SoooooOOOoooo, in case you missed the news — this happened. It was a whole thing. Got a lot of media attention, as it turns out. As such, a lot of other questions popped up around and about the situation, and I thought I’d try to answer them — most of these I already answered on Twitter, but I’m gonna pop a few more in here, too, for posterity’s sake.
I do appreciate the outpourings of support. It’s been a wonderful counter to the overall situation, and also a great counter to the hot fresh tides of hemorrhagic diarrhea that have sloshed upon my beaches, spewed forth from the Worst People. And trust me, there’s been a whole lot of that. To what end, I dunno — they got me fired, good job, clowndicks, now what? But I’ve noted about 40 YouTube videos celebrating the firing, and gotten lots of communication from The Worst People, some of which relies on the standard poo-poo baby insults (soy, cuck, and a new one, NPC? wtf is that?), and private messages that were more comfortable using nastier (often homophobic) epithets.
I guess this is their victory lap? So it goes.
But, I got considerable support, too, and thanks, honestly, for that. I was at the Bucks County Book Festival yesterday in Doylestown, PA (chatting with the inimitable Fran Wilde!) and I had a lot of people come up and offer their support — people I don’t know, people who were not necessarily fans before? It was nice. I had people at the farmer’s market, at my son’s school, all aware of the situation. Which threw me for a loop, but they were all in on the solidarity, and that was rad.
I also know that some folks put themselves out there by supporting me online — either because they work with Marvel, or are especially vulnerable to harassment — and many who did speak up for me DID receive harassment all their own. So both thank you and apologies for that.
(I also appreciate folks sharing links to my books and such. That really means a lot, and honestly, it does help.)
So, to answer a few more QUESTIONS and such that have come up — kind of an FAQ, evolving out of this situation:
Q: “Chuck, but don’t you actually suck and are also the worst?”
A: I mean probably, I dunno.
Q: “But didn’t you want Roseanne fired from her job and isn’t it the same as what happened to you?”
A: Roseanne said racist stuff and boosted dangerous, wackadoo conspiracies, which is different. But also, you’re free to call for me to be fired, and Marvel is free to fire me. I mean, I don’t like it, and I think it sets a troubling precedent and a chilling effect (alongside a very clear message to comic creators: “We do not have your back, not one little bit”). But it is what it is. They were free to do it.
Q: “Were you really fired for your politics?”
A: They told me as much, though in an EW article, there was this:
Which is sorta weird, because it suggests they don’t like… bad words? Politics are fine, as long as I don’t put the word ‘fuck’ in there? Which for the record is probably nonsense. I mean, hello, DEADPOOL, the movie, is gloriously, deliriously filthy.
And again, we’re talking about someone (ahem, me) who has written blog posts expounding on my love of tasty, tasty vulgarity going back to like, 2009. My first novel, Blackbirds, is heady with the stink of countless vulgarities. Shouldn’t have been a surprise. Couldn’t have been a surprise.
Q: “Did you receive any warnings beforehand?”
A: None, zero, bupkis.
Now, this answer and the one before it combine to suggest, at least to me, that booting me off the comics was in fact ideological — like, okay, if you didn’t like my vulgarity or whatever, you would’ve done one of two things:
1) You would’ve asked me to tone it down. “Chuck, you’re being poopy,” they would’ve said, and then I could’ve decided on my own if it was worth toning down my poo poo doody words to keep a job.
-or-
2) They would’ve just let me finish the last two issues of Shadow of Vader and then softly urged me off the second as-yet-unannounced SW comic. And then just… quietly never hired me again. That woulda worked. I might’ve wondered if something was up, but not enough to speak out about it. I would’ve casually assumed that they didn’t want to hire me again for XYZ reason, which is 100% normal in freelancing anything.
But this wasn’t soft. It was done with purpose and swift measure, suggesting an ideological bent. Further, nothing I’d said or done in my tweets recently had made the news — well, it made cuckoo alt-right news blogs, which is the only place I make that kind of splash. So, if someone there felt, uhh, splashed upon, it means they felt that way because they pay attention to exactly that kind of news — fringe right-wing stuff, not MSM.
(Well, okay, I had some tweets in the mainstream news recently — specifically, the shitposting tweets between Sam Sykes and I, which resulted in You Might Be The Killer, directed by Brett Simmons, and still currently airing on the SyFy network and showing at film festivals. So: my tweets were bringing me only good news. I say this not to humblebrag — well okay maybe a little — but also to note that the way I tweet is not unknown. The evidence of that literally exists in film form.)
I mean, hey, maybe I’m wrong; maybe someone just had it UP TO HERE with all my BAD WORD TURDS and just couldn’t take it anymore but this seemed like something else to me. This felt explicitly political. As if I had peed in someone’s ideological pool.
Q: “Who really fired you? Marvel? LFL? Disney?”
