Where comics writer Kurt Busiek now posts his sad political rants

Years ago, when X was Twitter, leftist writer Kurt Busiek had plenty of terrible leftist drivel to say there. Today, after Elon Musk bought out the social network, it looks like Busiek no longer posts there, presumably because he can't stand being on a rightist-owned site, and now he's turned to Blue Sky. And here's a few examples of his continuing leftist rhetoric there. For example:

Wow, look how he's trying to draw a moral equivalence between antisemitic and "anti-palestinian" sentiment, making it sound like Iran's mullahs are literally against local Moslems, or as though the fabricated race/community "palestine" isn't Islamic. Put another way, Busiek's clearly not interested in doing any research to determine that the whole name "palestine" was a Roman conception, drawing from the Philistines, to humiliate the land of Stan Lee's ancestry. Also interesting how Busiek simultaneously attacks the POTUS who's now overseeing a raid against Iran's tyrants to destroy their murderous weaponry. Whose side is Busiek on anyway? He's right that Iran's got anti-LGBTQ positions, but, if he won't acknowledge it stems from the teachings of the koran, then his approach there falls flat too.

Then we have:

The USA military many sigificant achievements so far, like destroying Iran's naval crafts, and Busiek's ungrateful? Just what and who does Busiek stand for anyway?

Busiek even posted the following involving Israel:

How intriguing he lectures us all that Israelis across the board literally don't support Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, this despite how recent pollings show he has sizable support, and plenty of support for the war against Iran's tyrants. What's telling here is how Busiek doesn't back up his claim, and while he may acknowledge the Islamofascists of Iran are willing to attack civilians, his absurd biases ruin any notion he respects the Israeli public on anything. Also atrocious is how Busiek subtly compares Netanyahu to the Iranian Islamofascists. Shame.

Next we have this:

And is that supposed to mean the military commanders don't face any danger, say, from enemy moles and sleeper agents? Oh good grief, this is just so naive. Then there's this and this:

Busiek won't learn lessons either, that wasting so much energy attacking conservatives doesn't improve the situation. And if he's implying Americans and Israelis who allegedly want war should die, that's disturbing as well, and sick. Besides, it's not that any sensible person literally wants war for "fun". They support war against tyrants because there's situations where force is inevitable if that's what it takes to stop barbarism. Busiek also made unverified claims that Israelis literally are guilty of war crimes, and also this item, and this one:

Well if that's what he thinks, but doesn't think the Islamofascists running Afghanistan today aren't guilty of war crimes against the ancient Buddhist inhabitants who originally dwelled there, that's disgraceful too. Ditto if he doesn't think Turkey's guilty of war crimes against Armenia. And Busiek also reposted the following from Tom Peyer:

I guess that means Mr. Peyer's also hostile to Israelis, conservative or otherwise? For shame. Later on, Busiek made a nasty comment about Trump:

And then, what did Busiek say about the US army attack on Kharg island?

If he's no military expert, he has no business commenting, and also had no business writing superhero comics. But who knows, maybe today, he regrets writing superhero tales. It is rather funny he'd write anything starring say, Captain America, considering Kirby/Simon created Steve Rogers as a military cadet who volunteered for the super-soldier serum experiment that made him the formidable fighter he became. But then, that's why, if Busiek really feels that way today, he should no longer be writing superhero themes, plain and simple.

Interestingly, if it matters, Busiek also mentioned the disgraced Gerard Jones, and said the following:

What's that supposed to mean long before? Does that mean people not wanting to benefit monsters is something that only recently came up? Let's be clear. If Jones had been caught in the acts years before and it made headlines in the news, you can be sure there's plenty who'd want nothing to do with him anymore. And must it be pointed out Staton didn't just illustrate comics written by sick Jones? Staton got into comics as far back as the early 1970s, and he'd drawn Green Lantern before, beginning in 1979, for stories written by writers with far better reputations than Jones will ever have at this stage. Staton also has other comics to his credits (including some Batman books), and even a few at Marvel. What, does Busiek have a grudge against Staton or something? That aside, if there's anything Busiek wrote that perhaps we shouldn't benefit, it's his creator-owned comics like Astro City and Arrowsmith, based on how he's indirectly insulting plenty of decent USA military officials who're working hard to bring down the Islamic regime in Iran. Don't their reputations matter? Don't even the reputations of 911 Families matter? Why, what about Betty Mahmoody, who was fortunate to get her daughter out of Iran during the mid 1980s after her creep of a husband taqqiya'd them into traveling there? How don't topics like those ever matter to Busiek?

And since Jones came up, this is very embarrassing, but it appears that since his release from prison nearly 4 years ago, he's been quietly turning up on social media again, and even posting chapters of a book he wrote called "Ginny Good" on a Substack site. Most disgraced writers of his sort would ususally just disappear after all the harm they caused. But Jones appears to be one of those sorts who cannot keep his stupid mouth shut. And if there's at least one example of what political rants he's posting to put on display here, it's the following:

Well. Looks like Jones hasn't changed from the time he first said a decade back he considered Trump a "fascist". And I guess he also considers Trump a communist, seeing how he claims the POTUS wants to be like Vladimir Putin. And all this after Jones was arrested and convicted for illegally hoarding child porn. What, does he think because he's been paroled from prison after 2 thirds of his sentence, it's okay to go right back to such crap again? As though it weren't bad enough he was trying to downplay his criminal offenses when he was still behind bars. All that aside, does he really think anybody wants to read even his text-only books after what he did? Such a repellent disgrace indeed. I wonder how Busiek feels about having written a backup story for Wonder Man in one of the 2 annuals for the 1991-94 series Jones wrote over 3 decades ago? That series was practically worthless as it is.

It's very sad some of the same leftist comics writers of the past decade refuse to stop wasting time on divisive politics, yet quite interesting how, ever since X/Twitter was bought out by a conservative supporter, they decided to jump ship from that service over to one that's more attuned to their leftist beliefs. That, alas, doesn't make the situation any better for the well being of the world.

Joe Sacco minimizes the seriousness of Islamic terror in India

The Washington Post wrote some fluff-coated takes on GNs published this year, and it includes one by the anti-Israel cartoonist Joe Sacco, who's now apparently trying to downplay the seriousness of Islamic terrorism in India, in the pages of a GN titled "Once and Future Riot":

For decades, Sacco has carved out a space for rigorous, fact-based journalism in comics, with books on the Palestinian territories, the Bosnian war and other topics. Here he examines the Muzaffarnagar riots that tore through Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2013. Interviewing survivors and perpetrators on both sides, he carefully depicts how relations between the region’s Hindu and Muslim communities broke down. In the process of telling the story of these few days of violence and pain, he lays out a larger narrative about the rise of Hindu nationalism that is all the more troubling for the evenhanded way he explains it.

When he attacks Indian nationalism, it's harder to believe his approach is "evenhanded", especially when the following panel suggests otherwise:

So the Muslim figure on the panel is denying there's such a thing as "love jihad", even though there have been cases of this occurring in what could be described as one of the worst forms of coercion, and attempts to force women to convert to Islam. Also notice how the panel depicts non-Muslims attacking one who is Muslim, and it's set up to make it look like they're doing it out of false accusations. What "careful depictions" is Sacco working on here? This is shameful, right down to how the non-Muslims assaulting the Islamist are made to look nasty, while the cleric, by contrast, is depicted as calm and sympathetic. The riots in Muzaffarnagar were sparked by the murder of 2 men by 7 culprits who were Islamists (and certainly had names often used by followers of the Religion of Peace), and were handed down sentences eventually for their repugnant crimes. It won't be shocking if Sacco obfuscated all that. What's drawn in the panel is anything but "fact-based".

