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Last month an esteemed colleague posted a rant about how they thought the closing of scans_daly made them hate comics. The closing of the blogging community made me hate somebody but it was not Marvel. It really made me want to beat the crap out of organized fandom.
There are three big reasons I feel this way:
- They people think just because they're on the internet they can act differently than they do in the real world.
Many retail stores require an ethics test. On that test there is a question that says "If you catch a someone taking property from the store, what do you do?" The correct answer is tell your supervisor about it and have them evict the costumer from your store. I don't begrudge Peter David for doing the cyberspatial equivalent of that at all. What I don't understand is this: That same ethics also says "If you find a co-worker stealing from the store what do you do?" Again the answer is tell your supervisor about it. Posting images in excess of the amount allowed by fair use is theft (of intellectual property). Gail Simone and Warren Ellis knew this was going on. This makes them accomplices to an almost 10 year running conspiracy to steal intellectual property. Why the hell do these two still have jobs? If I were a comics publisher I'd say: "Yes, they bring in some sales but they'll also not tell us if they see these comics on blogs and torrent sites. Which costs us money. We'll give the assignment to Writer X instead." I don't mean the generic Writer X. I mean the actual Writer X.
- The sense of entitlement of these pricks.
Some say comics cost too much so it's okay to steal. Part of the reason comics cost as much as they do is that stores companies actually build in part of their cost to cover theft. The more theft you get the more the cost goes up. Others say: "I'll buy the trade eventually so it's okay to steal." Until they do, that's still theft. The worst excuse of them all comes from fans who say "I love your work but all the money goes to a big multinational corporation so it is okay to steal." That is the worst reason of all. If you love an writer or artist's work then you want to make sure there got to be more of it. Mark Evanier's jokes to the contrary aside, comic writers really do get paid. How many copies they sell determines how much they get paid… Which in today's economy, that can be a deciding factor on if they continue to do it at all. Writers are not machines who exist to amuse us. They have families, they have bills to pay and some even have health problems. They have regular jobs just with low door knobs, see? They're just like you. The argument that it would take thousands of views to create the effect is meaningless because on the internet, you can get just that especially when you stop to consider how much a niche market comics are. scans_daily had thousands of members.
- In their rage- they sent death threats to Peter David's wife.
That was a truly dickish move. Peter David took steps, completely morally and legal steps-- to protect his work and job, then people threaten his family for it. That's the move that makes me truly embarrassed to be a comics fan. Another contributor to this magazine often complains that comics fans on TV are often portrayed as psychopaths and mentally diseased. As much as he and I both think that's wrong, there are a lot more out there that fit the stereotype than we care to admit. If I were the David family I would have gotten the FBI involved. Transmitting those kinds of threats over the internet is actually a federal crime. By not pressing charges they showed a lot more compassion than I probably would have. If it were me a lot of them would be sharing a room with Phil Specter right about now.
This article was design to piss off just the right people just enough.
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