Amazing Spider-Man writer Dan Slott recently told a poster at the Comic Book Resources Spider-Man forum to go F-themselves. A poster by the name of lejayjay had a snarky comment about Slott saying
It is jus a paycheck for Slott anyway. He’s not a real fan.
Slott then replied with this comment.
As a guy who turned down a side job this year for a paycheck that would’ve been over a third of his yearly income– BECAUSE it would’ve meant cutting back on his not-so-lucrative comic book writing career– and get in the way of working on his Spider-Man dream job…
…and the guy who slept less than 12 hours over the course of 4 days this week working on a script while he was sick… a guy who finally had to be ORDERED off it by his editor to go see a doctor… and is still in a good deal of pain today…
…this is the first time I think I’ve ever said this to somebody over a comic book message board:
Go fuck yourself.
Seriously.
Go. Fuck. Yourself.
Now I post this not to bring up the Slott/ Crawlspace disagreement again, but it opens a good point of discussion.
Should the pro’s be held to a different standard when it comes to online behavior?
Should they bite their tongues?
Are they risking future sales to an already small audience, when they tell a potential or current customer to go f-themselves?
I’d like your thoughts in the comment section or on this thread on our message board. Remember no personal attacks, keep it civil. Refresh yourselves on the rules before you post.
CBR has since deleted the post however Google was able to take a cache of it before it was deleted. Here’s the link.
I just wanted to contribute my part to all this. Out of curiosity, has there ever been this many comments on a topic on the homepage of the Crawlspace?
LOL at Jon,
ASM 218: two lesser being combining into a singular bag of douche! amazing
Dan Slott has absolutely no business behaving that way. I don’t care if he’s on salary with full benefits through Marvel or a subcontractor of a subcontractor. He’s the fucking writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, and that makes him the face of Marvel. He needs to behave or get out of the pool. Was the person with whom he was speaking out of line? Definitely. Should it have been handled differently by Dan? There are so many ways he could have done that better.
ASM 217 has a fight with Spidey, Hydro Man and Sandman that ends with the two baddies merging into a mud monster.
ASM 216: “By my powers shall I be vanquished!”
Bit like Mr. Slott wiping himself out by writing…
@214: I’m glad I’m not the only one! Cheers!
@213: You and me both when it comes to not understanding skype, you and me both. When I first heard about the call in show I though it was a literal phone in thing, although that would have racked up long distance good.
LMAO! The podcast will be about 96 hours long!
No, I’m just saying that temperatures might still be a little heated, is all. I know you guys can handle it, but it might get a little sticky. You won’t be able to edit that stuff out. (Not that you ever edit things out anyway! There’s a podcast drinking game: Drink every time Brad says “I’ll edit that out!”) XD
I’m still eagerly anticipating it, even though I won’t be able to participate. I know I sound dumb, but I don’t have the slightest clue about the whole skype thing…Maybe I’ll look into it, and join in next year!
AMFAM-Why should we delay the live callers? Is it because we’ll take 200 people on the line?
212-1st Hydro Man people!
Umm…yeah, you guys might want to postpone the “Live Caller” show for a week or two…just a suggestion!
#209-“To Salvage My Honor”…how appropriate is THAT title today!
I think this was a plot to make us all forget how much ASM 649 sucked.
Part of being professional is, when Slott decided (right or wrong) to slap down the meathead (which it sounds like that initial poster was), he should have had a lot more style. I expect a lot better from the writer of ASM than to revert to the cliched and simplistic f-bomb. It’s possible to stay classy, be able to defend yourself, AND still put a poozer in it’s place.
I know it is fictional characters, but think of how Flash Thompson tormented Parker in the early issues. As frustrated as Peter was, he didn’t lose his temper and break Flash’s arm, which he could have done very easily. Because Peter knew which people in his life were important, which opinions really mattered to him. (And which opinions were so idiotic that they shouldn’t be given any weight.)
The secret to the “man behind the curtain” aspect of Wacker, Slott et al is that the book is NOT doing well, they aren’t universally praised or even praised by a majority of recent readers – 80,000 of whom have stopped buying the book- so they are trying to run a sort of amateur hour agitprop about how awesomely cool it is. If they stopped doing this they’d actually get a lot more support. But the stench of villain sue, mary sue and general malaise is strong, and the heavy hand of Joe Q is felt and so out they go to support the insupportable.
They really should just not interact with people online, if this is the outcome, let alone lead people into absurd fan / not a fan dichotomies. Fans are supposed to be what? How do you define it? All Marvel cares about is dollars anyway. It’s like people running a peepshow calling the guys who pay a dollar to see a flash of skin “art lovers”.
