Comics Creators Less Than Impressed with Bill Maher
Bill Maher.Surprising no one, comics creators didn’t agree with Bill Maher when he said Trump was their fault. The Real Time host wrote in a blog post that adult comic book fans are stupid babies who are dumb to mourn the passing of Stan Lee. “[T]wenty years or so ago, something happened — adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff,” he wrote. “And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature.” Maher went on to explain somehow this reappraisal of comics as real literature (hardly an exclusively American phenomenon) led to a dumbing-down of America that led to the election of Donald Trump. And that’s terrible.
There is a valid conversation to be had about toxic and entitled comics fans, and how their online bullying mirrors that of the alt-right. But Maher’s post ain’t it. Comics creators and fans have been on Twitter all day giving Maher a talking-to, or as Iron Man once said, some solid dick. Black Bolt’s Saladin Ahmed pointed out that Maher has been spewing terrible islamophobic takes for decades. Birds of Prey and Batgirl legend Gail Simone pointed out that making someone else’s death all about him is the most Maher-like move one can make. But Neil Gaiman’s take is straight out of the Savage Land: “More people cared about Stan Lee’s death than care about Bill Maher alive.”
Bill Maher about Stan Lee: “a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess.”
Also Bill Maher: *in one of said movies* pic.twitter.com/j66GIZJEsP
— TASK the Pimp Hand of Khonshu (@UpToTASK) November 17, 2018just think if you had actually paid attention to muslims saying bill maher is an ignorant asshole you'd already know bill maher is an ignorant asshole
— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) November 17, 2018Here’s a thing, even if you don’t care about comics.@billmaher saw a mass of people grieving and thought, ‘Hey, how can I make this about me?’
Probably all anyone needs to know, really.
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) November 17, 2018Just want to remind the alt-right that Bill Maher is DEFINITELY our favorite person and if you were to focus ALL your energy online towards getting him and ONLY him cancelled you would totally be pwning us SO hard please PLEASE don’t do it.
— Downtown Griffy Newmz (@GriffLightning) November 17, 2018Bill Maher has done the impossible: gotten the entirety of comics fandom to agree on something
— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) November 17, 2018Petition to have me replace Bill Maher. I'm just as much of an asshole if that's something to consider. Also...funnier.
Those in favor of the motion say aye...
— Janelle James (@janellejcomic) November 17, 2018Maher’s just trolling, and lots of people are rising to the troll. (Julie Burchill did it better 30 years ago with her “There aren’t any adult comics because adults don’t read comics” line. ) More people cared about Stan Lee’s death than care about Bill Maher alive. https://t.co/yRzFCYQBzl
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) November 17, 2018Related
Comics Creators Respond to Bill Maher’s AttackncG1vNJzZmivp6x7t8HLrayrnV6YvK57kWlocWdhZnyvscilZKCZmaKur3nGmqClZaOeurC6xGaYp5xdpMGpsdGsZKudo6W8r7CMraZmmpmhuW65wKGcq2aYqbqt