I appreciate Michael Pullman, on an earlier thread, bringing the following to my attention, since it serves as such a perfect example of how to do it wrong…the “it” being having a gripe about the way an author wrote a story. If you have a grievance, do you (a) Go to the author’s publicly known website and ask him about it, or do you (b) mischaracterize it through hearsay and then make a series of threats against the author. If your answer is the latter, then the following is the place for you:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84384
It’s actually a pretty handy thread. Rarely do you see the worst of the fan mentality so neatly encapsulated in one place. Anyone planning to do a research paper may want to reference it.
PAD
• 
I’ve seen worse. That thread was tame by comparison.
Darn it Luigi! You beat me while I was actually reading the thread! LOL….
Anyhow, PAD would you mind giving us YOUR synopsis of the story in question? I’m just curious.
Otherwise,yea there is a lot of PAD-bashing(sorry big guy!) but it’s pretty tame. I have to say I agree with the people who were like, “You just want this so you can cause a scene with PAD?” I mean,sure I’m holding a semi-grudge against Dan DiDio but at least I want to ask him his side of it before I smack him upside his head.
Here’s another thought: PAD writes a story where an irrational fanboy maybe is, maybe isn’t molested….
Michael Norton
Amazing how people who have actually read the issue give a pretty fair synopsis of the story and seem to have no problem with it. However, there are others who still act like fools. It is truely amazing.
Heh. Would someone please videotape this guy from CBR taking on PAD? I’d like to see PAD fight a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
Ok, in my opinion, the line crossed over “tame” when the guy stated he wanted to go after PAD for what he did. Are you kidding me? It’s fiction, people! I’ve seen worse creator bashing, but never vague threats. That was unreal.
It’s funny because I was thisclose to writing a paper on internet fandom and it’s influence on the business of comic book publishing (using the Waid FF incident and U-Decide as examples) but opted to do a paper on hockey GMs instead since it was easier to find a faculty sponsor at my school. This would have been an interesting example indeed. Thanks for the link PAD.
Jeezum Crow, that’s some wacky stuff. I liked how the swirling, twirling anger went on for a page and a half of posts before someone offered a semi-understandable synopsis. Then the synopsis didn’t change anything anyway (though I did like the complaint that the story didn’t offer ‘good closure’ or something like that. Mmmm, that’s good closure!). Then I stopped reading the board and looked at soothing career stats for Roberto Alomar and John Olerud instead.
Cheers, Jon
I took the time to read the thread in question and it didn’t seem all that bad. Granted, this “DaDamerican” fella seems like an idiot and your typical kid that wants to act like a bigshot to all of his fellow comic nerds (when actually he’s a cowardly worm and won’t say a thing if he ever met PAD — and I really didn’t get the sense he was serious with his “plans”). I dunno, I’ve seen way worse.
Also, there were many posters there taking this idiot to task for his rash judgement of this particular Supergirl story — so don’t let a few bad apples reflect badly on all of comic fandom.
I wonder how he feels about Mary Marvel almost killing Captain Atom.
Da-Whatever there is sure a sorry sack of šhìŧ. Getting as insanely worked up over a bloody comic book as he has is a bit over the line.
He’s about as bad as Anne Wilkes in “Misery”, it seems.
Jesus.
After reading all thirteen (!) (and counting) pages of this, I think it is a good thing that this con they are talking aout isn’t going to take place in Las Vegas. Otherwise we’d be reading about plans to spring Montecore the tiger so he could ‘do lunch’ with PAD that paticular weekend. . . . .
A bit more seriously, what ‘creepy high school shower scene that was written by PAD and drawn by Ed Benes’ are these guys refering to? This scene description doesn’t ring a bell with me, I’m afraid. Then again, I haven’t read every last thing PAD’s written either, so. . . . . .
Chris
“A bit more seriously, what ‘creepy high school shower scene that was written by PAD and drawn by Ed Benes’ are these guys refering to? This scene description doesn’t ring a bell with me, I’m afraid.”
The shower scene they’re referring to is from SUPERGIRL #77, page 11. On the CBR boards, “DaAmerican” used to go by the moniker of “Joe Rice”; at the time of this issue’s publication, Joe had started a thread denouncing #77 because he decided that ONE PANEL had turned the book into soft-core pørņ.
