If you support "One More Day," you're a homophobe

[K-Box]

Think I'm going overboard?

Not if you employ the exact same type of logic that Amazing Spider-Man writer Marc Guggenheim recently used to denounce critics of "One More Day."
__________

COMICON.com: GUGGENHEIM'S AMAZING SECRETS OF SPIDER-MAN

Speaking of "judging" Guggenheim said a lot of people who aren't reading Spider-Man or refuse to read Spider-Man are judging it based on misunderstandings. "Part of the problem with the controversy behind One More Day is the understanding of what was retconned overstates the extent of what was done," he said. "Everything that happened in the last twenty plus years of comic book history happened! The only difference is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson weren't married. They still dated. They still lived together. They still love each other. They just weren't married. Judging from the letters and death threats we received, I think some people were confused. It all still happened."

"Here's my attitude, if anyone is upset about the marriage going away, then they must all be pro-gay marriage," he continued. "Because if you're pro-gay marriage, you understand the distinction between a marriage and a civil union -- that a civil union is not equal to a marriage. We downgraded Mary Jane and Peter to a civil union. If that bothers you, then you're pro-gay marriage."
__________

Here's the reaction thread on scans_daily.

Dear Marc Guggenheim,

I am upset about the marriage going away.

And I am also pro-gay marriage.

You, on the other hand, are a homophobic sack of shit.

However much hyperbolic invective I might vent, I rarely mean it when I say that I wish some writers would die, and I never mean it when all they've done is write some stories that I didn't like.

I'm saying that so that I can say this:

For what you've said, I sincerely hope you die.

It was so inexcusably wrong that you've managed to look bad even by the standards of homophobic assholes.

For that reason, I say that you have literally failed at failing, without it being a double-negative.
__________

I'll link to this in the OMD/BND thread, but it was so OMG WTF that it surely deserved a thread all its own.

[jessebaker]

I'm just shocked and suprised that Marvel hasn't ordered a full-scale interview embargo to the major comic fansites, since the writers themselves just keep inadvertedly burying OMD/BND with their pro-OMD/BND interviews defending the new status quo....

NOTHING they are doing is working and if they are taking an Ahabian stance that BND is never going to be reversed, why do they insist on letting their writers speak about the subject when it's just going to make things worse as far as driving sales further and further down and render writers radioactive on other projects?

[K-Box]

More to the point, how is it possible for paid writers - professional communicators - to consistently manage to say precisely the worst thing, every single time?

I mean, it's one thing to defend a patently stupid status quo, but you almost have to be trying to fuck up, if you somehow manage to engage in queer-bashing in the process.

I mean, that's like starting out by trying to defend Chuck Austen's shitty storytelling, and then, somehow managing to issue a Holocaust denial by the time you're done.

[K-Box]

haikuninja explains it all:

[K-Box]

Oh, and I e-mailed this to Rich Johnston of Lying in the Gutters.

His response?

"I'm already running it as Quote Of The Week!"

[Somebody]

Yeah, I sent it to him this morning (about 6:30am, UK time), and he responded with "Thank you. That's insane." 40 minutes later.

[paulpogue]

"Everything that happened in the last twenty plus years of comic book history happened! The only difference is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson weren't married. They still dated. They still lived together. They still love each other. They just weren't married. Judging from the letters and death threats we received, I think some people were confused. It all still happened."

Gee, it's not like the editor, editor-in-chief, senior writer of the retcon itself, and every single writer now handling Spider-Man have given ENTIRELY INCONSISTENT STORIES on the topic! Why on EARTH would any of us be confused?

[K-Box]

Sept 22, 2008 13:55:35 GMT -8 Somebody said:

Yeah, I sent it to him this morning (about 6:30am, UK time), and he responded with "Thank you. That's insane." 40 minutes later.

Now there's a familiar face. Good to see you here. I'm CSFB! on the SMB.

[jensaltmann]

I liked how, over on Scans Daily, someone proved logically how liking OMD equals being Anti-American.

[jarddavis]

Luckily, I stopped wasting Money on Marvel when they came up with this insane bs in the first place, so , I'm less perturbed than I should be.

That said, both of these responses are pure stupidity.

Marvel got rid of the marriage because they're too lazy to write a married Spider-Man and explore that aspect of the character. But comparing it to being pro-gay marriage is just silly. It sounds as if Guggenheim's got a political axe to grind and is using the forum to do it. Unless he really believes this crap, in which case he's an idiot.

That said, the responder's response isn't any better. Wishing someone to die over this issue is insane. I'd love to get into it with this guy. Seriously. He'd be fun, because all he could do would be to resort to name calling.

[jensaltmann]

"That said, the responder's response isn't any better. Wishing someone to die over this issue is insane. I'd love to get into it with this guy. Seriously. He'd be fun, because all he could do would be to resort to name calling."

That responder was Kirk.

[K-Box]

Sept 26, 2008 13:59:28 GMT -8 jensaltmann said:

That responder was Kirk.

Heh, yeah, sorry 'bout that.

The combination of perceived homophobia plus using gay rights issues as a justification for a patently shitty story really just set off my inner Baker_Baker.

[michaelpaciocco]

you know, I'm at the point where I just really don't see how anyone at Marvel manages to stay married.

Clearly, they seem to think all marriage is a joke, as shown here.

[Anders]

That poster would have more impact if it read "Marital Infidelity".

[michaelpaciocco]

Crap. Fixing that now

Edited: Fixed it at my photobucket account but can't for the life of me get it to load here correctly.

Michael