Australian comic book retailer Kaboom Comics rebuked Marvel artist Mike Deodato Jr. after he praised Grand Rapids Comic-Con’s decision to kick out Lonestar creator Mike S. Miller. Deodato would also refer to Miller as a “creature.”
Fortunately, Grand Rapids Comic-Con came to their senses and reinvited Mike Miller after an apology.
However, Mike Deodato Jr., has not offered an apology and Kaboom Comics took exception to his behavior stating his behavior “is pure bullying and not helping the Comic Industry.”
As a Retailer I can no longer actively promote your work Mike, what you’re doing is pure bullying and not helping the Comic Industry. We may all not agree on politics (No one ever will) but attacking Mr Miller like this? Just disgusting honestly
— KaboomComics (@KaboomComicsAus) September 19, 2018
This isn’t the first time that Kaboom Comics has called out creators for their bad behavior. When a number of creators were abandoning Alterna Comics and their publisher and founder Peter Simeti, they also told Enforcer creator Brian Funk they would no longer be supporting his future work.
As a retailer I won’t be supporting your future work. Taking it out on a publisher for simply thanking customers who bought books is simply ludicrous and is damaging to the Current Comic Industry. you should be ashamed ?
— KaboomComics (@KaboomComicsAus) September 5, 2018
I reached out to Kaboom Comics to get clarification on what their policy is.
Here’s what they told me:
“To clarify, we will still fulfill subscription orders for titles that Mr. Deodato is on but we will not actively promote or push his books to customers after his recent posts. We strongly believe that creators who are being overly political and are fighting with other Creators/Fans via FB and Twitter are causing great damage to the Current Comics Industry. This is reflected in subscribers dropping titles that these creators are on. This affects retailers like us and our bottom line, and a growing number more going by the amount of private messages I’ve received from fellow retailers stating the same. We are in The Comic Retailing business to make money but it’s getting harder to do that when customers are being turned off by politics in their books and arguments over politics by the creators.”
I asked if there were any other creators they apply this policy to. They responded:
“John Layman is one, Mark Waid another (Which is hard personally as I’ve always been a big fan up until the last few years) Robbie Rodriguez, Gail Simone, and Bill Sienkiewicz as well. When any creator blocks fans or runs block chains it hurts the industry and trust me we take notice. Those creators are the ones we tend to not actively promote and push their books hard. It’s easier to sell books by creators (like Sean Murphy) who go out of their way to promote their work on Twitter and FB instead of pushing political rants and feuds. They understand that comics is a commercial art form and sales matter, thus they act in a professional manner. It’s not smart business to actively offend or ostracise potential customers but that seems to be lost on a number of current creators.”
Are you a retailer and are you enacting a similar policy? Are you seeing declining sales because of the way a number of creators are behaving? What do you think the solution is?