In other words, despite the username change, this guy’s still an inflammatory nutjob, and a waste of anyone’s time. 🙂
KET
“I’d like to see PAD fight a battle of wits with an unarmed man.”
No, you wouldn’t. Is wise old saying: “Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
Interesting how the schmuck makes all these grand, vague pronouncements about his confrontation with PAD and then, when called on it, falls back to the “I was joking about all that” routine.
Truly the stereotypical fanboy. Sheesh.
JSM
I really really dislike people like those on that message board. If I don’t like something in a story I am not going to go off on the person who created it or write a big thing about how I should “attack” the creator of the story. That is just lame and stupid. I have noticed that not one person on that board could give a reason for why they didn’t like that issue. I believe that it was Aristole that say that for you to truly know and understand something you have to be able to explain it and articulate it. It is truly sad when it comes down to a few VERY vocal fans that seem to know how things should be and then they bìŧçh and whine when those changes are made. Anyways I got a bit off topic. I just wanted to say that I wish things like this didn’t happen.
“I’d like to see PAD fight a battle of wits with an unarmed man.”
We already saw that, back when PAD had that “debate” with a neanderthal named McFarlane.
Anyone know where I can find a transcript of that debate online, BTW? I lost the issue of CBG that reprinted it.
I just read the first two pages, and this guy sounds even more whacked than the infamous ChuckG back in the days of the Young Justice message boards. Considering PAD declared that guy was dead, seeing him rip this person apart would be tons of fun.
Personally, I thought that Supergirl/Mary Marvel story was very well done, and the material was handled in a sensitive manner. I guess other people can’t handle any sort of reality intruding on their “funnybooks.”
One of the posters said: “Putting Mary Marvel in a “he said/she said” or “Rashoman” situation makes about as much sense as using Ambush Bug to narrate a biography of Gandhi.”
Exsqueeze me. Have they read the same Ambush Bug comics I have? The guy who went back to page 12 of his Christmas Special because that was the half that was still funny? The guy who put Darkseid baloon in his book and passed it off as the real thing in order increase sales? A guy who went around writing bios of the truly obscure forgotten DC characters so that Giffen and Fleming couldn’t throw a plot at him? In fact, I’d be surprised if a similar joke has already been done with Ol’ Buggy. It’s been awhile since I read them.
That being said, I thought Mary Marvel was an excellent choice for the story. Not only for the innocence reasons, but it there HAS been a long term affect on Mary Marvel. After all, no matter how much they both want to she and CM3 are still ‘just friends’.
Thirdly, the stuff about Supergirl getting lost after issue 12? I disagree completely. Issues 1-9 left me with more questions than answers the first two times I read them. Yes, things did slow down, as far as blowing things up in concerned. The book was not lost. Far from it… by issue 12 or 13 it found itself. Slowdown is essential to serialized fiction. You excelerate the pace, confuse the hëll out of the characters (but hopefully not the audience) then you do your climax, you slow things down, let things settle and you start race again once you have all the cars in posistion. The series NEVER failed to go somewhere interesting. Sometimes it took awhile getting there, but as Buzz himself said: “Not straight to hëll. They’ll be a few detours along the way.”
Lastly, the comments about Supergirl being a book for the younger crowd. It was… back in 1985. The problem is too many fans out there see Supergirl and think Superman’s cousin with the cute miniskirt, half a dozen boyfriends – one of which is a green alien who becomes negative 985 years old anytime he comes to visit so he’s nowhere close to legal- oh yeah, and the god dammned stupid horse. Most of that Supergirl’s stories were appropriate for kids.
That however, was not Peter’s Supergirl. His Supergirl was a story about love, faith, identity, the meaning/existence of god, morality, the dangers of power, and, of course, flan.
Those old Supergirl stories are okay. The one with Ambush Bug was just a riot.
Peter’s Supergirl however got me to do something I don’t like doing if I don’t have to. It made me think. It made me question what I thought, what I did, why I did the things.
Most importantly, while the book did not make me question my faithlessness, it did help me. It helped me see why some people feel the need to believe. It’s something I never understood before.
This is why I rarely post on boards. It’s scary out there.