Sacco continues to prove he's one of the worst pro-Islam propagandists in the political comics business, and I hesitate to think what disfavors he's done for 9-11 survivors in the USA in the near quarter century since the tragedy in NYC. The Wash. Post is similarly doing disfavors by sugarcoating his works, and only make clear they're one of the worst papers to talk about the comics medium in any format.

More about DC's hiring an extremist as a writer

A few months ago, horrific news came up that DC was hiring a transsexual activist named Gretchen Felker-Martin, despite the man's chilling record of incitement against Israelis/Jews and even J.K Rowling. Now, here's more info provided by the Stop Antisemitism website (which unfortunately went by female pronouns):

Meet DC Comics’ newest author: Gretchen Felker-Martin. Her record?
- Defended Hamas on Oct 7
- Praised Bin Laden’s 9/11 attack
- Called for Israel’s destruction
- Issued violent threats against Jewish journalists & public figures

This isn’t “edgy” writing. It’s dangerous… pic.twitter.com/9YY48bal1e

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 31, 2025

And here's more from their main site:

Despite her professional achievements, Felker-Martin is equally known for her antisemitic rhetoric. She has a long record of glorifying terrorism, promoting violent extremism, and engaging in antisemitic attacks. While many of her most inflammatory statements have since been deleted, they remain preserved in screenshots and widely discussed across literary and entertainment circles. This disturbing history raises serious concerns as to why DC Comics, one of the most influential publishers in the world, would employ an individual who openly promotes terrorism and antisemitism – a decision that is not only deeply troubling but emblematic of the dangerous normalization of hate within mainstream publishing and pop culture.

[...] Furthermore, Gretchen Felker-Martin has a disturbing history of threating Jewish journalist Jesse Singal by detailing gruesome details of his death. In one post, she expressed her desire to “bind Jesse Singal with strong rope and bring him to the quarry at the end of town… Leave, and no matter the sounds you hear, do not look back”.

More recently, Felker-Martin posted on X (since been deleted) that Singal – alongside Helen Joyce and J.K. Rowling – should have their throats slit, writing: “Blood on Jessie Singal’s hands, blood on Helen Joyce’s, Rowling’s … If they all had one throat, man.”

These are not isolated incidents. As far back as 2017, Felker-Martin threatened a Massachusetts city councilor by saying, “we’re gonna bury your lonely corpse in the overgrown lot behind State Liquors, Michael.” Her repeated use of violent imagery shows a consistent pattern of targeting and dehumanizing those she disagrees with.

This is very serious, and there's got to be legal grounds for filing police complaints about. Stop Antisemitism's website provides a contact for DC publishing, and all concerned should contact them to object to employing this extremist. And make clear they're not going to buy their output with the way they're going here. Of course, this is precisely why DC and Marvel should've folded over 2 decades ago, and if they did, chances are the damage would've been minimized in more ways than just the plummeting artistic quality.

As the latest example of the Big Two hiring insane, racist mental cases to do writing/drawing/editing for them, this is one of the most repulsive by far. Particularly stupefying is how Marie Javins, who once worked at Marvel, which was also founded by Jewish publishers, would be willing to employ such a creep. I think it's about time Ms. Javins resign the position she doesn't deserve any more than her predecessor, Dan DiDio.

Frank Miller's remains defeatist during a convention in Ireland

Down the Tubes gave some coverage of comics artist Miller's trip to a convention in Dublin, Ireland, where his recent documentary, American Genius, was screened, and his 2011 GN, Holy Terror, is also brought up, which he may have otherwise disowned in a very sad example of capitulation several years back. Most eyebrow raising here is that he actually raises the issue of censorship:

He also spoke about censorship, about how it’s like being trapped, and how “it’s worse than anything, censorship always achieves the opposite of what it intends to”. He went on to say that “through the 1950s, when they clamped down on every foreign entertainment we loved, the most subversive stuff in the world surfaced”. This part is interesting to me, as I am looking at Irish censorship of that time, that relates to comics.

Frank then reflected on entering the film business, and how he was working on Robocop II and he said “I convinced myself this thing would be this thing was going to win an Oscar” and how it was brilliant, and he would fix it, fix it in editing and how “I’d been convinced that something was brilliant, that wasn’t that good”.

Well first, I don't think he was ever a success at writing screenplays himself at the time, nor was he ever successful at crafting a film based on Will Eisner's Spirit, as he once did around the time Eisner passed on. So who's to say he's truly a "genius"? Not really.

But how funny if he's bringing up censorship problems, when he himself, in a way, succumbed to just that when he expressed regret over crafting Holy Terror about 7 years ago? And a lot of good it did him, since the Thought Bubble convention shunned him? All that does is put a damper on his whole argument, and suggest he's not very firm on his positions at all.

There's also the following claim that's bizarre:

Dave Gibbons spoke about Martha Washington, and then Frank spoke about Sin City, the black and white crime comic and how Dark Horse “didn’t flinch”, even though there were no superheroes, and which, at the time, was unheard of. We see a variety of authors, Al Williamson, and John Romita Jr., talk about comics they worked on with Frank, and there is discussion about original art.

Gee, hasn't the writer heard of say, Adam Strange, Nick Fury, and even Jon Sable, Freelance? Those weren't exactly characters known for being superheroes. Why, even the Warlord and Omega Men could be considered non-superheroes within such a universe. Even Marvel's New Universe line, short as it was, may have had characters who weren't superheroes either. We could even add the GI Joe and Transformers comics. Those aren't superheroes by any stretch either, no matter how close they came to having similar adventures. Now, here's more about the documentary:

The film pivots to the 21st century, and after the events of 9/11. One of the narrators explains how he “used nails to scrape the ink into the page because he had such visual visceral response to everything that happened during 9/11 and this was one of his first expressions of his anger and pain” we are told.

“I was still breathing in the stink,” says Frank Miller, visibly emotional, “of concrete, glass and human flesh” and how immense it was going through a “darkness, a sadness and horror”… “it turned into rage later”.

[...] The time shifts twice now, as two hours later, I learned that Frank was at home in New York during the 9/11 attack and tragedy, something I had suspected, but could not imagine. There were no shortage of connections at the time, including its impact his work on The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and, later, for example, his controversial contribution for the anthology, 9-11: Artists Respond. Art and anger, the expression of an artistic response, dealing with upset or trauma through art, it is a very interesting aspect.

I have no idea what the precise contribution was, but is the columnist complaining about something published in response to a horrifying incident where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists? It's bad enough he let's his leftism be clear later in the article. Now we have to hear something's wrong with contributing to what one would think was meant to be a tribute to the victims? Though as I'm aware, at least one special published around that time did contain left-wing messaging, and it's chilling now to wonder if Miller did anything similar. Because as revealed by the following:

Back to the film, which continues apace, and later the music later goes deep, a bass sound, and we learn that that the American conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart was a fan of Frank’s work, and tried, perhaps, to use him. Frank talks about how he met Breitbart, and discusses how people have an agenda, and how individuals had an agenda.

This element of the film was very specific. You can see how he is so unhappy with this time, and how he was near “something that gave us Donald Trump” and this was not something Frank was happy with. Frank wasn’t having any part of that (Breitbart News itself reported in 2017 how Miller described Trump as a “buffoon” during a Comic Con panel), and stayed very much away from them.

Obviously unhappy, Frank spoke of how the “propaganda” that Breitbart practised crossed a line into the territory on “no respect”.