Mesmero. Curiously appropriate that we’re in the Deborah Whitman / hallucination era.
MJ and Peter were all a dream… all a dream…
This is the thread that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends. Some members started posting it not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue reading it forever just because this is the thread that never ends…
GB for the win.
@201 OH NO CHRISTMAS IS RUINED! You’re a mean one, Mr. Douglas…
Oh great. The Denny O’Neil era is here. Denny O’Neil’s era sucked. 🙁
@201 – Joseph, it’s a Spider-Man message board. This involves the writer of ASM.
Should this have been really posted. It’s such a negative post to see for the holidays :(. It’s the internet, and apparently there are no rules so how can one reason or justify anything on here. Its difficult.
and 200! turns out I couldn’t sleep! and no, it wasn’t because of this thread! Return of the BUrglar!
issue 199 “now yousee me, now you die!” with mysterio!
Re #193 – Are we allowed to post something like that?
Bravo to CrazyChris, that’s one of the best posts of all of them.
197 baby, Kingpin’s steppin on Spidey.
This reminds me of something I wrote for a BND retrospective editorial on this very site, back in July 2010. My thoughts are pretty much the same now as they were back then. Surreally so, in fact.
Me from July:
“Because comic professionals comment on our articles every now and then, I’ll impart some advice to any who might be reading: stop arguing on message boards. While the internet might not represent fandom as a whole, there’s a good chance that people willing to while away time on a Spider-Man forum are your most passionate readers. We are people you want on your side. We’re the people who keep those casual, non-internet fans you claim to target updated on of the world of comics, and we’re the ones out there trying to win new converts. We’re the ones actually reading those Newsarama interviews you do and relaying the content to others. Right or wrong, we’re your direct line to your universe of potential readers.
I can think of a writer who everyone loved before Brand New Day. Everyone respected this person and he showed up on EVERY list of desired writers to replace Straczynski. The fans got their wish, but that good will has vanished because this person made a hobby out of diving into internet threads and competing in mudslinging matches with his own readers. Does he make valid points, occasionally? Do the message board posters frequently overreact and exaggerate the level of hostility he actually displays? Yes and yes. However, that doesn’t matter because it makes him look bad just participating in these fights, just putting himself in an antagonistic position. You can never change the mind of the people you’re arguing with, and spectators will only see you as abrasive. Why would you do that to your relationship with the most potent potential proselytizers of your work?
In the information age, the sense of community between fans is just as important to the overall experience of reading comics as the work itself. Comic professionals should use that community to enhance the experience, not make it bitter. There will always be abrasive, unfair, factually-incorrect, idiotic, self-entitled assholes on the internet saying the work sucks. The best thing for professionals to do is disengage from them. Focus on the good, build on the community instead of fighting it, and folks will WANT to like the work. That is all.”
I’ve often enjoyed Mr Wacker’s comments and realized that he’s simply yanking people’s chains or trying to get a reaction. I’m sure he sits and chuckles at some of these when he sees fans explode at every little “indignity” they feel Marvel has heaped upon Spidey. Sometimes I sit here and chuckle right along with him, I’m sure we all have from time to time.
But Mr Wacker, considering you asked specifically to be deactivated from this site so you wouldn’t have a connection with it anymore, and then the inciting comments you’ve thrown at Kevin above when in my opinion he’s been most gracious to you, it’s getting pretty hard to defend you in any capacity as of late (for what it’s worth from a fan who no longer purchases ASM).
In fact, I’ll go a little farther and say that with Mr Slott’s reaction at CBR, I can at least understand where it came from and why. With your postings above, I don’t get it. It’s like you’re going out of your way to purposely bait and upset people. Very disappointing.
I wonder if Slott is too sick to respond…
Wakka Wakka.
@189 – “Is this being discussed at CBR, or is it another “never happened” moment at the amnesia forum? Does CBR have a psychic blindspot like Earth-666 Spider-Man?”
Well it certainly seems odd to rewrite history like that…
Andrew,
My biggest problem with JoJo is that both of you have generalized about this site but have yet to provide any personal attacks about the creators. If they were attacks about the person themselves they will get a warning. Three of them they’re banned.
LOL@ Flying Tiger.
lol
Is this being discussed at CBR, or is it another “never happened” moment at the amnesia forum? Does CBR have a psychic blindspot like Earth-666 Spider-Man?
One another thing: sympathizing with why a guy says something is different from whether or not it was right or smart to say it.
I’d love to hit post 200 (Burglar vs. Pete round 2!) but it’s time for bed. Maybe I can grab Venom’s first appearance in the morning!
I’m sorry but this I can’t believe this guy still has a job.
……btw, ASM185, peter’s graduation!