To be honest, I do have that issue, but have almost zero memory of the story. I’ll have to dig it up, but I assume that if I don’t remember it that well (it was published in 96 or 97 I think) then there was nothing in it that truly offended/shocked me. I will say that I agree with Luigi and Michael Norton that the thread itself seemed pretty non-inflamatory compared to when I was cruising the old GL message board on DC’s site (I finally just threw in the towell on ever convincing them that the last ten years of story might have some relevance beyond it not being Hal with the ring), but on the other hand, PAD’s site is pretty public and accessible, so this guy could have made his points here during one of PAD’s open question threads, right? At any rate I imagine I’ll dig out the issue and re-read it just to get the feel (so to speak) of what all this hub-bub could possibly be about…
I honestly don’t remember the comic book they’re talking about. but a vast majority of my comic book collection is in my parents’ home in the USA. (I’m in Italy now preparing to marry my beautiful Italian girlfriend Laura.) This includes many comic books that I have not had a chance to read yet. Anyway, the fellow in the forum seems to be the type to put foil on his head to keep the dogs from talking to him. Don’t let folks like this get you down Pete. You’re still the greatest in this aspiring comic book writer’s opinion.
JHL
Thanks guys!
You know, for the longest time, I wanted nothing more than to become a writer for a Big Two comic book…
And then I saw this thread, and found that no matter how good the work I do is, some people will invariably make their own judgments on my work without reading it, accuse me of things I might or might not have meant inbetween the lines, accuse me of being bipolar and heavily drugged, and compare my work with scenes of cartoon sodomization.
I think I’ll stick to warehouse work.
I thought the thread was pretty pointless, but tame. And the guy was obviously kidding around.
I do remember the story and it did “bother” me. As said elsewhere, I agree it seemed Mary was the wrong choice for this for the many reasons stated.
1) Mary is a bit more light-hearted character than this subject matter (IMO, and I understand why for some that would lend strength to that story)
2) Mary has access to the Wisdom of Solomon. This does NOT mean, to me, that she should have been able to “reason it all out” but (again, to me) it lends her TOO much credibility. I believed her over the cop when I think it should have been a harder call.
3)This is arguable, but since Mary has no “bad” streak, it’s again hard to believe the cop could think she was shoplifting.
It could be I misunderstood the concept of the story, perhaps wrongly thinking that both Mary’s and the Cop’s argument should be of equal weight to make Supergirl’s call more difficult. It could very well be that PAD intended it to be about Supergirl’s stand that she didn’t see it, and out of fairness, she couldn’t render judgement despite Mary’s overwhelming credibility (but if that was the case, Supergirl’s a creep for not following it up. The dude would be under a microscope for years to come, if I were her.)
But then, who else could fill the bill? It should be someone powerless in civilian identity so the cop is a real threat, “bad” enough to lend some doubt to her claims, yet innocent enough to lend credibility to her claims. Wonder Girl when she needed the artifacts to be powered? Yeah, okay, she would fit the bill for me better than Mary Marvel.
Despite all that, the story was well crafted and had a lot more depth than the other Plus One stories.
My favorite line from that thread:
“The fictional have their rights as well.”
Hëll, forget the thread, that sentence alone encapsulates the worst of fan mentality.
And as for those who keep saying “He was joking”– from what I gather, the individual in question has a history of crossing the line with creators at conventions– why else would so many people there immediately know what he was getting at? It seems pretty clear to me that at the very least, he was planning to launch a verbal attack at PAD at the con. Over a comic book story. Sheesh.
“And as for those who keep saying “He was joking”– from what I gather, the individual in question has a history of crossing the line with creators at conventions”
No he doesn’t, and yes, he was joking.
Ah, there’s nothing like a fan who complains incessantly about something, then uses the “I was only kidding” bit when they’re proved wrong. If only people knew that having a right to an opinion doesn’t obviate the usefulness of intelligence, research, and accuracy in forming an intelligent opinion.
As for the “threats,” I don’t know what they had planned. Maybe these folks planned to bring weapons, maybe they planned on bringing anti-PAD signs. At any rate, I’m having flashbacks to Harlan Ellison’s “Xenogenesis” where he and other authors recount horror stories from “fans” who felt abusing creators was fine just because they disliked stories. (I’d recommend a little more security around PAD at this con, though.) If you look through the posts on that site, there are lots of folks able to express their dislike of the story without making threats to the writer. It’s fine for anyone to hate the story; it’s not fine to threaten to “get” the author in person. I hope “DaAmerican” gets tossed out by security; and I’m sure he’ll be indignant and threatening a lawsuit the whole way…
No he doesn’t, and yes, he was joking.
