The Comic Hashtag Wars… For the past ~10 years there’s been a war on social media and search engines about comic campaigns. Not the stuff on Kickstarters getting intrusive, those are normal. But one way or another, you have seen campaigns and labels that crawl under everyone’s skin.
Disclaimer
This is not an endorsement or roast of any party. Being woke, anti-woke, or non-woke is never the problem; everybody is fallible in their own way that can cause emotional damage or indifference. But those are personal depending on the subject at hand. As a whole, much like crowds turning into riots, it’s an infrastructural problem.
Comic Hashtag Wars Players
The labels leading this “war” are: ComicsGate, Iron Age Media, Rippaverse/Eric July, and Cancel Pigs. The general vibe of interacting with any of them (or seeing them interact with each other) is probably best expressed through this song:
(Censored) By Oversaturation
ComicsGate barely needs an introduction. It started as an outrage mob in reaction to mainstream comic campaigns meant to attract more diverse audiences to their content. But some comic creators hijack it to advertise their our own works starting with Richard Meyer. For (no links) and many disgraced artists, it was the only viable way to stand out among hundreds of other projects in crowdfunding. It’s just that their methods to get attention without overhype can get divisive. Sometimes even with each other… but we’ll have to come back to that.
(That’s Not Going To Get Confusing) Media
Instead let’s go over what’s a “non-woke IGN”. Funny, I don’t remember IGN talking about diversity. But then again, I go there for walkthroughs. Anyway, Iron Age Media is a decentralized network of independent creators in comics, novels, pulps, board games, and animation. This is the least visible of all of the labels and it was confusing to know what it was since iron age comics describes a lot of other stuff.
In any case, there used to be some overlap with ComicsGate, for obvious reasons. Even a few of the less viral creators from that campaign took to Iron Age to make up for their lack of popularity. But after a while, ComicsGate started to be lose prominence with the network. There’s nobody waving around the hashtag on social media anyway… compared to their own. At first I thought it was because of the novels and pulp anthologies. But maybe it had to do with something or someone else.
Eric July’s Rip In The Panderverse
Eric Dewayne July is an anomaly in a lot of this. He first came onto the comic scene spouting similar stuff as ComicsGate, that his company will avoid the pitfalls of the mainstream relying on diverse characters. Weird since this is the same guy who founded the Minorities Seeking Solutions group that empowers people (with help). Not only that, he even opened his own crowdfunding website exclusively for his content and merch. The guy already had fans from his music career so why not? In any case, the Rippaverse got attention from everyone including ComicsGate.
But at some point creative and professional differences came up. From what the grapevine says, it was over a debate between Eric and the poster boy of ComicsGate. Something about what criticism’s constructive or what you can get out of bad ones. In any case, it caused something of a nuclear split in ComicsGate. Some creators in the campaign left that corner in favor of Iron Age since Eric had his own staff, partners, and supporters. That includes the Soska Sisters/Twisted Twins known for visceral horror movies and feminist support as well as Chuck Dixon. You might know him for Nightwing, his anti-queer stances, or his brief time with some dolt named Teddy before a fallout.
Laymen’s terms, Eric doesn’t discriminate who he works with, they just can’t advocate for stuff in the pages. Or do terrible things off pages.
Whee! Wee! Wee!
And finally the latest Comic Hashtag Wars label, Cancel Pigs. They’re what Mark Millar calls people who react with more than annoyance to a comic store owner’s dissatisfaction. The owner basically said that recognizable heroes were becoming mouthpieces or creators put too much of themselves in them. Since that leans towards the above parties, the boars and sows didn’t take it well. Some of the squealers were respected creators (no names). That caused some shakeups in some of these creators’ casual and loyal fans. Nothing major, it just made them realize that the people they respect do things that they don’t want any part of.
Just a quick side note cancel pigs includes anyone who uses cancel culture to silence creators. Usually over outrageous claims like villains reflect writers at their worst. Or basically anything people could get offended by because they looked at it a certain way. Some of the worst Cancel Pigs try to start a moral panic no matter how much they try to justify it. It goes left or right, big, and small.