Then Frank was asked a direct question: “Do you regret your comments on the other Occupy Wall Street people?” and he responded he was “certainly inconsiderate of the people who were occupying Wall Street, so sure,” and he reflects, “it was very aggressive”.

It's already old news he sadly backtracked, but what's really bizarre is that, at the time he first made the condemnations, he never provided even a single article link to back up his accusations. Let's take this report and also this one as examples. Why didn't he direct anybody to check those out? I never understood that at all. If anything, Miller's retraction sounds like a frantic effort to mend fences with fellow leftists when he didn't have to, and that's another huge problem - he didn't have the courage to part ways with them. I guess being famous was far too important to him than justice. And Breitbart's also problematic for him? For shame. If memory serves, the late Andrew Breitbart was favorable to Israel, and the news site named after him, in a manner of speaking, got a special start in Israel. Recalling Holy Terror, a subject of the American Genius documentary, is supposed to involve an Israeli mentor or something, I must say I find it difficult to understand why Miller has an issue with somebody in real life who was helpful to Israel in his time, unless maybe Miller wasn't so strong on his positions then at the time after all? He certainly doesn't seem to think much now of saying he supported patriotism back then either. And then, turning to the documentary's discussion of Holy Terror, it says:

The film then switches to footage of what I would consider right wing television championing his controversial project, Holy Terror, the film purposely showing its impact, in that regard, feeding the Islamophobic hatred that some people harbour, recognising an aspect of Frank’s past work that I had not expected to see.

“I get that it was complete freedom and a break,” Frank acknowledges, “and it shows… I was not at my best.”

The discussion moves to actors and film aspects, but then comes back to Frank, and he says how he was processing a large “amount of alcohol without even being aware of what I was doing.”

I realize Miller had problems with addiction, as he later told, but this seems like a cheap, all too convenient excuse to say he was almost literally wrong in his beliefs at the time. Wow, he sure isn't doing much to make me think he's worth upholding. Not that I ever thought much of his resume before though, recalling GNs like Sin City seem to comprise the bulk of his output, and hardly anything that could be described as optimistic. That's decidedly one of Miller's biggest problems, and why he's unfortunately overrated. Perhaps that's why, if there's any mistake Breitbart made, it was being too big a fan of Miller's. Also, lest we forget, Miller's art style's become very mediocre over the years, to the point where one can wonder why he continues his artist career, if he does. He even tears down on Will Eisner:

He then spoke about his “biggest feeling about addiction” which was a “sickening sense of missing time”. I thought this was powerful and he spoke about when he sat down with Will Eisner, over dinner, and Eisner did not want to talk about life, or what he had done wrong, but rather he had to go out, “travel the world, and get his heart broken”.

Then we see him talking about how he loves people who tell “heart-rending” stories, and how some people he admires, have made “terrible and tragic mistakes” and how he has to “learn from them, to to learn the true nature of life and what success is”.

One can only wonder if he believes Eisner made a mistake to research Islamic antisemitism, as he did when he was developing his last GN, The Plot. Miller certainly lets down Eisner's memory with this defeatist position, that's for sure, and what Miller says here about Eisner sounds rather forced, like he's looking for an opportunity to rip down on a guy I thought was a respectable mentor to him. And recalling the disgraced Neil Gaiman was a contributor to the documentary, does Miller come to terms with how Gaiman made mistakes? Who knows? It's shameful how he clings to friendship with otherwise unreliable figures, and recalling he wasn't credited to a letter written by Batman specialists in support of the Israeli family of an infant who was murdered by Hamas jihadists, one can only wonder - is Miller really that cowardly he couldn't add his name to the list, assuming the Wyman Institute asked him? That's not helpful at all. What's he "learning" then? The discussion of the documentary continues:

Frank Miller: American Genius is definitely not a piece of propaganda, as it goes to the weaknesses and failings that have occurred to Frank, which I had not anticipated, issues which were discussed included his alcoholism and its effect on him, his anger and the graphic novel Holy Terror, and his take on the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I wasn’t aware that during that darker phase of his life, that Breitbart and Steve Bannon, had become somewhat enthralled and desired to be aligned with Frank.

The film was not afraid of addressing parts of Frank’s life that one would be ashamed of, and I felt that this film was prepared to probe and ask hard questions. It was reflecting on what had happened, and Frank came across as quite remorseful about what had occurred, and repentant.

It is not for me to decide what others will make of the film, or whether they can find any form of reconciliation for the harsh utterances he made and the work that was Holy Terror. I am not and was not impacted in the way others were, who will have felt outrage with validity; that they were impacted, hurt or targeted. My position and privilege protect me, and it is easy for me to consider that to fail is to be human. So it it is to individuals to consider and decide for themselves their view, if they even want to.

Gee, the writer sure is intent on validating the defeatist side of the whole affair. Has he even ever met 9-11 Families? In the near quarter century since the tragedy, people like him never seem to bring up the victims and their families, as if they don't matter. At worst, the defeatists act like they don't even exist. It's a similar situation with Israel post-October 7, 2023. Also note he complained earlier about "islamophobia", and that's pretty telling as well. And on that note, the columnist then proceeds to sugarcoat pro-Hamas movements in Ireland:

This is no scarf to give warmth or comfort. It is an international quilt of resistance, which has been crocheted in rural Ireland by a group of women and their international allies for Palestinian children killed in Gaza. This is “Craftivism” and the quilt is “a gesture of remembrance, resistance, and rage at the appalling loss of life in Palestine.”

Wow, so much feeling for "palestinians", but none for Israeli victims of Islamofascism, huh? Or even the Irish victims of the same? That's the impression one can get from this otherwise one-sided disgust and sorry excuse for a pop culture column, which even proceeds to sugarcoat anti-Israel cartoonist Joe Sacco:

I had picked up Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco earlier in the day, at the Oxfam charity table at Dublin Comic Con. Charity tables at conventions turn up the most unusual things, and I think they add a lovely aspect, so I rummage under the table, and find this amazing book, and I am asked whether it was a good book, as I commented that I had it, even though I was considering it, you can always gift such a book, I reckon, and I respond, “one of the best” I says, “Sacco is brilliant and one might find a path to understanding what is happening now, and an appreciation of the history for sure.

Oh yeah, Sacco's a pure god, but Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are nothing, is that it? Such a disgrace. And no objections to how "palestinians" are indoctrinating their children with the Religion of Peace? There's another sad example of failure right there. The writer then says:

I am back in the room with Frank and many fans, and I have three questions in mind, I have mentioned to comic reading pals over the years, that I have these questions, for some time, that I wanted to ask them of him, long before I knew he would be in Ireland. The third, which sadly I do not get to ask, would be tricky, although possibly the easiest in this setting, as I want to ask Frank “If he hates the Irish”, given his portrayal of David the bomb maker in Holy Terror and The Mercenaries in Sin City as Irish; and I am not altogether sure that the Irish aspect was a positive element in Daredevil, and if Matt Murdoch is crippled by his Irish Catholicism – but I did not get to ask this question. Probably for the best.

My second question was about 9/11 and as you know, I asked this on Monday.

After all the defeatism, one could wonder if Miller really cares about the better interests of the Irish at all, though an even better query is whether the columnist does, after all Ireland's gone through, and even Britain, at the hands of the Religion of Peace, which the Gazans he speaks of adhere to, and many of them even kept Mein Kamph in their houses. What, is that okay if they follow those kind of horrific belief systems? That Islamic indoctrination practically led to October 7, 2023. It even led to the assault on Salman Rushdie. On which note, is Miller aware of verses in the koran like 47:4? There's valid issues that can be made about the "Religion of Peace", and he throws them all away just to remain in the "good graces" of the leftists with whom he produced the documentary.