Sorry, I don’t buy it.
I find the notion of ‘fictional characters having rights’ to be disturbing on an inordinate amount of levels.
I mean we don’t even worry that much about the rights of REAL PEOPLE.
Sorry, I don’t buy it.
That’s because you don’t know Joe. He wasn’t posting this for anyone but the CBR community, who does know Joe, and who would know that, while he did seriously take issue with the story, was only joking. Clearly the one poster who ran here to “tattle” didn’t get it. It’s an online personality. Joe is decidedly not a fanboy, and the further bashing of him or the boards is completely unsubstantiated.
I’m sorry PAD, but after reading the 13 plus pages of CBR thread I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the biggest NON-ISSUE that never was! And, at this particular point in time, my grievance lies with the way you handled the situation.
First, you thank Michael Pullman for bringing a petty message board argument to your attention. And I must ask… is it wise? Do you want to be made aware of every internet squabble that throws your name in vain? I thought you were above that (or at the very least, have more profitable things to do, like post the latest TV Round-Up!).
You also claim the Mary Marvel story was “mischaracterize[d] …through hearsay”. And with all due respect, I did not find any evidence of such a thing. No one alleged that the rape happened on panel, some argued that it could’ve, that it might’ve happened, that the whole point was to put Supergirl in a He-said/She-said situation, etc. In the end, and if I’m not mistaken (and I could be), all I saw was a poster start a thread at a message board asking if anybody new which particular Supergirl comic addressed the issue in question (that being the alleged rape of Mary Marvel). Then, through a series of character analyses and dissections, question the suitability of the character to that particular type of story line; while admitting all along that he’d never read the issue but felt he could question the author based on the merits of the character (i.e. who he knows Mary Marvel to be, what her powers are, and how she should be portrayed). The fact that he was looking for the issue in question showed some initiative in trying to get a first person account of the facts even though he felt that he could make a case based on what his friends told him. The key word being ‘friends’. You see, the clever thing about all this is that we trust our friends. They can be wrong, they can be right; but we trust them. I find it ironic that Supergirl would be ambivalent about trusting Mary Marvel, the paradigm of innocence and virtue, a fellow heroine and a fellow female, over a cop just because he happens to be a friend of her father and another symbol of authority, a male one that is (feminist revolt! and/or surrender the cause, we now know that even the fabled Supergirl is subject to the years of indoctrination by Da’Man!) After all was said and done, he abstained from commenting until he read the issue… read the issue, and commented afterwards.
Anyways,
As a long time fan of Mary Marvel, I agree with the CBR posters in that the use of Mary Marvel in such a scenario is unsettling because it robs the character of its innocence, which I think it’s one of its strongest virtues (and not because it tackled the issue of child molestation). And any victim will concur that such an event is very ‘traumatic’ even if nothing ‘really happened’ (as it robs the child of its childhood and trust in parents, men, authoritative figures, sexual partners, etc.)
And as for Supergirl, I don’t think that what could’ve been a great character study for Girl of Steel was fully realized within the pages of that particular issue.
Now, on to the “series of threats against the author”.
From reading the thread, I got the sense that the posters knew each other, were joking, and there was a very informal atmosphere to the whole thing. Call it Locker-Room banter or hallway humor, whatever. It all just seemed fairly innocent and very much ‘tongue in cheek’. Really. If you don’t see the jest in claiming ‘fictional characters have rights’ or that they’ll carjack the Flash’s Treadmill, then I guess I can see how trying to make you trip backwards is one of the most egregious of human assaults imaginable. Then again, at your age, it probably is. Shìŧ, I think I argued myself into a corner here. What to do? What to do? I KNOW!!!! BOYCOTT ABC!!!!!!!
Pheww! That was close.