@180 BD
Are we going to start attacking people based on how active they are at posting in the comments now? I lurked for years before I posted, but that doesn’t render my opinion any less valid or legitimate. Are you dismissing him because you believe this is the first time he’s posting and as such doesn’t deserve to voice his opinion… or because his observation hit a little too close to home? I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff posted about Quesada here since OMD/BND began.
This isn’t out of character for Wacker or Slott. They’ve dumped on people a LOT on CBR and on slender or no provocation. Singling out leejayjay and slott over this single episode of the war is like picking one battle in 1942 and saying that was the start of WW2.
Some Marvel people have a history of being very adolescent and rude, and it’s escalated to what we have now. It ain’t pretty, and it’s Marvel’s mess to fix.
Spidey 182- Rocket Racer AND Big Wheel. In other news, it sold, what, like 3 times, 4 times what the currenst ASM is doing? Ouch.
I just wanted to be part of history : )
Haha, Right on Slott!!!
This thread is going to set a record.
JoJo,
Thank you for summing up the site for the rest of us. Oh by the way, I’ve never seen you post here, but thanks for your observation on your first post.
@173
I completely agree. It’s just not that black and white. It’s all about the context. He wasn’t insulting some innocent victim, he was insulting a spiteful man spewing garbage all over him and which everyone could see. I believe sometimes you have to purge the impuities.
@174
How did you feel about the way some of the posters interacting with him came off? Not just here, but on the message boards over the year? Respect runs both ways and considering the acrimony directed his way from this place in the past, I can hardly blame him for his attitude. Slott/Wacker hatred seems to be the raison d’etre for many people on this site.
How Slott reacted, and what he said, made him the moral equivalent of leejayjay. Two wrongs don’t make a right, they make two wrong-doers.
Everyone who gets paid by a company represents that company, especially if they interact with customers.
This hostility isn’t an out-of-the-ordinary aberration by Slott, it’s a habitual pattern.
CBR has a double-standard.
Enter Bart Hamilton.
Mr Mets:
“I didn’t delete Slott’s comment or disagree with the decision.”
So, let me guess: This was a management thing, considering that you’re a news site and all, you don’t want that on the site… Pray tell, what is the management reason?
“@spideydude re: posts #1&7- It seems that Slott got off the computer after he made the comment.”
Oh Nice. Snarky. Yes, I’m sure that he did. But I am saying in general.
“@spideydude re: post #10- Why bring up Wacker’s comment in a new discussion, without providing a link to the original comment in its full context?”
http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/2010/11/28/the-amazing-spider-man-649-review/#comments
Comment 27.
@clonesaga re: post #18- Was Slott actually banned from the Crawl Space? I was under the impression it was slightly more nuanced.
No. He like Kevin said, he received a single warning.
“@Batgirl re: post #22- Why can’t someone simultaneously be a fan and a professional? If someone’s a fan, isn’t the suggestion that they’re not a fan akin to a personal insult?”
See: DeFalco, Tom.
As for the CBR Comment… I’ll leave you to your own rationale for my reasoning.
This was a pretty shocking display by Steven Wacker…. I stunned by the tone and general attitude of his comment. My opinion they came off very poorly. Man…
@169
BD I think the heading, while technically accurate, is taken out of context. It wasn’t like Slott told any random fan to go f*** themselves. He told a particularly insulting poster who baited him, and surprise, was shocked when Slott actually insulted him back. Context is everything.
@BD i think its just a little off beacuse at glance it sounds like it says he said it to all fans instead of just the one fan not justifying it it just seems like a direct quote would have worked better is all.
BD, i’d argue that something like “Slott tells argumentative fan to go fuck themselves” or something that relays that the guy was being a douche to Dan Slott himself that actually warranted the rebuttal would sit better with anyone that disagrees.
I’d like to add one thing
When I read the headline (and the headline only), my first reaction was this had to be fake “No way, he didn’t do that, this must be some odd kind of joke” or “Someones hacked the crawl space and is posting articles to damage Dans image, no way he’s go as far to actually tell a fan to go fuck himself”
But I was wrong, I was someone who actually gave Dan the benefit of the doubt and I was wrong for doing so, just food for thought.
So I just got home from work and saw the comments, wow. New record for comments by far.
I just re-read the comments and here’s the readers digest version.
Wacker defends Slott by saying he’s not a Marvel employee so he’s free to say whatever he wants. He doesn’t represent Marvel?
Other’s think it’s ok for a person selling a product to insult the customer?
And several people took me to task for the headline title? Did he not tell someone to f-themselves? Seriously, how is the headline off?
Oh and I love the game of posts=ASM issue. I’m 169, JJ just discovered Pete’s ID.