Hint: if you can’t land a gig with a major after nearly a decade, you might want to check your ego at the door and relearn your craft. Because you certainly don’t have “The Gift.”

It took me all of one day to land an editor at DC based off some sample scripts and a referral. Perhaps it’s crap like this that’s holding you up?

Professionals should act thusly, sir. And this was anything but.

If vulgarity and the bottle are a problem for you, why not try gargling with Zenescope?

Aside from the crappy artwork, it’s known to leave a bad taste in your mouth…

Why are you including my post — I’m assuming that’s what you’re referring to — in with the vague comments? I clearly defined what I found laughable about the post (and it’s too laughable for me to be actually offended by it) in my journal post. I’m not going to get involved in a conversation with Raven about it because I don’t think the situation warrants it. I was just amused about something that I thought is pretty tacky and shameless about it and sharing it with people who read my blog.

Also calling Raven a Sexist is a bit much. If you want to define him by this post then I feel bad for those who do. Get to know to him, talk to him, read some more of his materials (or not whatever you decide) but to DEFINE someone by just ONE post is a bit much (some of you are probably thinking, “oh you’re his friend so of course you’re going to say..”) Okay well thats partly true, no but seriously when I read his post even I was like WTF? (sorry Raven you know I heart you as a friend hehe). But thats Raven, thats him just letting go. Yeah some of the things he says might come off bad, but don’t let it fool you. This guy has so much to offer. Remember folks, the title of this article is, “RANTING RAVEN” hence the ranting folks. Lets not be fooled, cause this is truly one talented writer I’ve worked with who is passionate about a lot of things. Yeah so some of the things he says might SEEM sexist, so tell him…point that shit out to him. Say hey, “whats up with that?” I’m sure he’ll give you his reasons (probably didn’t even know he wrote it like that). I know I’ve had a few slip ups myself as a writer.

But seriously you all make a good point I’m not here to knock anyones opinion. Just be sure when you label someone as something that it is true. I’d hate to think Raven had to wear the big S (and no not the Scarlet letter S or Superman – which I’m sure we all wish we could wear – but you know the OTHER S…okay you get my point) on his chest when really it doesn’t define him AT ALL.

The only one that really could be considered a “boycott” is possibly the reaction from those indignant enough to stop reading…which goes against the “well you don’t have to read this post if you don’t like it” response of many defenders HOW exactly?

If you’re talking about the “spirit” of the matter, then what about the spirit of thinking someone isn’t allowed to express their own honest opinion about something that they’d read?

Mr. Gregory seems like a nice guy, but just as he ought to be able to write what he wants, I should be able to point out that I didn’t care for it and why.

People are bringing their own emotional baggage to this and holding Raven responsible for it. Not every lustful person is misogynist or sexist. And, for God’s sake, if you don’t like his style of blogging, skip over it to the next entry…you do realize there are probably at least a hundred other entries a week, right?

The “Some of my best friends are women and they aren’t offended” thing is incredibly problematic for a few dozen reasons, but the biggest one is this: I don’t know these friends and family of yours, I just know what I read in your article. I can only judge based on my knowledge and experience. So can the rest of the commenters here and many of us were given a poor impression by your post and the accompanying imagery.

The other issue is saying that people who carefully watch what they say are just politically-motivated and not merely thoughtful people. I don’t know of a nice way to put this, so here it is: That’s pretty much dodging responsibility for thinking. Look, writing is communication. What you communicated was that women aren’t worth the time it takes to phrase and frame your piece–a piece that seems designed to try and SELL a product–in a manner that at least won’t actively offend them.

Maybe to you that’s a bogus “political filter” but all writing is political. LIFE is political because human beings are insanely social creatures. We have a billion little tiny rules that we observe in our interactions with each other. There’s a reason for that. Because our lives depend on the support of other humans, we’ve developed a system of rules based on gaining and keeping that support, as well as fettering out who can be trusted to give that support and who that support is worth giving to. What rules are followed and what rules are discarded TELL us what other people consider a priority, and what might be result if we invest our time our efforts or our money in this person. This piece on a professional blog written by a man in a professional capacity is like a neon sign flashing “This guy’s product will not appeal to you!”

Example of that political filter? My first impulse was to write “This guy will spend your money on strippers!” but I didn’t want to risk earning your emnity for the sake of a cheap laugh when I’m trying to convince you of my point of view.

But there’s a more serious, more disturbing implication in that paragraph. And I’m going to qualify it by saying I don’t have anything against you personally, and I don’t dislike your comics but I’m going to bring it up. It’s worth the risk of your emnity so that I can get you to think it over: You seem to be saying you dropped those early thoughts and wrote this because it was a truer representation of your personality than a more measured piece. Well, if people react badly to your true personality after you’ve dropped the filter, can you really defend yourself by blaming the filter that keeps people from seeing that?

I’m actually looking forward to hearing your perspective on comics as an editor and publisher, especially from an independent publisher such as yourself. I love hearing from people not from DC or Marvel, as there’s often less of a corporate filter between the creator and the reader.

Oh, and I have a friend who’s huge into Grimm Fairy Tales. He uses those images as a sig and even calls himself “Grimm” online. I’ll try to tell him you got a blog now.

And yes, I do tend to put my foot in my mouth more often than not but the comparison to porn was only just that, a thought or idea meant to convey an image in the mind of the reader. Not at attempt to downgrade women.

My mom, my sister, my nieces and my aunts all read my blogs, and works, and the majority of my friends, as well as readership (not to mention the main, Calie Liddle, character of the Wonderland series that I write) are female as well and while something’s I might say might seem uncoth or less that civilized, I’d rather it be me coming out rather than everything else you see on the internet that goes through this strange policitical filter of not wanting to write something that everyone will not find offensive.