Anyways, I think this is much ado about nothing. Just because I tell some people at a message board I’m going to get Mark Waid at a convention for his lame ‘evil Barry Allen twin’ story (hypothetically speaking), doesn’t mean I’m going to really “GET HIM”. Now, if I actually e-mailed Mark Waid and told him that I was going to get him; then, that would irrevocably constitute a threat. In any case, the acid test for a threat is simple, does the subject feel threatened?
I don’t think you do. Then again maybe you are. Only you can answer that.
That’s because you don’t know Joe. He wasn’t posting this for anyone but the CBR community, who does know Joe, and who would know that, while he did seriously take issue with the story, was only joking.
And if the CBR community forum were a closed, members-only site where outsiders couldn’t view posts cold, I’d have no problem.
But it’s not. And obviously Joe has forgotten the first rule of the Internet–consider anything you write out there is available for the entire world to view and judge. So a bit of thought before posting is never a bad idea.
Let me put it this way. Had Joe been saying such things about the President as opposed to Peter, would the Secret Service be so forgiving?
JSM
Scott Bland: Anyone know where I can find a transcript of that debate online, BTW? I lost the issue of CBG that reprinted it.
Luigi Novi: CBG printed it? Oh, man, that must’ve been before I started reading CBG. Yeah, where can I read it?
it’s threads like that one that make me almost ashamed to call myself a comic fanboy.
my reaction to the whole thing – ugh. i certainly hope nothing happened.
i remember this story. as with about 80% of most PD stuff i read, i really enjoyed it (as opposed to the other 10% that i just regularly enjoy and the remaining 10% that i don’t enjoy). just because a writer doesn’t satisfy, doesn’t mean he isn’t any good. i’ve posted volumes on why i think a certain well-employed writer with the initials JC writes boring derivative stories. but that’s it. no threats to his cat or confronting him at Cons. he’s employed writing comics, i’m not. nuff said. besides, as crappy as i think he is, i just picked up something he wrote called Elephantmen (the Origin of Hip Flask) and i think he did a good job. actually i recommend it. shows what i know
i got into a sparkling discussion with Marvel Girl over on the DC Boards when MM revisited Supergirl. this idea (that she perpetuated as well) that a character has to only symbolize one way of being – nicey nicey goodie goodie or evil baddie baddie (i’ve seen the Eddie Izzard Comedy Special on HBO wayyyyyyyyyyy too many times) – is a bunch of kaka. characters can go through life changing events and still stay true to their core beliefs and actions while evolving as well. using Mary was appropriate, as appropriate as using any noname character. the only thing that matters is that the story is told well.
as for the charactorization, as a non-girl who has never been in a situation like that, i (and most readers) have no reference, but i do know someone who has and to this day she says it was the most unsettling experience in her life. when it happened, she acted emotionally and lost her reason (her words) over just a touch but she still felt violated. and the guy never actually touched her in a way that anyone could do anything about legally. it was the way it happened and the way she perceived it. with that in mind, this story seems very real to me, and very realistically portrayed. so sorry that the ending was not neat and tidy. some stories, like life, don’t always work out that way.
>Had Joe been saying such things
>about the President as opposed to
>Peter, would the Secret Service be
>so forgiving?
Of course not, and given the wackos that are out there, folks can’t afford to take for granted that posts like that are only joking (I just thought it was creepy as all hëll). If the Internet had been around a few years earlier, I bet Mark David Chapman would have been pretty active on the John Lennon boards…
Few laud the words of Peter David as much as I, he is one of the few comic book writers who’s books are worth reading not twice but three times. They are that entertaining.
But one does not have to be Sigmund Freud to see that Mr. David is a sick pup, which might be the thing that makes him so great, or at least part of it.
Mr. David relishes turning his heroes into mad killers and satanists. Forcing them into cannabalism or killing them once and bringing them back to kill them once again. He likes dismembering his heroes and finally moved into the realm of having one sexually violated.
We shoulda seen it coming.
Should we attempt to psychoanalyse the mind of a man that takes heroes designed to be paragons but feels he must debase and degrade them? For one must understand he’s not merely making unbelievably bland and perfect characters realistic, he’s degrading them on purpose for his own sick jollies.
And God Help Us, we’re loving it because we are in cahoots. When the cop fondles Mary Marvel, it’s what we wanted to do all along.
Well it’s what you all wanted to do all along. I’m different.
