06 October 2005

Comment: Larsen Backtracking?

So Erik Larsen managed to rile up the internet last week with his rant about comic book creators working on established characters for the Big Two instead of creating their own, ignorantly going with a slavery metaphor - But you stay shackled to that chain and pick that cotton and tell us all how "nice" your master is and how much you "like it" there. Ah, white privilege! - and calling them pussies.

Because I use Bloglines to track CBR articles, it notifies me whenever a piece has been updated, and Larsen's column popped up again today with the notation: Posted on: Thu, Sep 29 2005 1:00 AM Updated: Thu, Oct 6 2005 6:48 AM

"Hmm," thought I, "what's up?"

Skimming through it, nothing jumped out at me, and I specifically searched for the two aforementioned comments thinking maybe he'd come to his senses a bit, but no, they were still there.

What was also there, though, was a bit at the end that I don't recall being there last week:

What are you afraid of?

And for those of you that did break free of the shackles, which had restrained you-- this rant is clearly is not meant for you-- you're living the dream! Good for you! Keep at it!

As for the rest of you…


C'mon, man.

Show us what you've got.
The bolded section there. Was that added after the shit hit the fan? Wonder who it was specifically that convinced him he needed to make this little clarification, if in fact, it was edited in afterwards, as it appears it was.

Wouldn't that make Larsen something of a "pussy," in his definition of the word? Pot, meet kettle?

1 comment:

Stephen Maher said...

While I appreciate Larsen's argument (less so much how he delivered it) he and Todd would not have gotten anywhere near where they'd be today if it wasn't for their very popular stints on Spider-Man. I mean, how many times do you think he gets a copy from his Amazing Spidey run across his desk at a signing?
Would he be talking all loud if he wasn't able to parlay that Marvel Money into creative independence?
Fact is, if given the opportunity to write for Spidey or write for own creation it wouldn't be an easy choice to make. Maybe I'm in the minority there.