The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Boys Who People Thought Were Nice’ Edition

Another week into 2025 done, so it’s time to take a quick look at a few comic tales you might have missed … it’s the Sunday Spotlight…

It’s been a bad, bad week for comics. So we’ll start this week with two very different tales…

The Gaiman thing…

If you haven’t seen it already, the Vulture has the story of the alleged sexual abuse/assault carried out by Neil Gaiman.

When we first caught sight of the allegations, it came from Tortoise media and their podcast series six months back, alleging sexual abuse against Gaiman, perpetrated on various vulnerable victims. But given the uncertainty of Tortoise’s background and their presenters, it didn’t really get picked up all that much. But the allegations were there.

And then came the Vulture article, in advance of New York Magazine’s cover feature. In that, we had legitimate journalism building a solid, well researched, and highly credible expansion of those Tortoise allegations. The article is a compelling, well-researched, and absolutely harrowing account of the various abuses of the eight women alleging sexually assault by Gaiman,  with six of them going on record.

Content/trigger warning – The Vulture article is intense, detailed, and horrific, accusing Gaiman of being a serial predator, sexual abuser, and manipulator. Here’s the link to the article – https://archive.is/HJtxW. 

We hope that Gaiman will be held to account. He needs to be. The accusations are too credible to be brushed aside, too horrible to be ignored. Gaiman has finally responded, in a post that smacks of a celeb getting the crisis management advisors in (See this Guardian piece for that).

I stand with the women making their abuses known. I thank them for their bravery. And I hope they can move on and heal from the terrible things done to them. I’ll end with these words from Gaiman himself, words that are true. But also words poisoned in the knowledge that Gaiman seems to be the worst predator and abuser comics have ever seen… believe the survivors, believe the women.

.And the Diamond thing… Distributor files for Chapter 11 bankcruptcy…

Diamond Comics Distributors, one of the biggest in comics and the way so many comic shops get their weekly deliveries of comics and books and more, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. If you haven’t already, do go and read Erik’s piece on the news here. Business Wire broke the news here.

Now, as anyone who lived and worked through Marvel Comics doing the same thing in 1996 will know, Chapter 11 doesn’t mean the company is out of business, just taking a position to allow it to reorganise debts and restructure. There’s already word that various parts of Diamond will be sold off.

However, it does mean that an already perilously close-to-the-bone comics industry gets hit and hit again. There’s retailers out there wondering how they’ll get their books and stay in business, given the lesser discounts they might get from alternative distributors like Lunar. Then there’s the companies owed money by Diamond, including plenty of bigger names, who will no doubt find things tougher than ever this year as they wait to see what the outcome of this means for the money they’re owed. And there’s the smaller publishers who use Diamond to get their books out there and are now worried about losing that important route to comic shops.

It’s a bad, bad situation. It’s not quite yet dire. But it’s close. No, it won’t mean the medium fails, the medium is way too big and diverse for that. But it’s going to impact the direct market comics industry in a huge way. Whilst there’s little you can do to stop what’s coming, you can help those who may be most affected by this. So, get out there — support your local comic shop, support your favourite creators, and buy direct from small publishers and creators.

For more on this developing story, Heidi’s Comics Beat has this,

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The fallout from Ann Telnaes’ resignation from the Washington Post continues…

The news that Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit her 16-year role as political cartoonist at The Washington Post after editorial killed a cartoon criticising billionaire tech/media chief execs for bowing and scraping to the President-elect just keeps reverberating around the world of politics and cartooning. You can, and should read her Substack post, detailing the reasons why, but essentially, it comes down to her cartoon (below) being rejected by editorial because of a point of view and the obvious criticism of those big bosses, including, not coincidentally, Jeff Bezos, Amazon boss and owner of The Post.

It’s a chilling attack on freedom of the press, something that should be shouted about as much as possible, and something that The Post should be ashamed of. But with the next four years of US politics, I sadly doubt it will be the last.

.John Wagner’s ‘A Life In Comics’ launches on his new website…

The co-creator of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rok of the Reds, and plenty more, John Wagner, has launched his own website, where he’s currently serialising his memoir, A Life In Comics, at johnwagner.co.uk. Part 1 opens with 1969 and a young Wagner heading to Dundee for a job as editorial assistant at DC Thomson.

‘And so to Dundee, famed for ‘jute, jam and journalism’.  By 1969 the jute industry is in serious decline.  The claim that marmalade was invented locally is disputed, but indeed that and other conserves have been made here for many years.  But of the three, journalism is clearly king, and DC Thomson & Co sits upon the throne, overseeing a vast publishing empire from its headquarters in Albert Square.  They produce a wide range of newspapers and periodicals, but apart from Scotland’s favourite Sunday newspaper The Sunday Post, with its excellent short comic strips Oor Wullie and The Broons, it’s the comics I mainly know them for.’

And it ends in 1970 with this, a rather fortuitous meeting…

‘All that is about to change. The latest recruit to arrive under my dubious supervision is a tall, red-haired Englishman with an incredible amount of nervous energy and a burning ambition to become a writer.  His name is Patrick Mills.’

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.Boxes Volume 4 open for submissions…

Steven Ingram‘s excellent Boxes anthology is now open for submissions – go look here. You’ve got until 23 February to get them in.

As we’ve told you a couple of times now with the Boxes anthology kickstarters, it’s an excellent look at the depth and breadth of Brit comics and well worth your time. This is what they’re looking for…

‘We are looking to focus on the more indie and small press side of comics. When deciding what to send us, think of something that wouldn’t look out of place in an up-to-date Mome or Drawn & Quarterly magazine. Take a look at the comics we stock in the shop or what was included in Boxes Vols. 1, 2 & 3 to see the kind of work we like.’

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.Interviews, interviews, interviews… Alan Moore, Posy Simmonds, Bryan Talbot, Scott Snyder…

A four in one here, with a quartet of interviews to take a look at…

The Connexion has a sit down with Posy Simmonds, one of Britain’s comic and cartooning greats, all about her work and the Posy Simmonds. Herself. exhibition celebrating her work in the 52nd edition Angoulême International Comics Festival (FIBD).

Entertainment Weekly interviews Alan Moore on The Great When and its connection to his comics work.

And The Comics Beat has a couple of interviews – Bryan Talbot talks about the final Luther Arkwright volume, The Legend of Luther Arkwright and Scott Snyder about part 2 of The Absolute Batman.

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.Andi Watson’s new book announced — make a note for 2025 … The Book Tour gets a sequel…

Andi Watson‘s always been a comic maker who sits right at the top of my must read list, whether it’s the likes of Punycorn, Kerry and the Knight of the Forest, Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula, Gum Girl/Superhero Pink, and Glister for all ages, or The Book Tour, Dumped, Breakfast Afternoon, Slow News Day for adults.

Well, it may be a long way off, but there was the announcement recently that Andi’s The Book Tour, published in 2020 by Top Shelf, is getting a sequel, again coming from Top Shelf, slated for 2027. This is fabulous news and one that you really need to make a note of.

Here’s what The Book Tour was all about … expect the sequel to be just as brilliant…

‘A page-turning, Kafkaesque dark comedy in brilliant retro style, this graphic novel watches one man try to keep it together while everything falls apart.

‘Upon the publication of his latest novel, G. H. Fretwell, a minor English writer, embarks on a book tour to promote it. Nothing is going according to plan, and his trip gradually turns into a nightmare. But now the police want to ask him some questions about a mysterious disappearance, and it seems that Fretwell’s troubles are only just beginning…’

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