Gail Simone Chastises Comic Pro Mike Baron for Perceived ComicsGate Association

Spencer Baculi |

Jan 14, 2019

Gail Simone, author of Domino and Plastic Man, has long been vocal about her dislike for members of the ComicsGate movement. Like many creators currently employed by Marvel and DC, Simone erroneously believes that ComicsGate is a movement based on bigotry and hatred rather than a consumer revolt, and Simone has made it a point to routinely decry and condemn anyone associated with the movement:

I believe comics are for everyone.
There is no excuse for harassment.
There is no place for homophobia, transphobia, racism or misogyny in comics criticism.

Also, @MagsVisaggs writes better than that entire group on their best day.

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) August 26, 2018

Seriously, why aren’t any of these people clever?

I also wonder, why are there so few actual writers in comics gate…it’s pretty much one actual writer. Quite a few talented artists, but the writing pool is just an empty bird pond. And man, does it show.

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) October 7, 2018

They all do, comicsgate has zero to do with comics, it’s a youtube movement.

Also, uniformly, their videos are really, really sad. https://t.co/EbuLfKEplf

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) January 3, 2019

On Monday morning, Simone posted a lengthy statement to her Facebook page. The statement (which can be read in full here) begins by drawing attention to a recent post by someone Simone states is associated with ComicsGate:

Here’s an interesting little thing. It’s obnoxious, and it would have been meaningless, but, well, read on.

So, there’s some gross, sad doofus comicsgater, I don’t even remember his handle, and he posted this mocked up photo below. Now, I don’t care about these idiots, the smartest of them is still a complete idiot. And yes, they are bigoted to their core.

Simone did not publicly post the author’s name or link to the post itself, instead opting to quote the juvenile attempt at an insulting joke in her post. However, the original post was still live on the original poster’s Twitter account:

You know who should be writing comics? Fat bitter cat ladies.

— WENGER (@RealBebub) January 13, 2019

Simone notes that posts such as this would normally not warrant her attention. Yet, on this particular post, Simone noticed that one of the people who replied to the post was Nexus co-creator Michael A. Baron:

Okay, so this is who you are as a human being, Mike.

I didn’t want to believe it, but here we are.

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) January 14, 2019

Simone states that Baron’s work on Badger and his run on The Flash were influential to her as a creator, but because he did not immediately condemn the post in question, Simone felt that Baron had ‘thrown in’ with ComicsGate:

But he threw in with the comicsgaters, fine, that’s his call. Last year, he asked to send a book to my house so I could blurb it. I don’t want comicsgaters sending stuff to my house, so I said no. Maybe that’s why.

But for a pro you really looked up to to endorse this behavior and participate in it…well, it’s gross. Despite what these geniuses say, it has not always been easy being female in comics. It’s been fifteen years of hate mail, and the occasional death threat, including one guy who showed up at a Dallas signing and left bullets at the store after promising a ‘comic book apocalypse.’

A simple, ‘that’s not cool,’ would seem to be the bare minimum, rather than jumping in. But apparently, that’s too much to ask of Mike.

Simone would later engage with Baron via Facebook Messenger, wherein their discussion prompted Simone to make an update to her Facebook post. In the update, Simone admits to falsely accusing Baron of complaining about employment opportunities, followed by an attempt to shame Baron for not following Simone’s personal standards and opinions:

Update: I had a discussion with Mike here on Facebook messenger. I wouldn’t say it was encouraging, but he says that he never complained about not being offered work, which may be true, that bit was more general because I hear it so often. So in fairness, I removed it.

He also says he ‘rejects’ the term comicsgate, but oddly, because he believes it was a term placed on the movement by outsiders, he was unaware that it comes from Gamergate, the tag created by a VERY conservative actor for that group.

He didn’t disavow what they do or say, just the name, as far as I can tell.

It’s a bit disappointing, I admit it, but the one superpower I have is putting this stuff in the rearview mirror. I don’t FORGET, but I don’t sit and dwell on it, either.

Fellow comic book professional and staunch anti-ComicsGate personality Mark Waid was one of many to comment on Simone’s post offering a condemnation of ComicsGate as well as an insult directed towards Baron:

Gail Simone Chastises Comic Pro Mike Baron for Perceived ComicsGate Association

At the time of writing, Baron himself has not made a public comment regarding Simone’s statements.

Following her initial post, Simone made a second Facebook post reaffirming her blind disdain for anyone associated with ComicsGate, falsely labels the group as a ‘hate movement’, and her dedication to actively fighting with ComicsGate associated fans:

Part of the reason some pros get pushed around online is they feel ashamed or embarrassed, so they just try to move past it, and don’t respond, don’t illuminate what is being thrown at them by people who should know better.

I am not that person.

And I am going to blast you twice as hard if you are harassing marginalized creators as part of your dipshit hate group.

Just so it’s known.

In the aftermath of the Facebook post, Simone prompted a discussion of “classic movies that are actually terrible” on her Twitter account. In an ironic twist, the responses to Simone’s question led her to post tweets defending one’s right to disagree with, criticize, and dislike any given works, even those which are continually lauded in the mainstream:

Here’s a thought. Calling something a ‘classic’ doesn’t mean it is for eternity free from scrutiny, opinion, or critique.

People are allowed to like thinks, and to not.

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) January 14, 2019

Jesus, people. Get a grip.

All of us have a movie we don’t love that everyone else does. Big damn deal.

Later, I’m gonna ask the reverse, a movie you love most people hate. That’s ALSO the internet. https://t.co/W4CU9ZvGZg

— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) January 14, 2019