Only because I’m sort of tangentially in comic books fandom, I already was familiar with everything in Asher Elbein’s concatenation and exploration of sexual misconduct in the industry. It’s a heady and heavy read, and if you think it’s not relevant to you, you’re wrong—if only because Elbein makes the cogent point that in addition to being a sexual abuse issue it’s a labor rights issue. Also, because Elbein isn’t pulling any punches.
On June 18, Ellis issued a public statement. “I’ve never considered myself famous or powerful,” wrote the author of multiple bestselling comics, head of several influential forums, and showrunner of an acclaimed Netflix show.
More important than that satisfying bit of shooting fish in a barrel is Elbein’s concise description of what comics’ culture of grooming and patronage does both to people and to an industry.
Economic exploitation creates the conditions for sexual exploitation to flourish, and the comics industry as it currently exists cannot address the one without tackling the other. Sexual harassment, in all its various forms, is not simply a social problem; it is theft—of a victim’s time, dignity, of their ability to create work in peace and pursue financial or social opportunities. Moreover, it is theft of a creator’s ability to pursue a livelihood in their chosen field. Harassers don’t simply prey on those made vulnerable by precarity: they actively make the spaces and institutions they inhabit more precarious, and keep workers disorganized and afraid to the company’s financial benefit. Think of it, if you like, as grooming on a grand scale: the cultivation of a workforce that can be trusted to go along with sexual and economic exploitation—to grin through clenched teeth, to say nothing out of fear—and drive out those who can’t.
Take some time with this one. It will leave you wondering if there’s any way for comics to get out from under the weight of its own garbage other than to burn the industry down and start over again.
Spend enough time in comics spaces, listen to enough horror stories, and it’s hard to escape the impression that—after the periodicals themselves—what the direct market industry primarily produces are furious and heartbroken people.
Excelsior?