A: I have no way of actually knowing this, and can only go with what was said on the call, which was that this was my editor, at Marvel. I asked specifically “where does this come from?” and that was the answer.
Q: “Were you fired because you included LGBT characters?”
A: Not to my knowledge. I only noted that in my original thread about all this because that is what tipped off the harassment wave at the beginning of all this, way back when Aftermath came out — and that harassment wave arguably culminated in this campaign to get me fired, which, ultimately, seems to have worked.
Q: “Would you ever write for SW or Marvel again?”
A: My understanding with Marvel is that I’m done there, like done-zo, game over, it’s KOS if I show up. Star Wars, well…
Star Wars is like, the greatest thing to me. It forms part of my pop culture blood and bone. And the people I have met, both fans of SW and the people who work inside the architecture of that storyworld (all fans themselves!) have been amazing.
I don’t expect they’d hire me again (breathe a sigh of relief, Worst People), and it’s not like I have time anyway — Del Rey has me for a couple big books of my own I need to put out into the world first (WANDERERS — 2019!) Plus, other projects are lining up, which is nice. But, sure, I’d work in SW again. I love it too much.
Q: “But Chuck, don’t you actually hate fans and insult them?”
A: No. What? No! Why the sweet hot fuck would I hate fans? Fans, in the truest sense, literally supported me and my endeavors. That’s true of fans of SW, of Marvel, and of me personally. The only people I’ve ever insulted are the ones who harass, the ones who have very poisonous ideas about dehumanizing people who don’t look like them.
If you feel insulted by that —
Well, check your soul, see what you really stand for.
Q: “But Chuck, didn’t you actually insult people who didn’t like your book and also The Last Jedi?”
A: Also no. No, no, no. My own wife didn’t like The Last Jedi! (Though she’s come around on a second viewing. In fact I literally just caught her re-watching the Yoda “we are what they grow beyond speech” this morning.) Tons of people don’t like present-tense writing, so they didn’t like Aftermath. That is perfectly normal and cool. Like what you like, don’t like what you don’t like. The people that got me salty were the ones who again, were harassers, or were the keepers of awful ideologies.
Q: “But as a brand representative –”
A: I should stop you there. I see this often enough that I need to call bullshit. Freelancers are not brand representatives. Yes, if a company finds our tone or words reprehensible, they shouldn’t hire us, but no one in their right minds expects a freelancer to be a banner-carrier for a brand. We do work. We are real people. We get to have real opinions. I’m not your dancing monkey.
Q: “But Chuck, aren’t you antifa?”
A: Well, I am anti-fascism, yes — which, last I checked, wasn’t supposed to be controversial. Being against a dictatorial, authoritarian regime is… pretty much stock-and-trade for the entirety of American history. That said, I do not belong to any “antifa” groups — I don’t put on a mask and do whatever the fuck antifa do. I’m Eleanor Shellstrop — not really into joining groups.
Q: “But Chuck, didn’t you call for violence against Trump supporters?”
A: I’ve been seeing this one a lot.
Let’s refer to this tweet right here, and then, you tell me.
Because it feels to me like, ohh, I dunno, when I say, “this isn’t the same as calling for violence,” I’m making it clear that this is not the same as calling for violence. It’s almost like I said, “The sky is blue!” and then a bunch of people got mad because they assert that I said the sky is red?
Obviously, no, I do not call for violence. My support for incivility is one meant to support noisy protest, whether in the streets or in restaurants or in government buildings. It’s one that says it should be okay to use your words, all of them, even the vulgar ones, because you shouldn’t have to couch your scorn for this administration’s actions in a pillow of polite comfort. That comfort serves those we protest, not the protestors.
Let me say, of course, that if you feel that my tweets felt like a call to violence — I offer a genuine apology if what I said came across that way. I don’t see it, but then again, I don’t always see the whole shape and tenor of things I say, because I, like most people, am firmly up my own ass. I’m just doing my best over here, so if it came across that way: apologies.
That said.
That said.
Do understand the deepest fucking irony of being precious about this, mm? The PA GOP governor candidate talked about stomping Tom Wolf’s face with golf cleats. The president has routinely flirted with inciting violence at his rallies. Or hey, remember Greg Gianforte? Or GOP mailers with rifle scope crosshairs on Democrat opponents? Not to mention the codified policies of putting kids in cages, which one could argue is a violent, illegal act. Or shrugging off the violence against reporters — or the deaths of reporters. Or cozying up to white supremacist groups. Or, or, or.
So, no, I’m not calling for violence.
But those calls are out there, and they’re coming from inside the house.
(The White House.)
(Zing!)
(Ahem.)
But I am mad. I mean, am I not supposed to be?
If you aren’t mad, I gotta wonder why.
Q: “But you did delete some tweets because you knew they went too far.”
A: I deleted some tweets because they were the tweets being sent around by huge alt-right celebrity types — thus, they were open portals to endless harassment, and deleting them shut those portals, therefore snipping a lot of that harassment. I very, very rarely delete tweets, but these, I had to, just to stem the frothy poo tsunami trying to crash on my house and home.