Comic Hashtag Wars Effects
Now with that out the way, we need to discuss if any of this means anything. Are these people preventing anyone from making diverse comics or making private spaces to share things? That didn’t stop the big companies from releasing anything with diverse characters. But do people really go for anything because they’re diverse? While there are best-sellers starring diverse characters like Something Is Killing The Children or Saga, diversity is not what sells them. Great compelling stories and well-written characters with merchandise does that plenty. Frankly, South Park and some influencer I never heard of make a better case.
In fact, the only thing “non-woke” crowds do differently from most other creators trying to get by is being influencers. The reaction kind no less; according to a blogger that’s the quickest and easiest way to get a following. Combine that with getting under enough people’s skin and they get free advertising for their platform. Just look at the Paul brothers for a comparison. Even a guy like me who has no interest in reaction vids or online personalities know who they are. And I wouldn’t have cared until people brought it up. Same goes for the Comic Hashtag Wars.
Is The Comic Hashtag Wars About Comics?
In all bluntness, that’s the main problem. What is the story you’re trying to sell everyone, a comic or war recruitment? Because from the look of things, none of the real issues are being addressed. Would suppressing ComicsGate get Marvel or DC to focus on quality control rather than a huge quantity of titles? Are Iron Age making what they spotlight more accessible? What are Cancel Pigs going to do after they find their 1000 true fans when filtering their subscribers? Just what are these people trying to make everyone else aware of? Social issues with projects where the proceeds don’t help people?
I can name one title that gave part of its money made to charity. It’s an independent title called Calico that’s dedicated to fighting animal cruelty in all forms. While it’s titular anti-hero delivers deadly comeuppance on abusers, the publisher Sigma Comics fights for animal rights without violence. Because getting people to think more creatively about something lasts longer. Especially when the creator went to painstaking lengths to make sure it was effective. I had an animal rights lawyer look into this and she confirmed its legitimacy. All with free shipping and cheaper trades because that’s good service. Yet it never went viral or came up in Comic Hashtag Wars discourse.
Why Are You Defending The Status Quo?
But I think the more important thing to ask is: what is our relationship with comic books today? For all of the complaints people make about the non-woke influencer comic creators, is the current landscape in traditional comics worth defending? A number of publishers have regularly exploited people working for them. Editors alone are overworked and quiet quitting Marvel and DC, allowing critical mistakes that make series lose their directions. Even with serious issues or inclusivity being put up front, what’s the point when there’s no payment or respect for the hard work? Say all you want about consistent releases, when they’re padded out with sloppy execution, people lose interest.
Some smaller publishers aren’t much better. Aftershock, Space Goat, and Action Lab have all come up short on contractual obligations. More might follow if leadership and better business practices don’t come up.
As for creators who try to stay completely independent, despite the security that comes from fans, there are still plenty of risks. For one, JL Johnson Jr. the creator of the epic indie fantasy Rule of 9 is stepping down from comics out of burnout. All of the work and competition to stand out amid the Comic Hashtag Wars and not going viral took a lot out of him.
Make no mistake, some of the viral labeled campaigns have underdelivered. But the ones that focus on quality over quantity tend to be remembered better. Especially with strategies that make them so visible.
Exceptions Need To Be The Rule
There are ways that get comics more visibility without offending anyone. The recent Ultimate Comics from Marvel stay in the spotlight because they give fans what’s been missing from the usuals. Not only for the what-ifs but bringing out the best features from an inner story. Ultimate Spider-Man alone makes Jonathan Hickman a regular trend topic.
Then there’s the TMNT: The Last Ronin franchise, one of the only Western comics from a traditional publisher in supermarkets. This allowed the original limited series to live past its finale. Whoever pushed for this knew it was worth the effort.
What these all say is simple: good leadership and restructuring of comic publishing and marketing would’ve prevented the Comic Hashtag Wars.