In the end, I'm very disappointed with Miller, who appears to have made use of the American Genius documentary as a means of groveling for all the wrong reasons. Mike Baron and Chuck Dixon, by contrast, will likely never get a documentary about their careers by contrast. And as for the Down The Tubes news site, it's more like down the drain, seeing how far-left their approach really is, so what business do they have speaking for the medium anyway? Miller has at least a few allusions to WW2 in his writings, and his standings today end up making them look like a joke. Does he also think communism isn't worth protesting? From what I know, Miller was unhappy in the 90s when Marvel put Elektra to more use again, but considering how poor his own viewpoints have become, that's why I don't think Miller has any business complaining that Marvel decided to bring the kunoichi he created in 1981 back into the spotlight again. All that matters is how artistically successful that was, and post-2000, it definitely wasn't much. But then, it's not like Miller's had much to do with Marvel and Daredevil for years now, so maybe he at least understands it's hardly worth it to be so petty. He has recently returned to work with them on a joint project with DC, for a Batman/Wolverine crossover. but again, his artwork has become so forced and mediocre, what's the use beyond the artist's name recognition?

And that's got to be the problem with how that comic's being sold too - just upon that Miller's the illustrator. But that alone doesn't guarantee artistic success, even story-wise. All that aside, my problem with Miller, again, is that he's the kind of creator who's far too obsessed with all that's dark, yet when a serious issue like Islamic terrorism comes about, he turns defeatist, as is already old news. When it comes to brighter storytelling, there's very little of that in Miller's resume, as again, he's just so obsessed with making use of Batman for reasons increasingly pointless. No doubt, a similar argument could be made involving Wolverine. And Miller even has the gall to throw Eisner under the bus. I just don't know what Miller's still working in entertainment for, or why we have to consider Sin City fantastic art any more than anything else. Miller's definitely past his prime, and the defeatist path he's taken of recent only feeds into the narrative the far-left wants to hear. And all this just explains why, beyond Daredevil, there's little else he's ever drawn and written that I've ever cared for.

Marvel's bizarre combination of Muslim Ms. Marvel with dogs

Recently, Marvel published a special titled "Marvel Mutts", starring the Muslim Ms. Marvel who was created as a propaganda vehicle. Here's the information Comic Book Club Live provides:

Join the Marvel Mutts in their very first comic book adventure! Collecting issues #1-12 of the Friday Funnies series, these heartwarming tales – and wagging tails – are sure to elicit a round of a-paws. Featuring Lockjaw, Lucky, Cosmo, Bats and Ms. Marvel’s dearest doggie, Mittens, this pack is packing the cute. So fetch yourself a copy and have a ball with Marvel’s Mightiest Mutts!

This has the effect of being unintentional comedy, or laughable for all the wrong reasons, because anybody who knows what Islam is like knows the Religion of Peace abhors dogs, and look what trouble it's led to in Britain. In the Arabic language, the synonym for dog "kalb", is even used as a slur. It's clear at this point Marvel's not even trying to draw in the followers of the ummah they supposedly coveted in their bizarre leftist attempts to "please everyone" in the past decade or so, because if they did, they wouldn't have made a character with a Muslim background the star of such a vehicle, nor would they have written her owning a dog for a pet.

In the end, the whole premise first concocted over a decade ago has certainly become very dated at this point, and one must wonder how much longer Marvel's going to keep repeatedly wasting money on a political vehicle that nobody's interested in. The same can be said for DC, if they're still depicting Geoff Johns' own Islamic propaganda concoction, Simon Baz, as such a practitioner. It could actually benefit badly developed characters if they put them in limbo for some time, then wrote out the part about their being Islamists and trying something like depicting them as Arab/Pakistani Christians and/or Buddhists instead. Unfortunately, chances they're willing to do that are very slim.

More severely problematic statements made by Miriam Libicki

The Comics Journal, quite a leftist periodical for many years, interviewed artist Miriam Libicki, whose own far-left viewpoints continue to be display here, and a number of her comments regarding the VanCAF scandal are, at this point, quite stupefying. First, let's take another look at Libicki's description of events, which continue to be rather ambiguous:

The statement that VanCAF put out alludes to the first of two incidents that happened in 2022. Do you know what that incident was? And can you describe it for me?

I do know what it was. It was an incident at the end of the show where two people walked by my table. They just saw some of my book covers: they saw the cover of Jobnik!, and they saw the cover of Toward a Hot Jew, which was then still in print, and both of those depict Israeli soldiers on the cover.

Without picking up the books, they pointed at them and they said, “Is this anti-Zionist?” And I started to try to explain my work and myself, but all I got out was “No, it's not anti-Zionist.” And then they said, “That's good,” and they ran away. And then later I found out that immediately after running away from my table, what they had done was they went to a volunteer and started screaming about, “How was somebody like me allowed to exhibit that; It was a Zionist propaganda; that it was like having the KKK at the festival,” and numerous other things. And they were screaming and cursing at a young volunteer. And then the festival directors stepped in and they screamed and cursed at them also. And then a couple more people were screamed and cursed at by them before they left, but they never screamed and cursed at me. It was a very, very quick interaction that I had with them in which they did not pick up the books or look through them or anything. So that was 2022.

So you found out about all of that secondhand? Somebody else told you about it?

Yeah, somebody else told me about it.

Who was it that told you?

One of the festival organizers who had been screamed at, they told us about it at the show. One of [the festival organizers] came by our table and said, “You are going to need to submit copies of your book to the board.” But I didn't even know that they were serious. Like, I had copies of the book on the table, but they did not try to take the copies of the book that were on the table. They just said this thing. And then kind of smiled and walked away.

So then, another one of the guests of the con who had nothing to do with me, but for some reason had also been screamed at – I went up and talked to them at the end of the show, and introduced myself, and was like, “I heard somebody screamed at you about me.” And I had a nice but confused conversation with that person. So I did hear about it from multiple people at the show, but I didn't see it myself.

It sounds an awful lot like the offenders - who curiously continue to go unidentified - employed some kind of psychological warfare strategy to turn the managers they screamed at against Libicki, in another example of victim-blaming. Simultaneously, it also strongly suggests the managers and their board of directors are sorely lacking in confidence, one more reason why they initially took such a pathetic approach before reversing. That's hardly the kind of example that would suit adventure comics of decades past emphasizing heroism. As for how Libicki handled all this more recently, here's where it gets disturbing when they discuss more about the staff's request to review her books:

What happened at that meeting in February?

First they told us that, because the people who made the complaint hadn't read the book, it wasn't our fault [and that] those people have actually been banned from the festival. But they were saying that it's a very sensitive time and that those weren't the only complaints. And we said, okay, what were the substance of the other complaints? And they wouldn't tell us. They were like, “Times are just very sensitive, and Israel is committing war crimes.”

And we were like, okay, but I'm not responsible for what Israel is doing. I didn't try to argue back that Israel's position was okay. That's not something that I can do anything about. And I told them that the one book that was already out of print, so I wouldn't have that at the table anyways. And they were like, “Well, we would like you to not display Jobnik!, and not display any IDF imagery. We didn't realize that you were promoting this book about a Holocaust survivor, because actually we didn't read your application.” Like, during that meeting, they told me that they didn't read my application for 2024.

Just to clarify, they had rejected your application and they were now saying that they didn't read it?