For the record, I still stand by them. I still would like to tell the GOP to eat shit. I still compare them — particularly, GOP Congress — to prolapsed assholes. That’s not a call to violence, it’s just me being pissed, and trying to (perhaps weakly) utilize some of the vulgar rage magic put forth by some other maestros of the form, like Bill Hicks or David Simon.
Q: “What is a prolapsed asshole?”
A: It’s like a regular asshole, except instead of an innie, it’s an outie.
Q: “Did you see David Simon tweeted about this?”
A: I did, just this morning. And it is not exaggeration to say that it is currently one of my fondest moments in this weird-ass career of mine. A tweet like that from David Simon is a blessed object. I wish to get it made into a cross-stitch and hang that shit above my desk.
Q: “What happens now to Shadow of Vader?”
A: Ennnh? I don’t know. I like to think they’ll keep my first three — they told me I was being pulled off of 4 and 5, which leads me to believe that my completed scripts for 1, 2 and 3 will still end up out there. I was honestly very proud of them. The third issue in particular! The editor (same who fired me) was very happy about it. I wasn’t kicked off the book for lack of quality. And I had started to see the art for issue 1 rolling in from Juanan Ramirez, and the covers from Greg Smallwood were whoa-dang.
Q: “And you were kicked off a second book?”
A: Yes, a comic, not a novel, to be clear.
Q: “Should we boycott Marvel?”
A: That’s between you and your gods. I won’t encourage it, and I also won’t tell you not to. Boycotts do damage — they would theoretically damage the company, but would also damage creators across the board, including some marginalized ones. One option would be to continue to buy those comics, but only those — Nnedi Okorafor, or Eve Ewing, for instance. Or Jody Houser’s upcoming Star Wars run, or Greg Pak’s run.
Or don’t — I mean, I dunno, boycotts aren’t mean to be clean, they’re meant to burn down a forest. Again: between you and your gods. If you do cut out Marvel, I hope you’ll increase your comic buys elsewhere, supporting creators telling cool stories where you can.
Q: “Should we buy Shadow of Vader when it comes out?”
A: Again, consult with your intestinal flora on that one. You could buy my issues and not the ones by others. Or you could say fuck it and never buy them, or buy them all or — again, you do you. Do what feels right and feels necessary.
Q: “Who will write the rest of Shadow of Vader?”
A: I do not know. (I won’t lie, whoever picks up that job will earn an askance glance from me. That’s petty, I know, but I’m a messy bench.) I did full outlines for issues four and five, so I don’t know if they’ll cleave to those or do some other thing. Epic shrug.
Q: “What was the other comic series?”
A: I don’t wanna say and spoil anybody’s pudding. It’s not announced yet. When it is, I’ll flag and and say HEY I COULD’VE WRITTEN THAT, and then we’ll all rage like Ewoks about it.
Q: “Chuck, you gonna be okay?”
A: I’m gonna be great, seriously. I’m privileged in a lotta ways, and very little of my income was from comic stuff, so — I’ll be aces. This more concerning to me in a LARGER, WHAT-IT-SAYS, RED-SCARE, BLACKLIST kinda way. I hope we’re ALL okay. As I’ve noted, marginalized creators are subject to considerably greater harassment and also are more vulnerable to this sort of thing.
If this can happen to me?
It can damn sure happen to you.
Vote in November.
Yub-nub, frandos.
And thanks again.
Geekfest says:
Keep fighting the good fight, sir.
October 15, 2018 — 10:47 AM
Michael Patrick Hicks says:
I’m still miffed at Marvel’s asshattery, but happy to support you however I can. I’m also glad Twitter, despite it numerous other flaws, has a pretty good filter to keep the nitwits and bots off my radar. 🙂 Keep on rocking, man.
October 15, 2018 — 10:54 AM
Anne D. says:
My best guess NPC = Non Player Character. Essentially, trying to demote you to a background extra with no agency.
October 15, 2018 — 11:02 AM
terribleminds says:
Yeah. I looked it up, that seems to be the case. Ironically, it seems like they’re making fun of liberals spouting “canned responses” — that from a crowd who is like CUCK SOY SOY CUCK every 30 seconds. And a crowd who is notoriously populated by bots — who are *literal* NPCs.
October 15, 2018 — 11:03 AM
inkgrrl says:
Yub-nub indeed.
October 15, 2018 — 11:23 AM
Anne D. says:
Oh, but they’re just sticking to message, Chuck. There’s no harm in that, right? {Did my sarcasm font uninstall again? D*mn it! I hate it when that happens!}
October 15, 2018 — 1:19 PM
Steve Fahnestalk says:
Hey, most of us are on your side. I stand with writers! (BTW, it’s “stock IN trade,” not “stock-and-trade.” Just sayin’.)
