Macro Monday Hides In The Shadow Of Vader

So, the big news at present is not precisely positive, I guess — after punting me from making cool Star Wars comics, Marvel has (un?)officially canceled the first series I was working on for them: Shadow of Vader.

It’s a shame to see it go, of course. I’d written three scripts and the third of those three was, I think, one of the best things I’d written, at least in the comics space. And the series was going to have a few little touchstones linking back to the Aftermath series. ANd Juanan Ramirez’s art was *chef’s kiss* good. But alas, this is how it goes. I vaguely understand canceling it — I don’t know that any writer was necessarily comfortable with picking up the project, and I suspect people would be conflicted whether or not to buy it. (If you like my work, the conundrum is: buy it to support me, or boycott it to punish Marvel? if you hate me, then the reverse becomes true: buy it to support my ass-booting, or give it the middle finger because my name is attached to it? Sophie’s Choice, I suppose.)

The irony is that none of this would’ve been an issue if they’d chosen to simply not hire me for more books — which is a bit different than ejecting me outright. Instead of choosing to let me fade gently into the background, they had to wrap a note around a knife before slipping it between my ribs. It was pointed. Why they chose that way, no idea — I assume it was, as noted, political. But hey, I also don’t run Marvel, and their ways are not known to me. I like to think the Shadow of Vader scripts are now being locked in some SINISTER, MYSTERIOUS VAULT. Or maybe it’s a warehouse like at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Unmarked crates containing scripts both forbidden and forgotten…

(Dang, there’s maybe a story there.)

(Hm.)

ANYWAY.

You can read about it a little more about the situation at Polygon.

Predictably, The Worst People are extending their victory lap over this — as ultimately, this comes from them. The most hilarious talking point of theirs seems to be that, now that I’m fired, I’ll somehow no longer have a job as a writer? Like, I’m broke now? This of course ignores the actual reality that making comics, especially with Marvel, paid so little that it was far more of a hobby than an actual job — I make considerably more as a novelist than I ever did writing comic books. To make a career out of comics, you need to be on a whole lot of books at one time. For me it was always a side-gig. A fun one! One I’m not giving up. But comics was all icing, no cake. And not even top icing but like, the inessential middle layer of icing. Delicious! But really, for me, not the point.

Let’s see, what else?

Ah! Right. Last week, The Franzen did a list of TEN WRITING RULES that was, well, something, and so I did a whole thread about them. Because c’mon, don’t we miss the days where Twitter was for dunking on pretentious MFA writing rules and not, say, constantly pointing at the ongoing conflagration of fascism? My little thread made the news in some places, too, like the Guardian.

Anything else?

Ah!

Zer0es is still $2.99 till the end of the month.

And Invasive is $3.99 till then, as well.

(eBook only, and probably only US? Not sure about other countries.)

AND THAT’S IT.

Here, have some photos from when it snowed last week.