Yes. So then they were like, “We do think that is an important book.” Basically they offered me a deal. They said, we will give you a half table if you don't have Jobnik!, and if you don't display any IDF imagery, which I guess there is one background backdrop I have that is based on the book cover. So that could be construed as displaying IDF imagery. So again, it seemed like I was being singled out, but on the other hand, my partner and I had already discussed maybe retiring Jobnik! from shows for a while, because it is an older book. And we also did know that people are rightfully very sensitive. They're seeing terrible imagery of IDF soldiers, and these things that Israel is actually doing. So we understand why people are upset by that, especially now. So we were like, yeah, we're okay with that. We're okay with not selling the book. We want to focus on the newer book. We don't want it to be a distraction. We don't want to have confrontations at our table. So we agreed, and then they agreed that we could have a half table.

I'm sorry, but excuses are unbecoming. The staff apparently took a position favorable to Hamas, and adding insult to injury, Libicki was perfectly okay with censoring her book? That's pretty much what they did and she went along with, certainly initially. And to make matters worse, in all her unadulterating leftism, she wouldn't even defend Israel and make clear it was the Hamas who attacked first on October 7, 2023, graphically raping and murdering over 1,200 people that very day. If any specific staffers at VanCAF favored Hamas, they do not belong in the comics medium, period, and those who resigned couldn't have done so soon enough. Their positions desecrate the memory of past Jewish comics creators like Siegel, Shuster, Lee and Kirby. For the record, as this Tablet article indicates, such blacklisting as Libicki nearly encountered isn't new, and only the tip of the iceberg. Are we to assume the VanCAF staffers who caused this whole scandal are also among the leftist deniers of the sexual violence that took place? To make matters worse, the convention's attendants this year sure seem pretty creepy:

So tell me about the confrontation that happened in 2024.

At the show, two days minus one half hour of the festival went by very unevenly. I sold almost all the copies [of my book]. There were plenty of people wearing Palestine pins, wearing keffiyehs, and slogans on their shirts. And I had no problem with them because I don't have a problem with people protesting, and they had no problem with me. Nobody questioned me about my identity or my politics.

And then half an hour before the end of the show, two people came by my table, and first they started asking about screen prints. And I talked to them about the process of screen printing. They thanked me for my advice, and they started to walk away. And then one of them turned around and said, “Aren't you Miriam Libicki who does Jobniki?” Which is not the name of my comic, but I knew what she meant. And I said yes. And then this person started on a new attack, and was asking all kinds of leading questions about why my army comics weren't out. And when I kind of admitted that VanCAF had asked me not to [display them], they were kind of trying to draw me out: “Didn't I think I had been censored, didn't I think I had been silenced?” And I really didn't know where they were coming from. I thought perhaps they were a Jewish person who was more right wing than me or something.

But I was kind of just trying to give polite answers without committing to anything they were saying. And they were like, “Do you know there's a table in the other room which is, like, covered with Palestine flags and stuff?” And I was like, okay, that's fine. And they're like, “But they're taking people's signatures, and they're taking people's names.” And I said, okay – like, I really don't know what this has to do with me. I was trying to be like, “I guess if that disturbed you, I understand why you're disturbed by it. It's a tough time for people who have ties to Israel. I kind of think that for me, the best thing is just to keep my head down and hope things get better.” And that's what I said to them. And then they smiled and walked away. And then like five minutes after that, Robin McConnell comes up to my table and he says, “What did you tell those girls, Miriam?” And that is when I realized it was the same two people from 2022, and that I hadn't recognized them. But then when he said that, I made the connection.

Before we get to more on how the 2 disgusting troublemakers showed up again despite claims they'd been thrown out 2 years prior, that anybody would show up at a festival like this carrying Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags and scarves similar to what the horrific jihadist Yasser Arafat wore leaves a very bad aftertaste, and compounds my decision that, were I traveling to Canada today, I would not set foot in VanCAF even if they offered me free bags of money along with comics. Whoever the staffers are who allowed this are truly disgraceful people, especially if it turns out Israeli flags aren't allowed there, nor Armenian flags, recalling they're another country that's been persecuted by the Religion of Peace, and a victim of the Ottoman Islamic Empire during WW1. As I may have mentioned before, based on what Libicki's telling here, it's doubtful she'd ever agree to participate in developing a GN about Medz Yeghern, and she likely won't collaborate on a GN about October 7, 2023 either. Not even a GN project about September 11, 2001 and its victims, Betty Mahmoody, or even the Ajmer serial rape case in India back in 1992. The way Libicki describes people at a table with PLO flags "taking names" is ambiguous, but it could be what was meant was that they were signing anti-Israel petitions, which makes this whole affair additionally chilling. And when Libicki didn't provide the answers the infiltrators wanted, that's what the 2 or 3 creeps used as their excuse for repeat offending. Yet exact identities are kept concealed, and Libicki seems driven by anti-conservative ideologies.

Also fascinating - she thought the creeps were right-wing Israelis?!? I get this weird feeling she's distorting and covering something up here or telling the magazine something they'd want to hear from a leftist viewpoint; I don't know. It sounds like her apparent hatred of right-wingers and/or patriotic Israelis is getting the better of her, and if they really were pro-Israeli passers-by, why would they take any positions that're hostile to Israel? Simply bizarre.

So at this point, do you have any idea who those people are?

No, and in fact, I still don't. It's something I'm kind of trying to figure out, although I don't really want to dig around. I don't know. I feel digging around might make me insane.

Basically what happened is after they left my table, they did the same scene as 2022. They went to organizers, they went to the staff of the convention center, which is why that location is mentioned in the statement. And again were just screaming and cursing people out – not me, screaming and cursing other people out, to the point where they were becoming really aggressive. Apparently they were cursing in front of one staffer's small child, and they were physically removed by security. So again, I didn't witness this, but was told this afterwards by different people who had seen it.

What did Robin say to you then when he came to your table?

He said, “What did you say to them?” And then I was like, oh my God, it was those two. He was angry at me, as if I had fallen for something. And I was just trying to rack my brain for what I might have said that was incriminating. And so I told him that the festival told me not to display things. And at one point I might have said I'm pro-Israel and pro-peace. I don't think I would even necessarily have said I'm pro-Israel. To somebody who was coming from the left, I wouldn't necessarily describe myself that way, but I thought I was talking to someone who was a lot more right wing than me and maybe Jewish. And so I said pro-peace, but pro-Israel, and that was the closest to some sort of Zionist statement that I could have gotten. And he seemed angry that I had said that. But when I asked him what happened, he just walked away and he wouldn't answer me.

My spouse [Mike Yoshioka] went to go talk to Robin, and then Robin just screamed and yelled at him, and was saying that he [Robin] got yelled at because of me. And he was saying, “If Miriam doesn't have the proper responses to these things, then this is going to keep happening.” But Mike said, “You told us that those people were banned and they couldn't come back to VanCAF.” And Robin's like, “Well, we can't watch the doors. Like, we can't check everybody coming in.” So he was blaming me for speaking to them, but not not saying that the show had any responsibility.

Mike also found Jarett and tried to ask Jarett what happened, and Jarett said, “I can't talk to you right now.” So Mike talked to staff at the Roundhouse, and that's when he got more details. And then I later heard from other people who had been nearby and had seen the scene.

Interesting. It sounds like the staff never made any attempts even before this to have the majority of entrances closed, so they could conduct security checks more easily. Put another way, they're lazy, plain and simple. Is that a good example of management? I don't think so. And the left-wing viewpoints continue to be espoused. Later, when Libicki talks about the embarrassment of the announcements VanCAF made, she said:

Did you try to reach Robin or Jarrett after that statement came out?

