters – something relatable without being tied to a particular race, creed or what-have-you.

            By the way, regarding the mutant mythos in general, we can make a direct comparison with the Grimnoir Chronicles, since the latter also mention some social issues, but still regard the superpowers as a phenomenon in their own right. That’s the kind of high concept science fiction writing I’m talking about – it explores the issues in the setting, without trying to tie them directly to current social concerns. Applicability as opposed to allegory, as Tolkien would say. And it still has room for a freakin’ airship dogfight, which is something welcome in any book.

          3. Depends on how you define “classical left”. If you don’t consider the cultural tactics from the Marxists to the Moaists, then yeah, I guess.

            Between the public harassment of political figures and the public shaming of people whose speech doesn’t stay within the ever-shrinking boundaries of what’s acceptable, we’re inches away from having honest-to-goodness Struggle Sessions.

          4. Well, I personally am more of a “classical” leftist, I suppose. I take the liberal position on all the issues circa 1990: pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, anti-war, anti-Creationism, anti-global warming, etc. But I am also vehemently opposed to political correctness, Twitter mobs, and firing people just for being Republican. I’m also pro-due process, pro-GMO, and pro-nuclear power (basically, pro-science). Oh, and I’m against the Drug War, and I don’t even use drugs.

            As far as I can tell, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans want my vote. To the Republicans, I’m an evil baby-killing atheist demon; to the Democrats, I’m a privileged straight white male (which is, arguably, worse).

  57. But blacklisting you from industries you’re not in is so much easier, since they know you won’t fight back, allowing them to claim victory.

    Not super related, but this did make me think of something. There’s a popular indie writing forum that recently went through some changes and a bunch of people left. A lot of them went to a new forum that one of the members set up. When I went to look at the moderation rules, he first says something about how posts won’t be modded because of tone/emotion, and I was like, “Oh, that sounds good,” but then he goes right on to say the usual “hate speech will not be tolerated” without bothering to define what “hate speech is”, and I was like, “Well, f***, never mind.”

  58. What is the difference between Howler Monkeys and Social Justice Howler Monkeys? Howler Monkeys fling their poo at people. Social Justice Howler Monkeys combine their poo into a communal pile and distribute as needed while other SJHMs direct traffic.

    1. If that is the case then they will quickly run out of poo to fling. Those that actually produce will see that their poo is being “redristribuded” to those that do not produce and they will begin to produce less. Soon there will be no poo. Just a bunch of crybabies bitching about not getting their “fair share”.

  59. I am reminded of how, back in the nineties, a group of artists essentially gave the finger to the major publishers and founded their own houses, while the characters they created began to overshadow the industry mainstays. They also focused far more on action and combat, rather than the social issues of the day. In the present, however, this is known as the “Dark Age” (*thunderclap*), and its definitive artists and characters are routinely mocked by the trunerds, in spite – or methinks because – of their success at the time, and relative stability thenceforth.

    All in all, I’d say it’s not even a matter of hating on the competition – the new houses have never been a considerable market threat – but simply the fact they presented an alternative, a different way of doing things, stories with a different outlook and style, that earned the ire of the established names and their respective fandoms.

    And that’s what’s been happening in the numerous “gate” scandals over the past years. GamerGate and the sexism hysteria around it mysteriously coincided with the accelerating rise of indie developers and online distribution platforms. PuppyGate exposed the fact than anyone can vote for whatever book they choose for major science fiction awards. And now the renewed interest toward comic properties – but apparently not the actual mainstream comics – risks losing potential fans to independent artists unburdened by company policies like mandatory crossovers and annual crisis events. That’s the anathema at hand here – an alternative exists, and should people somehow manage to discover it, they might actually like it.

  60. As a couple others have said, check our “diversity in comics” on youtube, he’s pretty much is doing exactly what you’re talking about, is trying to put out an entertaining book that caters to fans w/o SJW bullshit, and has gotten the SJW comics industry all a flutter. He’s bringing one of them to court over it, deservedly. Hes one of the main “players” at the center of comics gate.

    He started out making videos about comics in his car and apartment on his lunchbreak, which he’s leveraged into making comic books-though he still does the car and lunchbreak thing. I don’t read comics but still try to watch a few of his videos a week or so.

    His stuff on America Chavez is particularity entertaining, but that does have a lot to do with how absolutely terrible that comic was.

  61. This all stems from you being friends with Chick Dixon, most likely. Why? Because The Legend Chuck Dixon is teaming up with Vox Day to write and publish comics.

    As he is with science fiction, as I’m sure you well know, Vox Day is now the boogyman the comics industry would love to be able to ignore, except for the fact that his Arkhaven imprint is doing gangbusters sales on Amazon, and has literally gone from a just a notion of his to having something like a dozen books in print, from various authors, in just over a year.

  62. Marvel has actually been giving extremely valuable writing gigs to Young Adult Fiction writers as of late.

    This includes one gig where they hired a woman because she has the same skintone and haircut as the black character — Riri Williams, an attempt to replace Iron Man with a sassy black sociopathic teenager — in the book. They had to spend 6 or 12 months training her how to actually write comics, because she, er, didn’t know how.