October 15, 2018 — 11:04 AM
SomeGuyInAWaistcoat says:
That thing about being called an ‘NPC’ – It’s basically their replacement term for ‘SJW’. Seeing as too many people now recognise ‘SJW’ as shorthand for ‘I have nothing of use to contribute to this conversation, so feel free to ignore or mock me according to your usual custom’, they needed to switch it up.
So they resurrected a years-old 4chan thread talking about how people on the left are like characters in a videogame spouting the same phrases and buzzwords over and over again and set about proving that they’re completely original thinkers who don’t resort to the same methods by using the term ‘NPC’ en masse, creating troll accounts called NPC, and sharing only the finest copypasta.
And yes. Yes the irony of this is completely lost on them. It’d be funnier to me, if it weren’t also another dangerous step by the alt-right to dehumanise their opponents and reduce them to objects and strawmen…
October 15, 2018 — 11:08 AM
SomeGuyInAWaistcoat says:
(And I got ninja’d in in the couple of minutes it took to type that out. But if anyone wants a more thorough explanation behind the ‘NPC’ thing, I’d recommend checking out the recent posts on We Hunted The Mammoth and Kotaku on the phenomenon. Dave Futrelle and Cecilia D’Anastasio explain it a whole lot better than I can right now.)
October 15, 2018 — 11:19 AM
Lee Hauser says:
Dang it, I’ve already bought all your books.
FWIW, I don’t always like your choice of words either, but that doesn’t matter. You’re a fine writer, Chuck, you can and should write and speak whatever words you want, and I will continue to read your stuff and be very, very angry at Marvel for doing this to you.
October 15, 2018 — 11:15 AM
D. S. Ullery says:
I wrote this the other day on Facebook after reading about what happened. After my own noxious experiences with the toxic fans regarding my love for TLJ , I empathize.
I thought you might appreciate this, sir:
————-
Man, what the hell happened to Star Wars?
I don’t mean the movies. The movies are doing just fine. The Last Jedi was an amazing chapter that shook things up and took real chances , delivering a story infused with both gravitas and wonder. Solo was also fine- not outstanding, but still entertaining.
No, I mean the fandom.
Word dropped recently that Chuck Wendig – a smart, funny, supremely talented writer – was fired by Marvel from the Star Wars titles he was working on because, apparently, he got into an online confrontation with some toxic fans and used profanity. According to a breakdown Mr. Wendig offered in a blog, he was told the company didn’t like the negativity his tweets were bringing.
Let’s be clear: Chuck Wendig was being trolled by assholes who were taking him to task over introducing an element of lesbianism into the Star Wars universe. The same sort of cellar dwelling idiots who threatened Director Rian Johnson’s life and said incredible nasty things about Kathleen Kennedy over The Last Jedi now turned their sights on Wendig.
He made a justified decision to fire back and he got canned.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we refer to as next level bullshit.
Chuck Wendig is a human being. He had every right to respond as he did. The idea that he’s supposed to sit back and quietly abide while bottom feeding hate mongers rake him and his work over the coals is utter garbage. Marvel, Disney and any other involved agencies should be ashamed for laying the burden of not being human on the shoulders of their creative talent.
Let me tell you, this did a lot more to taint my opinion of Marvel than anything Wendig might have written. They were lucky to have him and really dropped the ball here.
Which now circles back to my original point: How did we get here? What the hell happened?
I saw the original Star Wars at a drive in with my family in 1977. I was six. So, yeah, it’s been a part of my life for most of my life.
Growing up, one of the great distinctions of Star Wars was how awesome and unified the fan base was. The saga brought together people from across the globe, from all backgrounds and walks of life, to celebrate this sweeping epic that took us on a fantastic ride in an adventure set long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. We all loved it together and would connect through the films in a way we might not have otherwise. It wasn’t just geekdom, it was a bond forged within a cinematic universe we all shared.
Fast forward to today. Star Wars fans are divided. Poisonous personalities have torn the base apart, resulting in gutless cowards -emboldened by the safety of the internet -issuing death threats and displaying grotesque misogyny because everything wasn’t exactly the way they demanded it to be. For the first time in my history as a part of the Star Wars fandom, I’ve watched in utter disgust and brilliant creators such as Wendig actually lose their jobs because of the relentless onslaught of the toxic fans.
This isn’t Star Wars. This isn’t what it’s supposed to be. If we want the saga to survive, we have to stop this. Otherwise it’s going to transform into something weak, collapsing under the weight of all the hateful attitudes corrupting what, until now, has been an uplifting experience.
October 15, 2018 — 11:17 AM
whereibelongsf says:
This cold civil war is a motherfucker.
On a related note, it never ceases to amaze me how well the right is able to gain traction by accusing their opponents of engaging in exactly the same behavior they engage in on the regular.