No, I didn't send an email. I keep Shabbat, so it was almost sunset at that point. All I did was send a DM to the Instagram account of VanCAF and I said, “Please stop people tagging me and saying my name in your post.” And then took my Instagram to private, because I was just really frightened – like, people were already naming me and I was being tagged by people I didn't know. On that day I texted Mike. That's the only person.

I read in another article linked here that she's ostensibly religiously observant. Pretty weird for somebody who's supposedly reading the Torah/Bible - if she actually does - to be taking standings hurtful and delegitimizing to Israel, laced with the moral equivalence of a "two-state solution" that absolves Islam of anything wrong, and quite possible any religious observance on her part is all for the sake of virtue-signaling, which she seems to revel in regardless.

What's your sense of where things stand now? I mean, do you consider this an apology, or are you trying to do more at this point?

I think that it's a start. I think it's a necessary start, but that more definitely has to happen. This amount of transparency is not going to work. At least I need to know who's on the board.

But on the other hand, I think that a lot of people I wasn't in touch with were calling for VanCAF to lose their city funding and federal funding. And I really object to that, because I remember before VanCAF existed there wasn't a really great indie community in Vancouver, and there is quite an indie community [now]. And VanCAF in its inception, for the first eight, 10 years it ran, was a wonderful show. It was one of our favorite shows of the year. We really consider it our home show. I really fear that if people are going after the funding of VanCAF, once you take that away, it's really hard to get it back.

So to be clear, you’re not calling for any kind of protest.

No, I don't think a protest or boycott is the way to go. I think that they've shown that they're willing to reform, and so we're waiting to see if they really are able to be accountable and to prove that they have changed their ways so that VanCAF can continue, so that we can continue to have a good indie show in Vancouver.

I think her forgiving the VanCAF bunch has what to do with her leftist loyalties, and despite what's emphasized here, the chances VanCAF's staff will reform to the point they'll be willing to welcome right-wingers, pro-Israeli sources, 9-11 Families for a Safe America, cartoonists like Charlie Hebdo's in France, openly Republican supporters and maybe even Salman Rushdie, if it matters, are close to zero. Libicki certainly doesn't make the case for them, and continues to be quite the leftist.

So your goals at this point – you would like to have more transparency to the extent of at least knowing who's on the board. What else are the outcomes that you're trying to get?

Well, I think that I would like them to take some public actions showing that they've learned from this and that even if they are brigaded and dogpiled again, that they'll know how to deal with it, and why what they did was not the right action. They'll have plans for what to do instead, and they'll be open with the community about what mistakes were made and how they will operate differently in the future. I think that has to be a public process now. And because I think there probably will be backlash in the so-called activist left community, they'll have to be able to show that they can deal with that, that they are able to stand up to a backlash if they want to have a comic festival in this day and age that truly represents the community.

Unfortunately again, the chances they'll be willing to work with openly right-wing creators is next to nothing, and if Chuck Dixon isn't invited, that's yet another example of where they continue to stand. So is she talking about the whole community? Not really. But interesting that she mentions leftist activists, because that's actually those who've been responding to the scandal based on Libicki's politics being more aligned with theirs.

Is there anything else you want to add at this point?

I feel like I need to get the word out that my IDF service happened 24 years ago. It happened from 2000 to 2002. Indeed I was not drafted. I did volunteer because I had received my citizenship after my 18th birthday. So I did volunteer for the service, but the service I did was the same service and I was the same age as Israelis who were drafted. And my reasons for joining the Army at the time – I was already in the pro-peace camp. I already believed that Israel and Palestinians needed to both have human rights and self-determination in that land. But at the time, it was more about having a sense of belonging and proving that I could belong. A way to prove that I could be a real Israeli, too if all of the real Israelis had to go into the draft.

And when I joined in the summer of 2000, there was still a peace process in place. It was during the Oslo peace process which, you know, wasn't perfect, but it was the negotiated peace process between leaders of Israel and leaders of the Palestinian people. And then Second Intifada started two months into my service, and that's kind of the backdrop of Jobnik! I was never a right winger, I never planned to be part of an occupying force. For some people, military service anywhere in the world is beyond the pale. And that's fair. But if I can set the record straight about when and what my army service was, I want to get that out there.

Do you feel in general that your Army service or your position on Israeli and Palestinian politics are valid grounds to decide whether you should be at the festival?

I think that if my IDF service in 2000 is grounds for barring me from a festival, then anybody who served in any military in the world ... because all militaries commit violence and injustice. Canada was part of the invasion of Afghanistan. The US invaded both Iraq and Afghanistan, and other places. Unjustifiably, many places in Central America. So if when you served doesn't matter, and your current politics doesn't matter, then that disqualifies a lot more people than me.

Yikes...is she saying there was no justification in any way whatsoever for raiding Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban, despite the totalitarian regime they practically reestablished after the Biden government's disastrous pullout 3 years ago? This has to be the most mind-numbing part of the whole interview. At least she admits she's not a right-winger, but she apparently believes anybody with such politics is nothing more than barbaric conquestors, while blotting out the bigger pictures, with the worst part being she strongly implied she believes Israel is evil. What this means, worst of all, is that she has no concerns about Islam's own atrocities that she accuses the west of. I guess this also means she's got no issues with the huge disaster for women's rights the botched Afghanistan withdrawal resulted in, among other horrors. And what's this about "real" Israeli? Even that's jumbled up, as is the part about her service. Does she also believe the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose the despot Manuel Noriega was wrong, ditto the defeat of Saddam Hussein? And she doesn't seem to actually mention or address the issue of October 7, 2023, if at all. No wonder I'd rather not spend money on her GNs, and no sensible person should work with her either.

Now, coverage of this incident in the comics specialty press has been rather unsurprisingly muted, but the far-left Comics Beat did write about it, and predictably, their approach is hostile to Israel, and favorable to sources siding with Islam like the BDS movement (or PACBI, another acronym used here for Palestinian Campaign to Boycott Israel). For example:

The specific public safety concerns were unclear in the Accountability Statement but the other references relate to Libicki’s past voluntary service in the Israeli military as a teenager, which were the subject of her self-published graphic memoir jobnik!. Libicki, who comes from a religious Orthodox Jewish background would have been technically exempt from service – which is compulsory for most Israeli citizens on graduation from high school – but volunteered. The period in which Libicki served would later coincide with the outbreak of the Second Palestinian Intifada – also known as the Al Aqsa Intifada – which took place between 2000 and 2005. This period of violent upheaval saw the deaths of over three thousand Palestinians and a thousand Israelis. While her position in the Israeli army was a secretarial one on a remote base, her association with the institution, voluntary enlistment, and it being the setting of her debut work has incensed pro-Palestinian activists.

And this effectively erases any clear understanding of what went on in the early 2000s, like Islamic terrorist attacks. Making things more ambiguous is that they don't even actually make use of the word "terrorists" when referring to "palestinians". This is exactly why Comics Beat is worthless, and it's a wonder their writers are even into the whole medium to begin with, if they're going to make it sound like Israel did worse for no reason, and in doing so, they devalue the lives of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Israeli brethren by obfuscating the seriousness of the issues involved, not making any clear distinction between ordinary Arabs and those who commit terrorist attacks. What even Libicki may not understand is that there's Moslems who don't care whether a book by Israelis sides with their beliefs or not, they'll be hostile even to a left-wing Israeli. It reminds me of recent news of a left-wing IDF soldier named Naama Levy, who sided with the Palestine-fabrication, and was kidnapped and tortured by the Hamas regardless. Point: jihadists like them are completely indiscriminate in whom they attack, including other Moslems, and it makes no difference what the victim's political standings are; what matters is that they're Jews and other "infidels", along with anybody they consider a traitor to the cause of the Religion of Peace.

