Willingham, again
http://fabletown.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5929#5929
I wish there was more I could do against this man than just NOT buy his comics. It doesn't seem like it's enough.
Bill Willingham wrote:
And of course there were scores of those claiming that this incident was the last straw and they're giving up my books, or the Bat books, or all comic books, forever. Here's a splash of water for everyone who ever has or ever will make such an hysterical claim on a message board: We never believe you. If you're the type to indulge in "how dare they do that!" we know you'll always be back for further outrages. Those addicted to indignation need constant indignation feeding.
Willingham's books have long been fed by the indignation of message groups. As comic books lose their letter columns and defer only to newsgroups to keep them alive, coupled with their continued withdrawal from the public eye, they will increasingly be a playground for the Willinghams and Millars of the world -- and decreasingly be anything for anyone else.
As for me -- I haven't been back for a further Willingham outrage since sometime back in the 1980s or so, when Mr. Willingham saw fit to savage someone who dared write a letter to his ELEMENTALS comic, citing indignation that said reader missed Willingham's art. Willingham's reply, which included the phrase "I'm not your personal art nigger," touched off a storm of replies.
And Willingham is not my personal art nigger. Once it was clear that he wasn't interested in giving me or the other readers who slogged through his comic's ups and downs anything resembling entertainment -- or even a shred of respect -- for our dollars, I stopped purchasing his comic and haven't bought a title with his name on it since. I used to believe that one should "support a title" -- especially an indie title or semi-indie one like ELEMENTALS -- so the authors could experiment with new things. Willingham showed me that wasn't always true -- some folks just can't discriminate between good attention and bad attention.
Life's too short to get indignant at comic books written by folks who feed off indignation. Message boards don't change comic books -- not buying comic books changes comic books.
I wish there was more I could do against this man than just NOT buy his comics. It doesn't seem like it's enough.
Bill Willingham wrote:
And of course there were scores of those claiming that this incident was the last straw and they're giving up my books, or the Bat books, or all comic books, forever. Here's a splash of water for everyone who ever has or ever will make such an hysterical claim on a message board: We never believe you. If you're the type to indulge in "how dare they do that!" we know you'll always be back for further outrages. Those addicted to indignation need constant indignation feeding.
Willingham's books have long been fed by the indignation of message groups. As comic books lose their letter columns and defer only to newsgroups to keep them alive, coupled with their continued withdrawal from the public eye, they will increasingly be a playground for the Willinghams and Millars of the world -- and decreasingly be anything for anyone else.
As for me -- I haven't been back for a further Willingham outrage since sometime back in the 1980s or so, when Mr. Willingham saw fit to savage someone who dared write a letter to his ELEMENTALS comic, citing indignation that said reader missed Willingham's art. Willingham's reply, which included the phrase "I'm not your personal art nigger," touched off a storm of replies.
And Willingham is not my personal art nigger. Once it was clear that he wasn't interested in giving me or the other readers who slogged through his comic's ups and downs anything resembling entertainment -- or even a shred of respect -- for our dollars, I stopped purchasing his comic and haven't bought a title with his name on it since. I used to believe that one should "support a title" -- especially an indie title or semi-indie one like ELEMENTALS -- so the authors could experiment with new things. Willingham showed me that wasn't always true -- some folks just can't discriminate between good attention and bad attention.
Life's too short to get indignant at comic books written by folks who feed off indignation. Message boards don't change comic books -- not buying comic books changes comic books.