DC Comics editor Andy Khouri, who edits a number of Vertigo Comics titles including American Carnage, Goddess Mode, and High Level took to Twitter to insinuate that comic book readers and fans are villains.
Khouri would write, “What people actually mean when they say they want “non-political” comics like when they were kids is that they’re devastated to have woken up one day as an adult, read a comic book, and realized they’d grown up to become the kind of person their childhood hero punches in the face.”
What people actually mean when they say they want “non-political” comics like when they were kids is that they’re devastated to have woken up one day as an adult, read a comic book, and realized they’d grown up to become the kind of person their childhood hero punches in the face
— Andy Khouri (@andykhouri) March 6, 2019
His Tweet would be heavily criticzed with former Marvel artist Jon Malin writing, “They don’t want heavy handed, political bias. You think you’re here to win a culture war, you’re in business to entertain and create escapist fantasy for teens/adults that work hard and want to chill. You’ve contempt for your audience that votes different, this is why you fail.”
They don’t want heavy handed, political bias. You think you’re here to win a culture war, you’re in business to entertain and create escapist fantasy for teens/ adults that work hard and want to chill. You’ve contempt for your audience that votes different, this is why you fail.
— ＭＡＬＩＮ (@JonMalin) March 6, 2019
Others would also criticize Khouri’s statement.
Politics were hella light when I got into comics in the 90s. Bodybags, Spawn, Savage Dragon, X-Men, Superman, Kingdom Come etc.
There were of course exceptions like DKR but even then the point wasn’t political.
— Andrew Huerta 🇺🇸🇲🇽 (@AndrewHuerta93) March 6, 2019
Captain America turned down the chance to run for president because he didn’t want to get in the weeds of partisonship politics. I loved the idea then and now. I don’t have a problems with politics in comics Watchmen/Darknight were political. Im tired of the constant lecturing.
— GTMedia Reviews (@jemalistrash) March 6, 2019
You keep telling yourself that. Look for excuses for why people aren’t buying a product instead of actually just listening to what they have to say. You keep doing that and you are going to continue to see this specific medium struggle.
— Sai-fon (@LastSnowLeopard) March 6, 2019
No, what people mean when they say “non-political” stories is that they don’t want to be preach about how great their political side is (left or right) and how the other is the devil. That’s not good writing, it’s bland propaganda.
— JQ (@JavierQuinbus) March 6, 2019
To say that we want non-political comics is really a poor choice of words. I would personally like all forms of authoritarian/identitarian ideologies (communism, fascism, postmodernism) to not be fed to susceptible young people through comics. That would be a good start.
— Ape Learns to Draw (@TedJNielsen) March 6, 2019
Khouri’s blatant insult at his own readers most likely will not help DC Comics. The publisher, whose parent company was just acquired by AT&T, reportedly announced they will be cutting back on the number of comics they publish every month with the explanation being there are too many comics on shelves.
This report came after DC Entertainment laid off 3% of its staff.
Back in August of last year DC Comics Publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio addressed the declining state of the comic book industry blaming “an over saturation of product.”
It’s quite possible they also might want to look inward at how their staff behaves when interacting with customers. I can’t imagine disrespecting customers like Andy Khouri does helps their business.
What do you think about Andy Khouri’s comments?