Dark Horse Editor Scott Allie Apologizes Amid Accusations of Misconduct

[RobinFan4880]

That's gross.

[Ms Lola]

llllllllll

[Tlano]

I'm always weirded out by the people that come forward to defend harassers and abusers in these kind of articles, contemptibly referring to these calls for attention as "witch hunts", as if it's so irrational to want a safer, friendlier space in the comic book industry.

[Ragdoll]

LOL this is some story. How has nobody ever knocked this dude out before? I can't believe something like it went on for so long.

[Angilasman]

Honestly, I'm angrier at the higher ups like Richardson for allowing an environment where harrassment can take place. Allie, it seems, has a serious problem, and I (in maybe my naive way) hope he gets help.

This really hurts, because DH has consistently been my favorite publisher of creator owned comics for over a decade now.

[Ms Lola]

llllllllll

[Angilasman]

Also, I'm with you about DH being a fave publisher. This hurts.

The one positive is that if something seismic did happen to the company - well, these books (Hellboy, Usagi, The Goon, Finder, Age of Reptiles, Beasts of Burden, Concrete, Blacksad, and several manga) are just published by DH, not owned by them, and should find no problem finding other homes.

[Javasaurus]

As someone who has considered Dark Horse to be their favorite publisher for years now, this is a source of sadness on several levels.

So I have a question for other similar-minded people here: how should we respond?

I'm torn. On one hand, I don't want to be silent. I agree wholeheartedly that harassment in any form, profession, or industry is wrong and should not be allowed to keep a foothold. On the other, I feel as if taking an action such as boycotting and dropping DH titles would serve to punish the good people along with the bad – whether it be symbolical or financially.

Any thoughts? Like I said; I'm torn.

[ChaoticScholar]

As someone who has considered Dark Horse to be their favorite publisher for years now, this is a source of sadness on several levels.

So I have a question for other similar-minded people here: how should we respond?

I'm torn. On one hand, I don't want to be silent. I agree wholeheartedly that harassment in any form, profession, or industry is wrong and should not be allowed to keep a foothold. On the other, I feel as if taking an action such as boycotting and dropping DH titles would serve to punish the good people along with the bad – whether it be symbolical or financially.

Any thoughts? Like I said; I'm torn.

The Buffy and Firefly books were all under him too, I'll stop buying them if he stays on. If his he has direct influence on books, they're out.

[Muffin Crud]

Why am i not surprised to see Janelle Asselin's name in the middle of this witch hunt?

oh I'm sorry, is speaking up about horrible things an "evil feminist agenda" to you or something?

[Mr.Majestic]

Why am i not surprised to see Janelle Asselin's name in the middle of this witch hunt?

Dude. He apologized for his actions ergo admitting his wrongdoing. I'll tell ya if he'd been caught doing something like that, once, at my workplace he would've been given the bum's rush so fast...

I mean if this type of behaviour is endemic in the comic book industry no wonder change is so hard. It's like the people in their offices are still acting like it was the 70's or something.

[Javasaurus]

The Buffy and Firefly books were all under him too, I'll stop buying them if he stays on. If his he has direct influence on books, they're out.

That's the direction I'm leaning.

Last night, I went through all of the DH books I've been picking up recently in order to get a sense of the those in which he was directly involved. Currently that's just "Hellboy and the BPRD." When the next issue drops this month, I'll check to see if he is still directly involved as editor. If he is, I'm dropping it.

[Darrin Kelley]

I used to be a customer of the comic book store directly across the street from the Dark Horse offices in Milwaukee, Oregon over 20 years ago. And I knew a lot of the people who worked at Dark Horse because of it, A lot of them. Including Mike Richardsen. Were good friends.

That is the reason for my shock. It was just something the people I knew, I never thought would lack the moral character to cover up. It was so far out of character for the people I knew.

[Angilasman]

That's the direction I'm leaning.

Last night, I went through all of the DH books I've been picking up recently in order to get a sense of the those in which he was directly involved. Currently that's just "Hellboy and the BPRD." When the next issue drops this month, I'll check to see if he is still directly involved as editor. If he is, I'm dropping it.

Man, if I was a new reader I'd consider it, but I am seriously invested in all the Hellboy-universe books. I've been a dedicated reader of them since I was a teen. There have been long stretches where they were the only comics I was reading. I've got boxes of single issues, a shelf full of paperbacks and hardcovers, dozens of toys and nick-naks scattered about - heck, I've even had letters printed in the books' fantastic letters column (answered by Allie, no less)! I can't act like I'm gonna avoid these books because there's no way I ever would. If I heard tomorrow that Mike Mignola had killed and eaten a dozen people my first thought would be something akin to: "will they allow him to draw and write comics in prison?"

... and, as I said before, I'm really not mad at Allie. Seems to me he's a man who needs serious help before he destroys himself. I'm more angry at Mike Richardson for letting this happen and thinking a minor demotion was doing enough about the situation. I'm angry at Mike Mignola, one of my top-five favorite cartoonists ever, who apparently valued an easy working relationship with Allie over preventing the serial harassment of employees. I'm angry about an overall sentiment of excusing a bad drunk for his actions. I'm angry that the impulse at every step of the way was to hush up his behavior and sweep it under the rug, which is bad for both the victims and Allie. Here's an article that I just came across that's elucidates things far better than I can:

http://comicsbulletin.com/comics-har...nd-alcoholism/

Dark Horse was an enabler. No, it is not the responsibility of a company to get their employees treatment for addiction, but that problem was clearly a driving force in what was happening. If they were attempting to prevent these episodes from happening and yet were unwilling to fire Allie, the most obvious solution was to get him the help he needed. It appears that never happened.

What’s worse, hiding the issue from the public actually allowed it to continue. There were no negative repercussions from his actions, at least none that were strong enough to stop him from repeating them. The millions of quotes involving having to hit rock bottom before you can pick yourself back up exist because it’s often true, and that was never going to happen for Allie, at least as far as his job was concerned. As far as we know, he was never sued. We know he never lost his job.

.....

Allie is an adult and his actions are his own. But Dark Horse wasn’t just allowing him to hurt others, they were allowing him to continue hurting himself, and that speaks to a systemic failure.

[Joker]

I'm also not dropping the Hellboy books over this. Mignola, Arcudi, Stewart and their artists didn't murder or rape anyone, the editor is a drunk.

We also don't know who at DH knew what. Remember, the creatives work from home, not in the offices. It's not stated if the nickname joke was known among every freelancer or just inter office. So I'm not holding Allie's actions against the creatives who's books he edits.