The CB article also highlights several people who defended Libicki, and who, most unfortunately, are as leftist as she is, and likely only came to her defense because of her politics:

Shortly following VanCAF’s Accountability Statement being issued, members of the comics community spoke out including Derf Backderf, Nate Powell, and MariNaomi – many of whom implied this ban may be considered anti-Semitic.

Backderf, if anybody, is a sadly bad lot himself politically, but what really takes the cake here is when CB's writer downplays the seriousness of any antisemitism involved. Hugely disappointing, but not surprising they'd do that.

According to Powell,

“Their published statement is knowingly incomplete to the point of being misleading & disingenuous – I know this because the blacklisted creator is a good friend of mine, and I’ve been aware of all information & context regarding the last year’s worth of discussion with VanCAF as it developed in real time, including prior to the attacks of Oct. 7th.”

He added,

“The blacklisted creator…discussed and complied with all requested VanCAF concessions (importantly, removing all books & imagery featuring IDF depiction – very reasonable concession in 2024 context, and which I support). Organizers received digital versions of the creator’s recent award-winning work (first person comics narratives directly from Holocaust survivors’ experiences) – but did not download or read the requested work before trying again to deny her a table – still intending to blacklist creator many months ago.

“Even with no IDF-related imagery at the creator’s table, the outbursts of a couple of misguided attendees was the “public safety concern” serving as pretext. The creator had nothing to do with a public safety concern, and the disruption was not even at her table (which had none of the content originally cited as the objectionable issue). VanCAF’s action, including knowingly incomplete & misleading statement afterward, has a hint of antisemitic aftertaste to it – and I know this is likely not their intent. But it is one of the takeaways.”

Well the politics expressed by the staffers who resigned certainly provides evidence something's terribly wrong. Now here's more, and at least 3 more names most should be wary of, who took part in a letter that's otherwise hostile to Israel too:

A letter of protest was submitted by indigenous Canadian creator Alina Pete, and was signed by a number of creators including Alex de Campi, David Brothers, and Reetta Linjama. It said:

“We, the undersigned comics arts professionals, would like to state that we also oppose the current genocide being perpetrated upon the Palestinian people by the state of Israel. However, we see and affirm that there is a clear distinction between the Israeli state and the Jewish people as a whole—even those who have previously served as part of the IDF.”

Adding:

“These guidelines are not a call to boycott all Jewish forms of expression. The PACBI’s guidelines specifically call to “comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions” —i.e., state-sponsored sources of pro-Israeli propaganda. Ms. Libicki is not an Israeli academic, and her publications are not sponsored by the Israeli state. Thus, the PACBI guidelines do not apply to her works.

“It is unconscionable, and frankly anti-Semitic, to bar someone from your convention for simply being Jewish and having personal ties to Israel.”

And what does that mean? That it's okay to be antisemitic towards anybody who does live in Israel? Or that because Libicki doesn't live in Israel and is left-wing, that's why antisemtism should be avoided? That aside, this letter indicates de Campi, already known as quite a far-leftist, and even Brothers is a leftist, who turned against another leftist, C.B. Cebulski. These are most decidedly not people worth supporting, and their approach to the subject is very disappointing too.

So in the end, while VanCAF's initial approach to this whole affair was indeed reprehensible, it's very sad simultaneously that people like Libicki are a very bad lot themselves too, and beyond what happened, it's just not worth supporting their comics. The politics people like her support are offensive and insulting to the intellect, and completely disregard any and all common sense, suggesting that beyond certain topics, she won't address others convincingly, which makes her writings about the WW2 Holocaust unconvincing, because if she doesn't take the issue of Islam seriously, how can we be sure she does take Germany's evil deeds during WW2 seriously? Or even the Viet Cong's during the 1960s in southeast Asia? Such leftists as Libicki are only undermining the ability to confront serious topics clearly, and that's why there's no point in supporting her products.

50 creators who worked on Batman call for release of Israeli infant hostage whose family wore T-shirts of the Masked Manhunter, & Doonesbury cartoonist depicts Hamas properly

Something most remarkable was performed by quite a few comics contributors, old and new, who've had writing/art/editing credits on Batman over past years, as the Times of Israel reports:

Fifty creators of the iconic Batman superhero character signed a petition urging the governments of Egypt and Qatar to press for the release of Yarden and Shiri Bibas along with their two red-haired sons, Ariel and Kfir. All four family members have been held hostage in Gaza since October 7.

The family was kidnapped from Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists on October 7, a day that saw 3,000 terrorists infiltrate southern Israel to massacre 1,200 Israelis — most of them civilians — and kidnap 253 people into the Strip. Mother Shiri and her sons were captured separately from her husband Yarden.

One of the iconic images of the family that has been circulated since their capture shows the four wearing Batman apparel. Ariel, 4, is a dedicated fan of the Gotham City protector.

The petition was sent to Egyptian and Qatari ambassadors in Washington, DC, on April 12. The effort was organized by Dr. Rafael Medoff, historian and director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.

“These comics creators have spent decades developing a hero who fights for the innocent and stands as a beacon of hope for his community, and we’re trying to channel that spirit through this effort,” Medoff told The Times of Israel. [...]

Some of the Bibas petition’s high-profile signees include Mike Carlin, DC’s head of animation; longtime DC publisher Paul Levitz; and former president of Warner Animation Sander Schwartz.

The petition was also signed by some of Batman’s veteran writers, including Chip Zdansky and Mark Waid. Leading artists from the franchise who signed include Mark Bagley, Dan Jurgens, Denys Cowan and Amanda Conner, the celebrated artist behind the Joker’s girlfriend, Harley Quinn.

“As members of the community of Batman writers and artists, we are contacting you concerning the young Batman fan who was taken hostage by terrorists and held in Gaza since last October 7,” said the creators.

“Moved by the many anecdotes of Ariel’s affection for the iconic character who has become a symbol of hope and justice for so many, we implore your governments to exercise all possible leverage on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to immediately release the Bibas family, and all the Israeli hostages, from captivity,” said the petition.

Well this definitely is amazing, considering how quite a few of these same creators, even the veterans, have taken such a lenient position on Islam in the past, and on that note, maybe it'd be a good idea to remind everyone why they still have fences to mend, and not just in the sense they've acted as apologists for the Religion of Peace in some way or other.

For example, Levitz, when he was in charge of DC comics, vehemently refused to greenlight Frank Miller's story that later became Holy Terror, yet Levitz had no issue going ahead with a collaboration with the Kuwaiti publishers of a propaganda comic called The 99. Waid was once involved in the writing of the storylines that led to Age of Apocalypse in X-Men, which drew a bizarre moral equation between Israel's officials and the PLO. Zdarsky's quite a woke leftist ideologue himself, as is writer Andrew Farago, the museum curator who attacked Comicsgate and blocks even Jewish X posters who could support the hashtag. Jurgens once wrote an apologia tale for Islam in the pages of Superman, as did Mike Grell in Iron Man during the early 2000s, and should it be mentioned it's ludicrous and offensive how a lethal villainess like Harley Quinn is being depicted with a Jewish background? After all, chances they'd do something similar with a Moslem character are next to nothing.

The writers who signed onto Wyman Institute's petition who do impress me more are Chuck Dixon, Ann Nocenti and even Steve Englehart. The latter 2 are leftist, to my knowledge, but unlike a lot of modern ones, seem to recognize the advantage of avoiding divisive statements, on social media or otherwise.