October 15, 2018 — 11:18 AM
Anne D. says:
Well, yes, because then the left says “But you just did the same thing!” to which they reply “There’s no need to be so defensive. Why are you so defensive? What do you have to hide? Look, they’re hiding something!”
The only real defense to this is to smile, go about your business, and crush them.
October 15, 2018 — 1:22 PM
James says:
That this happened now, of all times, is maybe the most galling. Firing you pulls the rug out from under everyone standing against Comicsgate and erodes the faith that the comics industry is worth defending.
I’m so torn on this. My first instinct is to take part in the boycott against Marvel. That would eliminate more than 90% of my monthly comics intake, and it would hurt—Star Wars is to me, as it is to you, a foundational part of my existence. Then again, a boycott is *supposed* to hurt.
But like you say, there are other people it can hurt who don’t deserve it. Marginalized creators, for example. My friendly local comic store, for the loss of sales.
I just don’t know, man. But you deserve better than what’s happened to you. I’m sorry.
October 15, 2018 — 11:19 AM
humphreyswill says:
Appalled at the way you and others are being treated. Love and support from a long-time UK fan.
October 15, 2018 — 11:22 AM
Matt W says:
This situation really sucks. Sorry this happened to you. If it makes you feel any better, I can’t wait for ‘Wanderers’ next year.
October 15, 2018 — 11:32 AM
Nocturnaliss says:
I haven’t been following you for long, but I gotta tell you: I’ve been enjoying reading your blog posts. I love the vulgarity. You use it in a way that’s somehow meaningful (and they say that intelligent people are the ones who swear the most, so there you go).
As a foreigner with US friends, good people like you, it enrages me to watch how that clown up top has basically given people over there licence to hate. That’s what it is, pure and simple. Meanwhile, the rest of the world can but wonder how ‘US citizens’ can be so stupid to still follow a man who’s hellbent on destroying his fellow people. Because that’s what he’s doing, and it seems the only one who can’t/won’t see it are the people he’s screwing over the most. But as long as they keep them guns and kids blowing each other’s brains out at school and people can just keep dying due to the sheer outrage that is the medical system there, all is swell, right?
You know what I dream of? For people to stop waging this pointless war. It’s not a left vs right thing; it’s not a man vs woman thing, or whatever the ‘vs’ is right now: it’s a life vs death thing. The people who act like assholes are just as hurt and angry as the other side; and trump’s a smart idiot: he gets ‘divide and conquer’. That’s exactly what he does. And while both sides are at each other’s throats, he’s letting the ship sink further. I had a ‘discussion’ with a so-called ‘fairly indifferent towards trump’-person who was adamant on defending the guy and proving me wrong. I kept defending the position that *everyone* in that country is suffering, whatever side they’re on (unless they’re on the money-side). Eventually, he went quiet.
This is a war that won’t be won with hate. If it can be won at all, it’ll be through understanding all of you US people are in the same boat and deserve better. That’s also something the guy I talked to couldn’t answer me when I asked: don’t you think you deserve better? Logically, you’d imagine the answer’d be yes. Beyond right and wrong and left and right and whichever State you’re from: you people need to rise as a nation. Doesn’t the Constitution state you’re one nation, indivisible, who has justice and equality for all?
Now all that said, and I’m sorry to have digressed quite a bit, I just want to tell you: keep doing what you’re doing. The States need more people like you, who stand up for what’s right, and who refuse to take all this shit lying down. I for one will keep happily read your blogs and hope, and expect, things to take turns for the better. Can’t begin to imagine what it feels like to lose a job you enjoyed, and I hope awesome opportunities will come your way.
October 15, 2018 — 11:44 AM
Danny G says:
I’ve been buying Marvel comics steadily for more than 20 years and stuck with the company during some rough patches, but today I’m cancelling the entirety of my (not inconsiderable) pull list for the first time ever. I just can’t support a company who emboldens and accommodates bigots and racists at the expense of their employees, I just can’t. With this decision, Marvel sent a clear message about which side of history they’re on, and it ain’t the right one and it ain’t mine.
October 15, 2018 — 12:11 PM
no128s says:
Chuck,
I don’t imagine you’ll actually read this comment, but you have my support if that matters!
You and I disagree about 95% on politics…. and you know what, that’s okay in my book! I have always loved your writing and content, and you have inspired me to be a better writer (including completing NaNo)!
Yeah, some things you post make me cringe… but again, that’s okay. My friends come from so many varied ideologies and I like that…. ever read Team of Rivals? This is what makes America great… the ability to have a wide network of connections that do have different ideas and opinions, and we should not be afraid to be able to express our opinions in any forum.
You being fired by Marvel is beyond troubling. You’re too profane? Like you said, have they seen Deadpool? You’re too political? Have they really looked at the politics of the entire Marvel Universe?
It bothers me that in this age of social media we are on two extremes. At one end it is amazing the access that us lay-people have to people like yourself who we never would have been able to interact with in the past. Then at the other end we have punishment for people who are exercising their rights as Americans to free speech among others. The intrusion by government and private businesses in our personal lives should terrify everyone…. regardless of political orientation!