So dare we peer into the twisted mind of Peter David?
NO.
That would be like staring into the Sun, if the Sun was a sewer full of dead rats and used condoms.
Condoms used in bad ways!
We should not attempt to plum the depths of David’s inner self. That way lies madness. Let David go nuts, we’ll just get our sick jollies from a safe distance reading his foul funnies and condemning them.
I thank you,
signed,
fanboy in the basement
Hi.
I guess, is this really that big of a deal? A lot of the other thread, and even this thread, kind of comes off like posing. I keep hearing the “Jets and the Sharks” theme, and am wondering when everyone will start walking around snapping fingers and getting ready to rumble.
Anywho, sorry if the posters in the thread held up your expectations of “fanboys” and “internet fandom” etc. etc.., but really, you can’t please everyone, everyone on the internet has an opinion (look at this thread for example!) and honestly, if you’re upset about someone on another message board making comments on a story because they didn’t inform the author … well, what do you call it when you do the same? Honestly, if you really feel so strongly, why not just go post a message or two to the guy? You could come in with a flamethrower and start a lot of hostility, or you could come in calmly and just say, “Hey, I think you’re wrong, what’s up with this attack Peter David thing, were you serious?” Maybe it is just easier to flame people when they aren’t around, which is why I guess folks on the CBR board flamed Peter David when he wasn’t around … and why a lot of folks here are flaming Joe Rice when he’s not around.
Anyway, I haven’t read the story, I’m going to read it, but it did make me wonder why you never see a story like this about Robin, or CM3, or any of the other boy characters. I’m also curious about why Mary Marvel’s wisdom went out the door at the end of the story (assuming that my friends are right in their assesments). So, isn’t that a good thing? Granted, I’ll pick it up from a back issue bin, but the discussion about the comic means that, um, y’know, I’m going to buy the comic.
I was a bit shocked at Peter David’s reaction, too. I mean, we’re all human, nobody likes critics, but yikes, I figured a well-published, well-recieved, well-liked author would have a slightly thicker skin–although, honestly, reading about threats against yourself would probably make anyone’s WTF light go off. So that part makes sense–but if it isn’t clear that Joe wasn’t serious, as one of the folks who wrote in the thread, sorry if that isn’t enough and if that isn’t clear, but now it is.
As to the rest, hey, I’m quoting myself here, but Any good writer can take any character and craft them into a good story, but whether or not the readers perceive it as a good story is up to them. If everyone had the same tastes, peanuts would be used as industrial grease and vegemite would sweep across North America.
Take it easy.
-f.
“Sorry, I don’t buy it. “
Well I know the guy and he not only doesn’t have a history of harrassing creators at cons, he’d never in a million years do such a thing, And he really was joking.
“Just joking.”
“What’s a matter? Don’t you have a sense of humor?”
The defense of bullies and malicious practical jokers everywhere. It doesn’t excuse the fact DandDamerican was being an ášš.
I gave up three pages in. I thought the thread was fairly tame, but the people who constantly complained about the story without having actually read it was pretty silly to me.
I’ve read it. Honestly, I didn’t think it was one of PAD’s better stories, mostly because the story required more room than it was given in that issue. At the very least, it required some follow up.
I agree that super-hero comics should generally be accessible to young readers, but for all its themes, there was little in Supergirl that I wouldn’t have passed on to one of my young cousins. They might not have understood everything, but aside from some innuendo, Supergirl wasn’t that adult. Intelligent, yes; fairly mature, sure; but adult- not at all.
Personally, I’m completely okay with confronting a child molestation issue in a super-hero comic for young readers. It could a valuable tool for younger readers who are in the situation, to let them know that they should not be treated this way and give them some idea of who to go to get out of such a hideous predicament.
For that reason alone, I’m glad PAD ran with the story, even if I personally thought it could’ve been done slightly better.
Having read the thread, my general opinion of most of the folk in it would be “what a bunch of lame-os”. Although I wouldn’t particularly call it an example of “Internet fandom”, given that these days, at least in the US, pretty much anyone who wants to can access the Internet, causing the average intellect of net users to have regressed to the norm. Pretty much what Peter wrote at the start; it’s an example of the worst of fan mentality, although I’d perhaps settle on “some people are just jerks” (Dadamerican struck me as a minor league version of a certain former active rec.arts.comics poster).