    If you’re thinking “holy crap, that’s racist, sexist, and insulting to a huge swath of actually talented people” good job — your mind still works.

    So to that point, this may be seen as a “preemptive blacklisting.” Just in case you ever decide you want to try and branch out or something.

    And yes, you were spot on in your assessment — Marvel, and to a lesser extent DC and IDW, the big names in the American Comics Book Industry, were taken over by Tolerant Millennials with Purple Hair who can’t stand anyone who disagrees with them on anything.

    (Like Racism and Diversity, they have redefined Tolerance to mean “agrees with Progressives.”)

    DC vet Ethan Van Sciver and a military vet by the name of Richard C Meyer have been basically rebuilding the Comics Industry from the ground up, and it’s ROYALLY pissing off the purple haired legbeards.

    1. On the plus side, Chuck Dixon recently said that he hasn’t had so much work since the ’90s. If ComicsGate keeps up the momentum, we could be entering a new golden age of comics (well, at least a new Silver Age).

      1. In that regard, just what are the overall readable comic series nowadays? Or just books, for that matter. I’m generally interested in plain-sight action-adventure – meaning, the sci-fi/fantasy aspects are openly visible, as in the Grimnoir Chronicles, rather than behind a masquerade like in MHI, or limited to covert-ops like in most techno-thrillers. Ideally, I’m looking for, well, basically G.I. Joe fighting monsters in broad daylight, that sort of thing.

        The series I’ve most followed so far are Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and B.P.R.D., probably the only superhero-ish comic with frequent standalone adventures along with the serialized stories. (The Goon is also very good, if not quite what I’m talking about.) I guess I’ll be on the lookout for the next book bomb or such.

  63. What I find greatly ironic about the whole diversity issue in comics – and some young adult novels as well – is that, for all the highly advertised addition of token characters of all races, creeds, sexes, genders etc., the resulting heroes usually still belong to some privileged group or another, be it supernaturally empowered or otherwise born into wealth and influence. The X-Men, supposedly the poster-kids for oppressed minorities, operate out of a million dollar private school with military-grade technology at their disposal. Batman, who otherwise gets tons of gushing praise for being a normal human rubbing shoulders with veritable gods, is still a trust fund baby with all but unlimited funds and zero public accountability.

    All this (and a lot more, but I’m trying to be brief here) leads me to the conclusion that the authors of such stories have virtually no understanding of what constitutes privilege, while all but glorifying inherent and unaccountable power… so long as it’s in the hands of people sharing their own opinions to the letter. Factor in how their stories often turn into social polemics about how society should be more woke and unquestioningly adore their pet heroes’ antics, and I can’t help but feel they’re not really interested in equality, as much as stroking their own superiority complex.

    To contrast, what first sparked my interest in the MHI series was just how inclusive the hunter rosters were, featuring people from all walks of life, with the main requirement apparently being to survive one’s first encounter with the supernatural. Sure, there’s the remark that not everyone can handle the revelation of its existence, let alone the strain of being a hunter proper, but otherwise I got the impression that the business is rather egalitarian in terms of who gets a hunting license, so to speak.

    In short, I find that our friendly neighborhood racist, sexist and misogynistic International Lord of Hate has somehow managed to create a consistent (and lucrative!) equal opportunity setting, while the supposed paragons of social justice in mainstream comics are actually drowning in self-aggrandizing elitism, along with demonizing anyone who, literally and figuratively, refuses to buy what they’re peddling

  64. @Chloe, I’m not an admirer of anything like the Taliban or ISIL, so quit with the caterwauling and character assassination; I haven’t done any to you. I just don’t think that The Handmaid’s Tale is the boogeyman that you and others here make it out to be.

    1. No one has made it out to be “the bogeyman”.

      People have clearly just criticized it for its poor, tendentious concept.

      Try to keep up.

      1. It’s not really a bogeyman but it’s one of those things like Harry Potter (which was actually pretty darned good) that seems to have spawned (or been latched onto by) a bunch of outright nutters.

        Next thing there will be Handmaiden themed LARP bars where fans can go in order to pretend it’s all true.

        Oh, there’s an idea… what would a MHI themed LARP bar be like? A Grimnoir LARP bar?

        1. I reckon your average gun show can quickly be modified into an impromptu MHI convention. (I actually wonder what kind of cross-promotion options can be found in that regard – armed forces professionals are evidently far nerdier than commonly thought.) Beyond that, a good start is any place that allows for open carry on the premises, while being decorated with fantasy/horror props rather than more conventional Americana.

          As for Grimnoir, aren’t there already bars or clubs with 1930s/40s styling and admission only for patrons in period dress? (If not, there ought to be.) The only thing to add would be some steam/diesel punk or classic pulp decorations.

  65. Pretty much, yeah. The premise is basically “what if a bunch of political strawmen magically seized control of everything”, and it keeps going downhill from there. Just about the only speculative fiction aspect – the global decline of fertility – is explained in the “Historical Notes” at the end of the book in only the vaguest of terms. It’s clear it exists only to further a social message, rather than be regarded an in-universe phenomenon in its own right. There’s no cautionary tale to be found, no moral to be taken, no advice on what *not* to do so as to avoid such a society. It’s just oppression porn, plain and simple.

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