So.... Jesus Is Getting His Own DC Comic

[Ascended]

I don’t usually quote full posts but this is so spot on that I wish I’d written it.

Why is it people find it ‘ok’ to make fun of and snark on Jesus, Christianity and Christians but completelynrun from doing the same to other religions like the Muslim faith for fear of offending Muslims?

Other religions get poked at all the time. They get used and misinterpreted by media all the time. It happens constantly. How quickly we forget the Charlie Hebdo thing. And if you belong to a smaller faith, like a pagan or whatever the people call themselves who worship the Norse pantheon these days, it's infinitely worse. Christians aren't some uniquely poor, set-upon demographic here, they're not treated any differently than anyone else (better than some), they just tend to complain about it more than most (not all, but most) when it happens. The only group that readily comes to mind that complain even more are Muslims when their Muhammad is featured, and apparently that is a huge cardinal sin for them, so I can see why they'd get uppity about that.

DC has every right to publish what they like, but it's a shame to see a company give in to ethical terrorism like that. Certainly this book wasn't going to generate enough revenue to make the complaining worthwhile, but anyone could see that going in, and if they were that worried about it.....why green light the thing in the first place? It's sloppy management.

[CaptCleghorn]

DC has every right to publish what they like, but it's a shame to see a company give in to ethical terrorism like that. Certainly this book wasn't going to generate enough revenue to make the complaining worthwhile, but anyone could see that going in, and if they were that worried about it.....why green light the thing in the first place? It's sloppy management.

I disagree. Certainly negative backlash should have been expected. Looking at threads here tell us that nothing is put out without someone not liking it and saying something about it. But this is religion and something different. Times change and we grow to accept some pop-culture items and shift others to the closet. I can't fault DC for testing the waters to see if we were ready for this. I also hope Russell, especially regarding the content of much of his writing knew there would be blowback. But I don't think anyone had a good idea of how big it would be.

Shows like Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar got bad press from some when they first showed up. We grow and change and Second Coming was a sign that we haven't grown here as yet. Of course, Second Coming needs to be good to have that sort of positive impact. Bits and pieces may leak and for a book which was supposed to publish in a few weeks, should have a story finished already. I suspect Image is a possible outlet, but after Divided States of Hysteria, they also have their limits.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

According to Bleeding Cool, Dan Didio was the one who was entirely up front about internal changes within DC and what it would mean for their book in terms of "censorship" and was the one responsible for helping extricate them from their contract so they could take the book elsewhere.

This still sucks but say what you want about Didio, this was a class move on his part.

[iron chimp]

According to Bleeding Cool, Dan Didio was the one who was entirely up front about internal changes within DC and what it would mean for their book in terms of "censorship" and was the one responsible for helping extricate them from their contract so they could take the book elsewhere.

This still sucks but say what you want about Didio, this was a class move on his part.

Thats even worse in my opinion - commissioned it then washed his hands of it immediately, leaving writer high and dry with no backup from publisher as he will be subjected to whatever garbage social media throw at him. Meanwhile Dan walks away smelling of roses having given the most ridiculous initial statement possible with no reasons as if people would say "ok fair enough".

"I am told that the decision to make changes to comply with new standards at DC Comics, would have also affected the recent Punk Rock Jesus by Sean Murphy if it had been published now, and definitely would have stymied Preacher from the get go."

And if he went along with whatever these new standards are then no Preacher??? wtf. What's next? no reprints ? If this is actually right then I want to see Preacher and Punk Rock Jesus taken off the shelves and no more editions of these books. Let's see the reaction then.

They are truly f'ed - it's open season for everyone now against DC

[Ascended]

The fact that Didio got the rights back to the creators is indeed a class act. It sounds like he didn't have full control over this shift, so reverting the rights was indeed a dude move on his part.

But as far as I'm concerned, any "standards" that would have put an end to Preacher.....those aren't standards. Preacher was one of the smartest, best comics to ever come out of Vertigo, and that is about as high praise as it gets in Big 2 comics.

I'm beyond sick of people getting a hair across their ass and then trying to ruin it for everyone else. Who gives a damn if you're offended? Don't f**king read it, and leave the rest of us to our entertainment. F**king snowflakes.

[Ascended]

I disagree. Certainly negative backlash should have been expected. Looking at threads here tell us that nothing is put out without someone not liking it and saying something about it. But this is religion and something different.

This is nothing new. Preacher is what, twenty years old? Hell, most of Vertigo's best books (Lucifer??) dealt with religions and myths.

A certain segment of readers were always going to be pissy about this, and a segment of people who don't read were too. That's fine; no one has to like stuff. But it never stopped quality titles from being made back in the day, so all I'm seeing is a sad, pathetic regression where a special interest group can control what everyone else gets to consume. And most of the people bitching on that christian petition weren't going to spend money on comics in the first place, whether it's something like Second Coming or Superman. So who gives a damn what they think?

[iron chimp]

These remarkable standards that allow this

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/01...punched-mouth/

And this

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/02...fight-god-may/

Quite the set of standards.

