Weakly calling out Wizard
Marvel editor C.B. Cebulski went on a mini-twitter-tirade against Wizard today:
More shoddy, sensationalistic reporting in the new Wizard. Let them retweet that as it seems this is where they’re getting all their “news”. (source)
@jengrunwald With that kind of misinformation, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a Wizard podcast. (source)
@richjohnston I think the industry as a whole is allergic to Wizard these days. 🙂 (source)
Now it’s really easy to call someone out for “shoddy” reporting, but it’s a lot more difficult to say what somebody did wrong and what the truth is. So I tweeted Mr. Cebulski, asking “have you said what they got wrong yet or just that they got something wrong?” He, unsurprisingly, has not replied.
To put it quite bluntly, it’s ridiculously irresponsible to accuse someone of bad reporting without providing any evidence to back it up. When you don’t back up a claim like that, it looks more like Wizard published something true that Cebulski didn’t like, and since he has nothing factual to refute it with, he turns instead to trying to drag their name through the mud. It’s a pretty standard — but sleazy — tactic.
But he didn’t stop at accusing them of flawed reporting.
I would have no problem with Wizard if they treated this industry and its creators with the respect, dignity and honesty they deserve. (source)
We have enough stupid, petty backstabbing and bullshit in this biz already and don’t need them undermining it further. (source)
Isn’t it ironic that in the issue Amanda Connor’s named the first female to WIzard’s Top 10, we also get this: http://pic.gd/6f5100 (source)
No doubt Wizard comes off as lame and a bit creepy with its lust for printed comic heroines, but as Cebulski moans that Wizard’s objectification of women results in the magazine not treating the industry and its creators with the respect and dignity they deserve, he seems to forget that it is that very industry and those very creators who are publishing the four-color quasi-porn that Wizard is promoting. I fail to see how Wizard’s obsession with the bulbous illustrated breasts disrespects the industry when that obsession literally could not exist if the industry weren’t creating the material in the first place.
It’s just a classic example of someone not wanting to take responsibility for what they’re creating. Cebulski works for Marvel, and Marvel has decided to make a Red She-Hulk, complete with big red boobs. That’s not Wizard’s fault. It’s cheap and disingenuous for Cebulski to pretend it is, but it’s pretty obvious why he’s doing it: You’re either stupid or independently wealthy if you’re going to call out your employer; you get to pretend you’re a tough guy when you’re calling out somebody else.