This is not confined to political party in my opinion…. they are both sides of the same shitty coin.
Keep up the good fight
October 15, 2018 — 12:22 PM
terribleminds says:
I read all comments! I can’t always respond as sometimes it’s time crunchy, but thank you for the thoughts and support.
October 15, 2018 — 12:35 PM
Jennifer Cobb says:
I have not read your books yet so on Saturday I queued up several of them used from sellers on Amazon. Then I thought, “Fuck that, make sure he gets the royalties!” So off I went to Joseph Beth and they were sold out of all your books. (So I bought other random books that had been circulating in my head.) But the kicker is that the counter person totally knew all about what had just happened to you, that others had come in that day looking for your books as well, and she also thought it was rude and stupid. You are loved and respected.
October 15, 2018 — 1:15 PM
terribleminds says:
I am in awe of this. Thank you, Jennifer! And thank you Joseph-Beth — they are a gloooorious bookstore.
October 15, 2018 — 1:32 PM
tcinla says:
As a fellow writer said to me several years ago, “I’ll nevr have any difficulty writing a dystopian novel about life in a (not so) benign dictatorship. I’ve worked for Disney.” (You can now include all the companies bought by Disney, since they all get Disneyfied)
Way cool the best writer-producer working noticed you.
October 15, 2018 — 1:35 PM
Andrew Shaffer says:
Don’t you eat too much bacon to be painted with the “soy” brush?
October 15, 2018 — 1:42 PM
terribleminds says:
oh shit was I supposed to be eating bacon
I’ve just been grazing on America’s soybean fields, now going underused because the president fucked over all the farmers
October 15, 2018 — 1:53 PM
Joan Young says:
Love you, Chuck. Keep up the good fight.
October 15, 2018 — 1:56 PM
Sean M. Goodman says:
I tend to get talky in comments. Will keep this one simple: thanks for being one of the good guys and being an enjoyable writer. I just subscribed to your blog here, because I left Twitter over a month ago. Greatly appreciate the updates!
October 15, 2018 — 1:58 PM
Gary says:
Fuck Marvel. I stand with you, Mr Wendig. My sincerest condolences on this.
October 15, 2018 — 2:03 PM
John McFetridge says:
“This more concerning to me in a LARGER, WHAT-IT-SAYS, RED-SCARE, BLACKLIST kinda way.” People keep telling me it’s not the same thing and I say, you’re right, it’s not the same; it’s not a remake it’s a sequel. But the goal is the same.
October 15, 2018 — 2:10 PM
Alex Garcia says:
Food for thought (and probably a little off topic): I am mexican, read you since 2011, I don’t think you are vulgar to excess. There was a mexican writer who used to say that profanity is, or should be, like farting: a relief for the soul.
He thought that profanity for the sake of cursing was the real sin. His name was Manuel Gutierrez Najera, He wrote a lot of theater, so he knew about cursing.
October 15, 2018 — 2:33 PM
Charles de Lint says:
You’ve got my support, Chuck. Stay strong.
October 15, 2018 — 2:39 PM
David F. Conn says:
I had the privilege of moderating Chuck’s awesomely(?) lively discussion with Fran Wilde on Sunday, less than 48 hours after he got the news. He could not have been any more gracious, open, funny, genuine and smart about, well, everything. Dude, you are officially on my short list of heroes, and I can’t wait to read the rest of your books.
October 15, 2018 — 2:44 PM
Laura Petersen says:
They come for the writers and artists first. I’m terrified that you were stifled. My hope is that you won’t give up or give in.
October 15, 2018 — 3:44 PM
jmcoster says:
I’ve taken up a part-time job that consists mostly of me badgering people I know to buy Damn Fine Story and your other books. Thanks for fighting the good fight and speaking up about all of this.
October 15, 2018 — 4:41 PM
Jace Ridley says:
You deserved better than this, and it is deeply angering and upsetting that they would do this and respond by making such loose and dancing-clown like excuses. They pander to the gate keepers and the alt right, and publish comics about superheroes while being a hypocrite to the very ideals that Captains America or Marvel, that the Spidermans and X-Men respresent. Their behavior shows them to be gutless, while you stand up for the ideals that are supposed to make this country great.
I know comics aren’t really your “thing” but I am hoping against hope you get a phone call from DC in the near future and they hand you the reigns to something fun.
October 15, 2018 — 5:30 PM
Nick says:
Don’t worry Chuck we have your back! Keep up the good fight and we will too.
October 15, 2018 — 9:02 PM
Bryon Cannon says:
Just here to say I stand with you, Chuck. You, as the kids say, da man.
October 16, 2018 — 12:28 AM
Matt says:
I think this is a new low for comics- and Marvel in particular.