The couldnt wait to get rid of the "problem". Holding onto rights and not publishing it would have been even worse Pr disaster.

If these "standards" actually exist then they can start clearing up their back catalogue and no more reprints.

[skyvolt2000]

To all the whiners droning on about this, I would say: If you don't like the company, don't buy the product!

A LOT of Marvel (DC) employees would have LOVED for that to happen instead of being the behavior they got for just doing books-that the complainers don't read.
This book was axed by DC-HOWEVER it is free to be made ELSEWHERE.

Those same folks crying will NOT say a word if Image too this book. Or else they would have a FIELD day with Savage Dragon ESPECIALLY for issues 200, 225's cover & 229.
Where were these folks when a certain Green Lantern artist and WW editor were employed at DC? Why aren't they calling out the guys eating or stabbing comics starring women of color?

You know REAL issues not some book that is doing stuff that Family Guy & Aaron McGruder have done.


I think the big elephant in all this is what is stopping this from happening again with something else.

The point is when do you decide to just DO IT and let the public decide.
If you FEAR that much backlash maybe you shouldn't GREEN LIGHT stuff in the first place.

Maybe you shouldn't pander to crybabies-the one who find books with black women as the lead offensive that they destroy them online for youtube hits.

Sooner than later you have to say enough. Because the more you pander to those echo chambers-the more you end up losing later on.

There were lines of folks fighting to keep Black Panther movie from being made.

There were lines of folks fighting to keep Spider-Man as Peter Parker in movies. Miles Morales just opened the door for all the others.

There were folks saying no one would watch a black tv show in 1984. Bill Cosby said hold my loaded beer.

Folks fought to get Married with Children & All in the Family off the air.

Sometimes you have to BLEEP it and do it.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Yeah, I think it's pretty clear that the changes are happening well above Didio's pay grade. That he was able to help the creators get out of what looks like an increasingly oppressive system is entirely to his credit.

I was not and am not in any way defending DC. Yes, they're perfectly allowed to do what they are reported to doing but they have become a much, much, much worse comic book publisher because of it.

[dancj]

I don’t usually quote full posts but this is so spot on that I wish I’d written it.

Why is it people find it ‘ok’ to make fun of and snark on Jesus, Christianity and Christians but completelynrun from doing the same to other religions like the Muslim faith for fear of offending Muslims?

It's okay to make fun of any and all religions.

The problems are:
1 - Racist groups (like Britain First) use religion as a target to disguise their racism.
2 - Because of some nut-jobs out there, you are taking your life in your hands if you go after Islam.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's okay to make fun of any and all religions.

The problems are:
1 - Racist groups (like Britain First) use religion as a target to disguise their racism.
2 - Because of some nut-jobs out there, you are taking your life in your hands if you go after Islam.

Especially the latter after Iran issued a fatwa on Salman Rushdie, calling for his execution after his book, The Satanic Verses was published in 1988. As far as I know, that fatwa is still in effect today.

[myownlittleusername]

CANCELLED:

Aw, and I just started to look forward to reading it.

Oh well, will have to try finding some Son-O-God back issues instead, that looked interesting too.

[CaptCleghorn]

This is nothing new. Preacher is what, twenty years old? Hell, most of Vertigo's best books (Lucifer??) dealt with religions and myths.

A certain segment of readers were always going to be pissy about this, and a segment of people who don't read were too. That's fine; no one has to like stuff. But it never stopped quality titles from being made back in the day, so all I'm seeing is a sad, pathetic regression where a special interest group can control what everyone else gets to consume. And most of the people bitching on that christian petition weren't going to spend money on comics in the first place, whether it's something like Second Coming or Superman. So who gives a damn what they think?

You're right. I was only disagreeing with calling it sloppy management. Certainly we may disagree with the stand a company takes.and if DC is pulling back from a braver point of view, that's a shame. I am a person who may not have liked the book, although Russell's name sold me on the first issue. I take a "not for me" stance and quite frankly, so should many others. Lots of books on the stands I won't touch. The only thing bothering me about them is sometimes they're not put back properly and they may hide a book I'm looking for. Seriously, folks, put the books back where you got them.

I offer very little new about this. My attitude is the same as many here, I think. It's disappointing the book was pulled. The comparison of Superman to Jesus is one that's been touched upon and a series focusing on that may say more about the superhero genre than it does religion. I've been thinking about it and the combination of an Old Testament God with a New Testament Jesus may be the most many of us get about the tales of Christianity.

Damn it, SOMEBODY pick this up. I wanna read it. NOW!!!

[iron chimp]

If this is to be believed

https://io9.gizmodo.com/is-man-of-st...chri-513484485

Then they actually paid for the comparison to be made and presented to churches etc.

[Powertool]

One thing that's been overlooked: the Vertigo line-wide relaunch started in 2018 sure has been plagued by rotten luck! First Border Town, cancelled because of the scandal involving the writer, and now this! And Second Son was the one series I was most looking frward to!

I still have American Carnage-- but if that gets the axe too because of reasons unrelated to the creative side of production, this relaunch will be the greatest disappointment in my decade-long experience with Vertigo.