Btw, as long as on the topic, Peter, the incident you wrote about in CBG a few weeks back about the fan who came up to you and asked you to sign something you hadn’t written? It was at Wondercon; I was the “Internet friend” talking with you when it happened. And yes, for those who read the CBG bit, it was as weird as Peter described it.
Btw, as long as on the topic, Peter, the incident you wrote about in CBG a few weeks back about the fan who came up to you and asked you to sign something you hadn’t written? It was at Wondercon; I was the “Internet friend” talking with you when it happened. And yes, for those who read the CBG bit, it was as weird as Peter described it.
I *thought* it was you. I just wasn’t 100% sure.
PAD
(Dadamerican struck me as a minor league version of a certain former active rec.arts.comics poster).
I got that same feeling, but I can’t remember who…any clues, Tyg?
Idiots are everywhere.
And, with the internet, every idiot gets to have his voice heard, unfortunately.
Anyway, I haven’t read the story, I’m going to read it, but it did make me wonder why you never see a story like this about Robin, or CM3, or any of the other boy characters.
I seem to remember a public service comic in the 80s about Spider-Man saying he was sexually abused as a child. That may not be canon, but I think he counts as a major male character.
It seems the Supergirl issue did bring about discussion (not all of it intelligent, but oh well) which is probably something PAD had hoped for when he wrote it.
Well I know the guy and he not only doesn’t have a history of harrassing creators at cons, he’d never in a million years do such a thing, And he really was joking.
Sorry, BUT THAT DOESN’T FLY.
I don’t know you. I don’t this other person. All I see are the words that are put down on paper/screen, and that’s all I can judge folks by. And, absent anything else, a threat is a threat is a threat is a threat.
I’m sorry folks don’t understand that, but you are going to have to realize that your words ARE your own…they’re YOUR responsibility…and their prima facie meaning is often the only thing others have to go by.
Words are powerful. Be careful with them.
“Sorry, BUT THAT DOESN’T FLY.”
Yes it does. I never argued that Joe was “responsible.” Nor did I say anyone was wrong for thinking he was serious. Nor did I argue that Joe was right for making the joke. I’m merely pointing out that he wasn’t being serious and he doesn’t have a history of harassing creators at cons. All the ALL CAPS responses in the world aren’t going to change that.
And here’s the most hilarious thing: On that thread, they’re now complaining that, man, isn’t it rotten that they’re not allowed to complain about a comic book, and gee, all these mean old Peter David fans are dumping on them just because they didn’t like a comic.
When, of course, not a single person has disputed the right not to like a comic. What’s been challenged is the distorting of its contents, commenting on it without having read it, and making threatening statements directed at the author of the work.
Very sad.
PAD
I’m merely pointing out that he wasn’t being serious and he doesn’t have a history of harassing creators at cons. All the ALL CAPS responses in the world aren’t going to change that.
Well, heck, maybe the person who posted that this guy has a history of harassing creators at cons was…
JUST KIDDING!!!!
Yes, adding “Just kidding” to anything makes it a-okay. Right? We’re planning revenge…JUST KIDDING! Let’s team up and knock Peter David to the floor…JUST KIDDING!
I don’t know this guy. I don’t know you. But this I know: When it comes to threats…
I don’t kid.
PAD
“Well, heck, maybe the person who posted that this guy has a history of harassing creators at cons was…
JUST KIDDING!!!!”
No, he was just wrong.
In that thread, they’re now complaining that, man, isn’t it rotten that they’re not allowed to complain about a comic book, and gee, all these mean old Peter David fans are dumping on them just because they didn’t like a comic.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t see that. But I see how you like to be melodramatic in everything you do, so I can see how you see that. Personally, when I get wound too tight, I get off the computer and take a nap.
“The fictional have their rights as well.”
Hëll, forget the thread, that sentence alone encapsulates the worst of fan mentality.
And, in some cases, the best of author mentality. The case of the character and the author getting into a shouting match about the direction a story is heading isn’t completely uncommon. (Especially when the author isn’t always very kind to the characters)
I think several works of fiction (often horror) have been based on the concept of a character coming to life.
Of course — the author is the only one with the right to be schizophrenic.