I get that somebody, somewhere, will be desperate enough for the work to finish the Vader series- but I’d love it if literally nobody would touch it- for any reason.
Good luck in everything you do.
October 16, 2018 — 5:13 AM
Marilyn J. Evans says:
Hey, Chuck, you have all my sympathy. I would never presume to compare myself to someone with your success, but just as a statement of solidarity as a writer, let me say this. When my publisher booted me, I was lucky enough not to have a whole lot of ugliness come down on me like you’ve had, but I was unhappy and wounded, just as you must be. Fortunately, that painful incident has become an opportunity to find a better publisher and return to old, dear projects that I had put aside.
You have great talent. You will come out of this fire stronger, better, and more you than ever. I’ll be watching as you do that whole phoenix thing.
October 16, 2018 — 9:47 AM
Naoko says:
I am so sorry to hear about that. Thanks for writing this, as someone who hasn’t been following the drama, hearing this was devastating. I hope whoever made the decision lives to regret it, but they probably won’t feel the results of their shortsightedness till 5 years from now. Looking forward to the new ones.
October 16, 2018 — 10:18 AM
Laura R says:
I am very sorry to hear this. I also have fucking potty mouth and I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t, lol. I believe Stephen King feels the same way: he has a number of psychotic characters who substitute weird phrases for cuss words, most notably Annie Wilkes in Misery. I’m not surprised at the behavior of SW and Marvel fans. I’m an old gamer and there’s always been a lot of racism, sexism, and a grade school mob mentality with the gamer/comix crowd. Last time I went to the Game Developers Conference, it was 95% men under 30. That was 6 years ago and I hope it’s changed but doubt it has done so dramatically. It’s a universe dominated by immature men, but it is changing, it has to and it will. Just not soon enough for you. At any rate, I told off Marvel on Twitter and got a 12 hour Twitter ban. 🙂 They’re a bunch of cockadoodie dirty birdies.
October 16, 2018 — 2:43 PM
eporter70 says:
One of the things I hate most are the GOP-ers who call for “civility” while supporting a guy like McConnell who bragged about his work to block Obama at every turn, Cruz shooting bacon wrapped guns, the likes of Dana Loesch and her voice dripping with hate, and, of course, the King Turd himself, the man who brags about pussy grabbing, and all the rest.
I defended Jim Wright to my uncle awhile back; both were in the Navy. My uncle had posted some shit spoken by some shithead who was complaining about Wright. I called out my uncle on it, using some relatively crude language. His response was to admonish me and to say that my parents raised me better. I was 55 YEARS OLD AT THE TIME! Though his post was laden with disgusting things, I was in the wrong for being rude.
These people are nothing but bullies. The only way to fight a bully is with a little incivility, even if that means calling them dickheads and assholes.
I’m sorry that the bad guys won, again. Hope you, like James Gunn, find a better gig.
October 16, 2018 — 9:08 PM
Widdershins says:
You are the definition of a good man … keep on being one. 🙂
October 16, 2018 — 10:50 PM
terribleminds says:
*fistbump*
October 17, 2018 — 7:57 AM
KasaObake says:
I saw the news about this last week and decided then and there to buy the latest couple of Miriam Black books to throw some change your way. Keep being vulgar as fuck and writing AWESOME books (bird-themed awesome books especially appreciated)
October 17, 2018 — 7:01 AM
terribleminds says:
Thank you very much!
October 17, 2018 — 7:57 AM
Jo says:
“You have freedom of speech, but not freedom of consequence.” <—that's from your own comments policy.
I bet Disney has the same policy, or similar, but goddamn you'd think they knew who the fuck they were hiring. I picture a room full of Disney/Marvel execs around a table, mortified, "Wait? What? A prolapsed what?" Pearls clutched, heart rates increased.
Hahaha. I wish you'd have used rosebud imagery somewhere (to the uninitiated that's what a prolapsed anus looks like, a rose…I'm not kidding).
I'm not even into your politics. I'm in the calm center looking to the left and right wandering what the fuck all you freaks are talking about. Which means I run the risk of being one of the people who did nothing while tyrants rose…I fucking hope not. It also means I'm accused of not caring about shit, but that's not the case, I've spent my life in public service. I'm looking for a 3rd option is all. Or sanity. I'll take sanity.
One bright spot is you don't seem like the type of asshole to let this derail you. So that's good.
But will this chill your speech? Will you continue to be a political windbag on social media, knowing that such things are valuable in the greater societal discourse, or will you keep it to yourself in service of your career.
I think we know. Haha.
It's cool if you don't post my comment Chuck, most comments seem to be more supportive. This is your swimming pool.
October 18, 2018 — 5:02 AM
WizarDru says:
Frank: I’ve walked a white line my entire life, I’m not about to screw that up.
Nada: White line’s in the middle of the road, that’s the worst place to drive.
