It was only a matter of time before the next big witch hunt began from the intellectual descendants of Salem’s Puritans. This time the outcry is over Nathan Edmondson being tapped to take on writing duties for Marvel’s upcoming Red Wolf.
While the complaints on Graphic Policy and Loser City do complain that he is a white man, this is not the heavy artillery they are firing. No, they have decided to go after Edmondson’s character. Both blogs begin their article claiming some kind of journalistic initiative and authority. Nick Hanover on Loser City states he has been researching predatory figures in comics for over two years, while Brett Schenker on Graphic Policy claims he’s been doing the same for a year and a half.
Given the amount of time both of these bloggers have given to researching Nathan Edmondson’s life, you would expect a mind-blowing story absolutely crushing Edmondson. Instead, both bloggers claim they just don’t have enough evidence to run a real story. To quote Schenker, “I have not had enough to run a story I felt I could defend in court.” Hanover’s quote might be even worse, “We will probably never be able to tell you anything…”
The character attacks from Schenker continue without any corroborating evidence, “I have been told second-hand of sexual harassment (attempts at first hand accounts have gone nowhere).” You read that right. He doesn’t have any evidence and is relying on hearsay to create (dare I say it) a judgment of Edmondson. Hanover does the same thing, “… these kinds of situations are not normally full of solid, physical evidence to support allegations.”
Since Graphic Policy and Loser City don’t really have a story to write about, they continue their character attacks, going after Edmonson’s former place of employment, The Leadership Institute. This is I suspect the real reason why they are writing these pieces. The Leadership Institute is a conservative grassroots training organization that is at odds with the politics of Graphic Policy and Loser City. They don’t like the fact that someone who is white and potentially opposed to their political views is able to attain work at Marvel.
After they finish with the personal attacks, both Schenker and Hanover make a grandiose statement about how the Comics Industry needs to do better “to support people who speak out about bad actions.” That is right, they don’t want proof of the bad actions; they want full and complete support regardless of whether the allegations are true.
Both Schenker and Hanover make note that people who claim to be victims of some kind of harassment without proof are treated as pariahs. This is the exact response I would think any logical person would take. Why support someone who has no proof of any actual wrong-doing?
Finally, Hanover concludes that support systems must be created for these victims who have no proof of any actual wrong-doing. He also believes that there are shadowy protectors of “predators,” yet these predators only exist in the minds of Hanover and Schenker because they don’t have any proof to back up their claims.
To further reinforce the fact Schenker specifically is writing dribble, he made an update to his original post where a publisher reached out to him to correct the misinformation he is spreading. While admitting he is spreading misinformation, he still maintains some kind of mysterious wrongdoing despite a publisher telling him it is nonexistent.
It is my opinion, due to the almost identical nature of both of these articles, this is a targeted and coordinated character assassination against Nathan Edmondson in order to pressure Marvel to pull him off writing duties for Red Wolf. They believe a white man who has conservative political beliefs has no role or place in writing about a Native American who “has an unshakeable sense of justice,” according to Red Wolf series editor Jacob Thomas.
In conclusion, I will leave you with a quote from Rich Johnston regarding his investigation into Edmondson’s alleged wrongdoing, “I have investigated the issue and, to date, have little that stands up. Indeed people alleged to be involved that [sic] denied it.”