No stranger to Batman lore, Medoff penned an essay for a book called “Theology and Batman.” One of the book’s central themes is the theodicy — or sense of redemption — Batman brings to the world by vindicating goodness over evil.

Many of the creators of Batman, Superman and other superheroes were of Jewish descent. Quite a few books and essays have been written about how these creators were influenced by Jewish history while at their drawing boards.

Yes, but whatever the background of the creators, those of more recent times aren't exactly helping matters, if the latter of these 2 examples says something:

Earlier in 2024, an issue of DC’s “The Penguin” remembered that Bruce Wayne — Batman’s alter-ego — is Jewish. The moment came when Bruce Wayne referenced his handkerchief as being a Hanukkah gift from his father to his mother.

In a “Batwoman” reboot released in 2006, the character Kate Kane — Batwoman’s alter-ego — was reintroduced as a Jewish, lesbian cousin of Batman, demonstrating how comic artists both shape and reflect their times.

And they don't think this is even remotely insulting to the intellect the Kane character's depicted as lesbian solely for woke brownie points? And implying Wayne could have some Jewish ancestry (in some past renditions, it was established his ancestry was from Scotland), will not work if the writing is as woke as it's become lately. To imply Bruce is even bisexual only damages the character's image/reputation all the more, and is an embarrassment to Bill Finger and Bob Kane's legacy. Let us be clear. Those writers and artists who've joined Dr. Medoff's petition did the right thing. But unless they can prove they're repentant, and writers like Jurgens and Grell won't boomerang back on apologia for Islam tomorrow, what good is this project going to do in the long run? Add to this the unlikely scenario any of these creators will show the courage and altruism to work on a comics project tackling Islamic terrorism, and that's another frustrating issue right there.

Besides the above news, Dr. Medoff tells on Israel National News how Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Truedeau's acknowledged that Hamas is evil, and mocked them in his newspaper strips:

One of America’s most beloved newspaper comic strips has dared to poke fun at Hamas. Get ready for controversy!

In the latest Sunday installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Doonesbury strip, a fictional anti-terrorist fighter—known as “the Red Rascal”—bursts into the bedroom of an actual Hamas leader, Ismail Haniye, who is living in Qatar.

The cartoon shows Haniyeh enjoying luxurious accommodations, and identifies him as “one of three Hamas leaders worth billions, who enriched themselves with donor money intended for impoverished Gazans!”

Garry Trudeau, the writer and artist of Doonesbury, has dared to acknowledge a fact about the Hamas leadership that most of the mainstream news media prefer to ignore. [...]

What makes this Doonesbury strip even more interesting is that Trudeau has been strongly critical of Israel in the past. His view of Hamas is not motivated by any kind of built-in pro-Israel bias.

Not only that, but Trudeau has been extra sensitive concerning Muslim reactions to controversial cartoons, such as the one about Mohammed that was published in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. Islamist terrorists responded to that cartoon by massacring twelve members of the magazine’s staff.

Trudeau accused Charlie Hebdo of engaging in “hate speech.” He argued that the magazine's publication of the cartoon was unjustified because it constituted "attacking a powerless, disenfranchised minority."

But the Doonesbury creator can’t count on any of his past statements to protect him from a furious reaction to his criticism of Hamas. Pro-Hamas extremists in the United States are not known for their ability to calmly and rationally discuss differing points of view—especially when somebody reveals uncomfortable facts about their heroes.

Obviously, it's to be unfortunately expected Islam's sympathisers will react poorly and horrifically. Why, they could act the same way towards any and all of the above Batman contributors, and that too will be terrible, if God forbid it happens. Of course, one must wonder at this point if creators like Trudeau are repentant for the harm they caused by blaming the victims in horrible incidents like that in France. If not, then while it's amazing on the surface he'd attack Hamas as the evil entity they are, any failure to acknowledge he was wrong to blame Charlie Hebdo and other victims of Islamofascism in France ruins everything. I do vaguely recall at least a few Doonesbury strips that were negative to Israel, and so it sure has taken Trudeau a lot of time to show the courage to acknowledge that jihadist organizations like Hamas and PLO are barbaric evil incarnate.

So far, if there's one notable name connected with Batman stories whom I couldn't find on the Wyman petition, it's Frank Miller. How odd. Is he really that stupidly regretful for penning Holy Terror back in 2011 that he doesn't have the guts to participate in a project like Medoff's now? Well it's honestly disgraceful, IMO. Come to think of it, when even far-leftists like Kurt Busiek, Ron Marz, Dan DiDio, Joe Quesada, Gail Simone and Axel Alonso can't even contribute, that too has got to be saying something. This isn't just something that should involved Batman contributors, but all sorts of comics creators, even those more into independent productions. I'd strongly suggest Medoff try to contact them as well, and try to convince them to put aside all their vehement leftism and recognize why the message he's sending here is important for all to uphold, not just anybody who's worked on the Masked Manhunter. Calling for release of the hostages - many of whom have doubtless been subjected to torture and sexual violence - is surely the most important part of this whole tragedy.

Joe Sacco's anti-Israeli graphic novel is going back to press

The UK Guardian, a very bad MSM outlet themselves, published a puff piece about Joe Sacco's GN titled "Palestine", which was intended as anti-Israel propaganda, and is now seeing new print, clearly for the sake of obscuring the Hamas' savagery on October 7, and pandering to the crowd of creeps supporting them:

An acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel about Gaza, which pioneered the medium of “comics journalism”, has been rushed back into print after surging demand since the fresh outbreak of the conflict two months ago.

Palestine, by Joe Sacco, was originally released in comic book form by the American publisher Fantagraphics 30 years ago, then published as a single volume by the company, and by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2003.

It was created by Sacco, a Maltese American journalist and cartoonist from Portland, Oregon, as a record of his own journeys around Gaza in 1991, and has since then won a clutch of awards and been included on university courses as a primer for the whole conflict. Edward Said, the Palestinian American academic and critic, said in his introduction to the book: “With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco.”

Gary Groth, the co-founder of Fantagraphics, said that after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and the subsequent bombing of Gaza demand for the book had soared.

He said, “We blew out of our inventory of several thousand copies quickly and are reprinting now. Retailers and wholesalers began ordering the book in far greater quantities than in the recent past, which indicates that every element down the chain – consumers and retailers – are expressing demand for it.”

Well, this is certainly telling about Groth to boot, the same disgrace and shame who did a sugarcoated interview with Maurice Sendak years ago. Of course, one must also wonder where any and all comic retailers stand on a subject involving Stan Lee, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Will Eisner and Gil Kane's Israeli brethren. If any are seeking to capitalize on the tragedy that struck many Jewish women and children in particular, that's offensive in the extreme, and they have no business associating even remotely with the creations of famous Jewish artists. Sacco, along with the article writer, makes clear he remains sympathetic to followers of Islam, and shows no sign of horror over what followers of the Religion of Peace in Gaza did to innocent and defenseless women and children. That's what really makes this Guardian article repulsive. Unshockingly, they didn't even see fit to mention that Edward Said falsified his history. None of which matters to Sacco, sadly, nor to Groth. I absolutely do not want to buy from Fantagraphics if this is the kind of graphic novels they're going to market.

And Sacco's GN didn't so much pioneer comics journalism as it did propaganda, and exploiting the medium for that specific goal. It's sickening to think how many GNs of this sort came down the pike in the past 2 decades that did more harm than good for the comics medium's image overall regarding political issues.