Honestly, I’m not sure what insanity you’re seeing on the Democratic side to match what the GOP is allowing and enabling, but to each his own. But personally I agree with Rush: “Even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” Abdicating that choice to let others fill that void is a choice to make, but I don’t agree that it’s an all-or-nothing, go entirely with one side or the other choice. I also think you’re wrong in that Chuck has a Sophie’s Choice to make concerning his online behavior…indeed, many found and followed him exactly BECAUSE of his current social media use. The idea that if he continues that he is endangering his career isn’t borne out by the number of postings by people saying they’re buying his books for exactly that reason. In terms of real dollars, I’d wager this results in a neutral for him at worst, long term.
October 18, 2018 — 1:44 PM
Jo says:
The third lane is a choice, it’s not fence sitting. I’ve deemed both sides wanting and seek an alternative, an anti war, working man’s party. If that means I’m not putting my weight behind the lesser of too evils over and over again in a vain hope things will get better, so be it. I’m not interested in saving that system. Party hacks can wail all they want about picking sides.
About that metaphor, the middle of the road is the best place to drive. If you don’t know why, ask a veteran. IUD’s and land mines are buried on the sides of the roads.
The people buying his books mostly know him because of Star Wars. Nothing he writes is going to outsell that behemoth, well maybe but lets be realistic. Political posting can’t draw nearly the same amount of buyers because lefty political shit posting fans and SF book buyers are two different sets of people. There’s not enough overlap to make up for Star Wars and the eyes it brings to his other stuff, even with the short term bounce he’ll get from this recent drama. That bounce has already come and gone.
He’ll be fine though, he’s already established.
October 18, 2018 — 10:03 PM
Jo says:
“IED”, lol.
October 18, 2018 — 11:33 PM
wizardru says:
Fair enough. The question, then, is how are you seeking that third path? I don’t mean to be glib, I’m honestly curious what way forward you are attempting. I’m old enough that I’ve seen several attempts at a third party fail, usually to the detriment of one of the other dominating parties, but to no benefit of the third party or the one from which it draws. Assuming you’re not just waiting for someone to bring you another option, what do you do to make that other option happen? And what makes you certain that the third option won’t have the weaknesses already in the system?
(As for the middle of the road question, I’m pretty sure neither when Robert Frost said it or when they quoted in the movie where they considering life during wartime or IEDs, obviously).
October 19, 2018 — 9:39 AM
Jo says:
I’m not naive enough to think a 3rd party works in a winner take all system. Mostly I vote for 3rd parties, and advocate for them when given a chance, in the hopes the major parties take notice and co-opt some of the policies. The libertarians pulled that off with the Republican Party. Now that party is half business/money/libertarians and half social conservative fuckwits (I generalize). I also vote for people like Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie, etc…I donate to Cenk Uyger’s Wolf Pack (money out of politics PAC). I watch Jimmie Dore’s show, but that’s pretty passive. If half the democratic party became pro people instead of corporate stooges giving lip service I’d start voting for them again. I think that’s doable, I think we are on the way there.
I don’t march or do social media things though. I don’t have the energy for that, tbh. I don’t twitter or facebook. I did social work and then public defense professionally, before my unfortunate retirement, so was kind of a real life SJW. Lol.
That said I think I’m pretty mainstream politically. Which in the US means pragmatic but with a strong liberal ideology (in the classical sense). I’m only 39, but have seen the dire predictions from the fringes of the right and left fail to materialize unless we let them materialize it themselves, so I kinda crap on both when I get a chance. But I’m just one person. I’m not trying to lead the fight or something. I’m just a guy on the internet talking. I’ll keep voting, you keep voting, keep talking, and we’ll figure it out. That method is of little use to those who demand catharsis now.
Lol that metaphor of the road. I know, I get the metaphor. I just like the ‘hug the center line and avoid the land mines’ metaphor better. I don’t get too far off into the weeds and mud. 🙂
October 19, 2018 — 9:16 PM
Melissa says:
This is incredibly disturbing. You have the cold comfort of knowing that Marvel (or some of the decision makers there) are firmly on the wrong side of history, but still… disturbing. There is no way at all that they didn’t know your supremely vulgar style long before hiring you, so that argument is bullshit. Sorry you had to deal with all the harassment from the beginning, and sorry that you were sacrificed on the altar of someone’s (at best) fear of losing customers or (at worst) hateful ideology. Good luck doing what you to elsewhere, and thanks for speaking up about it all despite the blowback.
October 18, 2018 — 7:38 PM
Manqueman says:
First Chelsea Cain then you. Call me paranoid, but I maybe see Trump buddy Ike Perlmutter’s fingerprints. Ike also makes the rumors that Marvel’s budget is a little too tight, and shows in the published work, credible.
October 20, 2018 — 8:10 PM
Arp Laszlo says:
My guess is you caught Perlmutter’s attention. I really really really hope this does not preclude you from working with Star Wars in the future.
October 26, 2018 — 10:52 AM