At What Point Has the Line Been Irrevocably Crossed? (Part 1: The Personal Attack Aimed Jon Del Arroz from Within a Dynamite Comic)

I, and many others, have talked about the ongoing culture war many times–a war which I usually reference in regard to things like books, comics, etc, but which encompass a much broader struggle. Over the last couple of days, three things really stuck out to me, things that seem to indicate that yet more lines have been crossed in the escalation of this war.

We start with what is the least severe of these events by far, the personal attack aimed at author and comic creator Jon Del Arroz, from within Dynamite Comics’s Centipede book.

And we are talking direct attacks on Jon here, name and all. “Hidden” as an alien language (just a weird font flipped upside down: see all the relevant panels here at Bounding Into Comics.) This is a scummy thing to do, and grossly unprofessional on the part of Taylor Esposito, the letterer on the book, and logically the only one who could have done this. (He’s blamed an intern, but no one is buying it.)

Fortunately, as Jon notes in his post here, Dynamite itself immediately responded and has remedied the situation, so good on them.

But the mere fact that this occurred at all is very troubling. No longer are these people content with attacking us online, now they blatantly insert it into their fiction. What happens when truly libelous statements are made this way, or when this method is used to incite a hate mob online? It could take longer for the victims to learn of the attack, and is, in many ways, harder to get rid of.

Fortunately, Dynamite did the right thing here–do not go after them, but we also have to be ready to hit back hard and make sure there are no more outrageous attacks like this again. Because if we even go soemwhat lenient, they will try again.

That’s all for now, but next time I move on to a far more troubling incident. Yes, this is the least of the three. That itself can indicate where things stand at the moment.

Stay vigilant, and be ready to fight back using all means at your disposal, whether by calling out things like this, spreading awareness of crowdfunding campaigns, as well as choosing what–and who–you wish to support or not support.

I do what I can, despite currently serving in my country’s military, and if you wish to help me fight this fight, you can check out my Galaxy Ascendant series–especially if you’re unhappy with the SJW-ified Star Wars we are now seeing.