But thank you for having me and thank you for the thoughts.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4920899.html

http://www.bookstove.com/Book-Talk/Sexism-in-Comics.162505

Are the articles I was talking about.

“I don’t wish to be rude, but was there a point to this, other than a feeble excuse to show boobies, and bloviate? If you are going to be the new fellow coming in, a LITTLE more class would be appreciated.”
Did you even read it? There was a lot in the article, while there was only 4 pictures. It was an article based on opinion. Showing pictures associated with the publisher he works with isn’t a sign that he has no class. It’s everyone here complaining about those pictures who have lost class.

“couldn’t you at least preview the post to make sure that the tacky images are sized correctly?”

Try clicking on the pictures, they get bigger.

On a side note, I just found it slightly funny that a majority of the people complaining about the images shown were…surprise surprise…females(or that’s what the names posted leads you to believe).
Look, I’m a woman, so I hate when people act like sexist assholes and say I can’t do anything other than cook clean and make children?
Yeah but that’s because I hate when people act like you don’t have potential.
Do I treat guys who like girls dressed like those shown as if they have no class? No
Why?
Because it doesn’t mean they don’t. The girls look nice, liking how they appear doesn’t mean they’re not classy. I give girls props with the courage to dress like that knowing what they’ll have to deal with for doing so.
On that note I only give the props to girls who dress like that only, not the ones who sleep around because they look good enough to do so, that isn’t classy.

However, for those of you who focused more on the images than anything else, you really missed the point of the article.
He didn’t agree with something, plain and simple.
If he said something you disagreed with, try having some class yourself and stating what he said and then have some facts to back up why you disagree.
Running around saying his disrespectful and just tossing insults around really is not only the worst kind but not helpful feedback.
If you want a writer to write differently, you have to explain what it is you don’t like.
Or you simply -DON’T- have to read it.
Freedom of speech goes both ways my friends, he can say what he wishes and you can act like adults and give him negative feedback, hopefully above the insight of a close minded 12 year old. Or you simply don’t have to read it.

Other people will read his work even if you don’t. Simply because while you don’t agree with him, there’s plenty of people who enjoy his insight. If there wasn’t, his comics wouldn’t be as popular and well spoken of as they are. So the girls don’t dress like everyone walking around. People who claim this is disrespectful need to let it go. Equal rights means you can do whatever you want and complaining about photos like these doesn’t mean girls are simply going to stop dressing like that. Those who read Zenescope, no matter what they’re initial reason for picking the comic up, continue to read it because of the story lines. Other than the fairy tale characters actually, a good majority of the characters where normal everyday, no disrespectful clothes. Don’t judge the comics based on their covers, try reading the stories and you might learn something. You might not and might hate it for whatever reasons, just don’t insult an authors work simply because you think it’s disrespectful. If the comics were really that degrading to woman someone would’ve complained so much to the right people by now that something would be changed. It’s 2008 my friends, and in a few weeks it shall be 2009. Can we drop this whole complaining about people being disrespectful to woman just because of pictures shown? I know -plenty- of people, who not only draw but photograph girls either barely clothed or not clothed at all; as previously mentioned I give them props because I simply don’t have the courage to be in front of a camera with anything short of jeans and at least a tank top.; and they are far from disrespectful to woman. If anything they show woman more respect than anyone I know because they know it’s not easy to do that kind of work without being treated like a harlot, no is it easy for the artist to do that work without being seen as a sexist pig. No gender is without biased opinions on the other. I guarantee if there had been half naked men on here no one would’ve jumped around screaming that it was disrespectful to men.
Read the stories, you find out that it’s not just attacking woman. It’s attacking people who have no heart, woman aren’t the only ones coming across as helpless, dumb or even horrible. Men are portrayed that way as well in the stories.

To Raven:
The article was far from as awful as many commenting have made it seem. I really hope you continue writing a lot despite their remarks, simply because I am overly looking forward to the next issues of not only your work but the rest of the writes in Zenescope.

Personally, while I wouldn’t say I was offended, I did think the article was in poor taste and also somewhat incoherent.

I also admit to an irrational bias against people who use the phrases “cocktease” and “blue balls” in a review of a product that isn’t actually sexually-themed. It strikes me as false advertising, if nothing else.

I don’t care if the blog addresses womens issues but i do care that my favorite form of media is littered with hateful art and nobody seems to take notice. If the pictures or comments were racist, we wouldn’t have this conversation. It is a shameful thing to be racist but not sexist in our industry and in many others. You don’t have to address the issues but you don’t have to perpetuate them either. It is offensive, raven knew so, and posted anyway. I really don’t need more hate for women in my life. As a man in the comics industry and the music industry, I’ve had to explain sexism to people in many contexts. Just try to treat women with respect. More people will enjoy your product. There are some articles you should read, one by alan moore, one by myself which deals with sexism in comics. I don’t have the link handy now but will post them at a later date.

Anyway, I love the First Amendment. It leaves people free to say that certain people and views shouldn’t be allowed to speak and share with the world their harsh judgment for those people.

Perhaps Raven will chose to address some of your finer points, as they are really about what he had to write rather than what I had to say. I appreciate your sharing your point of view.

As to the coverage of women’s issues: yes, that’s been something in the general offing since I was first approached about taking over Blog@. There will be several regular sections forming in the near future, and that will indeed have a place. I’d be rather surprised if we didn’t see our own Sarah Jaffe, herself an educator that has also worked for a women’s magazine, take point on some of those discussions. I can’t imagine that Barb wouldn’t have a part to play there, either, particularly since one of her final presentations prior to graduation was about the treatment of female characters in comics.

Again, I appreciate what you had to say. And maybe Raven or one of the other people from Zenescope would like to offer comment, and we could see a real discussion between you and them. That could offer rewards for all.