Former Superman: Son of Kal-El Colorist Gabe Eltaeb Shares What He Said To DC Head Publisher Jim Lee On His Way Out

JB Augustine |

Nov 10, 2021

Source: Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 1 #3 "The Truth Part Two" (2021), DC Comics. Words by Tom Taylor, art by John Timms and Gabe Eltaeb.

Gabe Eltaeb, the colorist working on Superman: Son of Kal-El who recently announced his intention to walk away from DC after his contract his up due to the change in Superman’s motto, has revealed what his parting words were to the once-esteemed publisher.

After voicing his frustrations on an Ethan Van Sciver live stream, Eltaeb believed it was time for someone to stand up for the fans who have been maligned for rebuking what the comics they always loved have become.

In a video published to his YouTube channel on November 1st, Eltaeb began by again explaining that he knew he had enough with DC’s current direction when the Man of Steel’s classic motto, in which he declares that he fights for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”, was changed to “Truth, Justice, and for a better tomorrow.”

Using a football analogy, Eltaeb said if you’re not directly coaching, then you are allowing things to play out – I.E., losses and players’ missteps are caused by “a failure of leadership.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AodYzi4jv8

Eltaeb doesn’t know, or even hazard to guess, if DC is coaching or allowing the woke agenda to “proliferate”, as he’s not a part of the executive meetings. In his words, they’re above his pay grade.

He then moved to disclose his side of a conversation he had with DC Publisher Jim Lee via text message, but prefaced this revelation by urging his supporters to not go after Lee because he is “a good family man” whom Eltaeb respects, adding that he also wasn’t going to divulge what his old boss said back to him out of respect for the publisher’s privacy and for DC as a company.

Eltaeb’s stated that his mission is simply to vent on behalf of the fans – of his, of DC, and comics – who are picked on by leftist creators and editors who call them all sorts of “-ist” names “because they don’t have an argument.”

One person Eltaeb didn’t hold back on was Bleeding Cool founder Rich Johnston, whom he described to Lee as a “piece of human filth” due to his messaging of Eltaeb for a scoop on what happened between the colorist and DC.

“This piece of human filth Rich Johnston is sniffing around to get info from me,” Eltaeb began in his message to Lee. “I’m letting you know as a courtesy so you can be prepared and not let Rich hit you too hard. Who knows what he’ll say? He’s a disgusting man.”

Eltaeb went on to address his beef with DC over the change in Superman’s motto. “Even though I’m rightly pissed off at what you guys at DC have done disrespecting America, I would never betray you guys like this,” he continued. “I said what I had to say publicly because I’m not a coward. I’m not going to sneak around and talk to morons like Rich Johnston so he can cause chaos.”

“You probably hate me and think I am a fool but couldn’t stay silent any longer,” He added. “Your parents decided to immigrate to America, Jim. This country and its heritage and the blood spilled gave you everything you have, not South Korea. Even if the decision to remove the credit American culture had in creating Superman is out of your hands…it is so ungrateful for you to go along with this.”

In explanation of why the flag meant so much to him, he then briefly detailed his own family history, recalling how his father escaped Muammar Qaddafi’s “socialist hellscape” in Libya and his maternal Mexican grandfather nearly died while serving in the Pacific in World War II.

“I’m sure your Korean family horrible violence and death at the hands of the communists,” Eltaeb continued. “Like you, America and it’s ‘American Way’ gave me everything I have. Not Libya, not Mexico.”

Eltaeb then turned to Clark himself, “Great people paid for everything we have with the American way. Show some damn respect. Superman was found by two Christian Farmers from America’s Heartland. He got his physical abilities from his biological parents but he got his morality, the thing that actually makes him a hero from the Kents.”

They named him Clark and taught him about “truth, justice, kindness, and restraint” but also indeed the American way. How else would he learn not to kill, “demolish the world,” or “rule as a tyrant king” when no one could do anything about it, Eltaeb asked.

“That goodness is the American way,” he wrote. “The fable of the strongest man in the world restraining himself and choosing to do as much good is American. Because where else could Clark learn these ideas? Was it just innate? Of course not. It was the culture of his parents. And that culture is the American way.”

Like Superman “in a way,” Eltaeb said that while Lee has great power in the industry, he’s neglected to use it in such a fashion that demonstrated character and defended an American heritage “that gave you everything.”

Pointing at Lee, he noted that Lee has to “live with the shame” of sitting quietly while others took an ax to a legacy they didn’t create and destroyed what generations that came before them in the comic medium “bled to give us.”

Eltaeb closed by calling Lee one of his childhood heroes and thanking him for the opportunity he was granted years ago at Wildstorm. In conclusion, he stressed again that he doesn’t want fans contacting or going after Lee, as he believes he is ultimately “a good dude” and “not one of the far-left weirdos.”