Actor who played Superman in 1990s TV show may have been blacklisted from convention over his conservative leanings

Pajamas Media recently reported that actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 1993-97 Lois & Clark TV series, may have been banned from GalaxyCon over his right-wing standings:

Superman actor Dean Cain is exposing the truth about an attempt to blacklist him in Hollywood for openly expressing his conservative political beliefs. Cain is best known for portraying the Man of Steel in the hit 1990s series Lois & Clark, where he embodied the Last Son of Krypton for an entire generation of fans, myself included. Don’t get me wrong — my two favorite actors to play the character remain Christopher Reeve and Tom Welling — but Cain did a fantastic job bridging the gap between the two and bringing Superman back to television.

Without Lois & Clark, there would be no Smallville. Cain deserves respect for keeping the franchise relevant at a time when the Man of Tomorrow had begun to fall in popularity, regardless of his political beliefs. Unfortunately, liberals often seem incapable of seeing beyond a person’s politics. I consume plenty of art from people I vehemently disagree with. I still respect many of those artists as people, even when their values directly oppose mine. It can be done.

Cain took to social media this week and shared a screenshot of an email he received from an employee at GalaxyCon, a company that organizes fan conventions, explaining why the company would not work with him. The email cited a difference in “values” as the reason.

“In regard to Dean Cain, although I have a soft spot in my heart because he sent me an autographed postcard in the mail when I was like 10 years old, GalaxyCon’s values don’t align with Dean,” the message stated. “[Redacted] also reaches out to us quite often, but we are also going to pass on him.”

The conservative actor publicly addressed the message and accused GalaxyCon of using vague “values” language to justify blacklisting him over ideological differences. In his post, he wrote, “This is how they try to blacklist…” followed by an eye-roll emoji.

I think this makes for a good reason to boycott the convention if they're going to let their leftist ideological outlooks govern their whole MO. It also explains perfectly why right-wing businesses have to start establishing their own conventions, and not rely solely upon what leftists set up. If they'd get that through their heads already, we probably wouldn't be in such dire straits.

According to Fox News, Cain appears to have contacted the official director of Galaxycon, and they may have reconciled:

Cain said he does not fault Sarah, GalaxyCon’s vice president of talent, personally, describing her as a messenger rather than the ultimate decision-maker.

"I don’t blame Sarah for being the messenger here," Cain said. "The owner of GalaxyCon is named Mike Broder. I’d love to hear his explanation re: my values."

That explanation, Cain said, eventually came after he spoke directly with Broder.

"Spoke with Mike — appreciate the conversation," Cain said. "We agreed to disagree on certain things — but it turns out, our values aren’t so far apart."

Cain said the exchange reinforced his belief that conversation — not exclusion — is the way forward.

Mr. Broder may have retreated from any blacklist he attempted, but what if he pulls it again on another performer or comics creator in the future? He has to publicly address this on TV or radio, because this cannot go on, and must cease. I'd seen news in the past year since Donald Trump's election that there's people who want wokeness to end, and they're right. If GalaxyCon doesn't want a boycott of their convention, they'd do well to set a starting example of one that doesn't take that kind of path, and a good way to build confidence is to invite a busload of conservative figures to their upcoming panels.

One of the reasons I find this news so reprehensible is because Cain once produced a documentary about the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey's Islamic Ottoman empire during WW1, and visited Israel in the past decade, and here Mr. Broder's thanking him by trying to blacklist him? Does that mean Mr. Cain can't talk about how say, a role like Superman taught him a thing or two about altruism for real life? Well if one's not allowed to raise serious issues like those at an establishment like GalaxyCon, then what's the whole point of the convention? All they'd be doing is setting a double-standard on political issues. I should hope Cain's conversation with Broder will prevent any such hypocrisy in the future.

Much too late for Alex Ross to work on a new Marvel project

Over 3 decades ago, artist Alex Ross worked on Marvels with Kurt Busiek, which was a form of nostalgia. Now, the Hollywood Reporter's announced that Ross is returning to do a new item for them, a few years after he'd worked on another project starring the Fantastic Four:

Comic book painter Alex Ross burst out onto the comics scene in the mid-1990s when he produced a one-two punch of electrifying and celebrated works, Marvels for Marvel Comics and Kingdom Come for DC Comics. For a good chunk of this century, however, he has become known mostly for his lush and colorfully vivid covers for Marvel.

Readers were treated to the full Ross experience when he returned to writing and drawing interiors for his widely-praised 2022 graphic novel Fantastic Four: Full Circle.

And while that was the first Ross book in years, fans don’t have to wait as long for his next opus, one that could be as ambitious and impactful as his classic works.

Ross has written and illustrated Marvel Dimensions, an all-new 112-page graphic novel that Abrams ComicArts, in partnership with Marvel Comics, will release in September.

Much of the story is being kept under wraps, but it’s meant to be both a tour of the classic Marvel Universe and something much more expansive. It’s said to be a work that experiments in both art and form, and could introduce upwards of 200 new characters, or at least that many variations of characters.

“It’s meant to be as bonkers a ride for the reader as it could possibly be,” says Ross teasingly to The Hollywood Reporter. “You’re getting one kind of entertainment, and then it changes on you midstream and then you’re getting a different art style suddenly, and then you’re wondering, ‘Where’s this going?’ And then the format changes within the book itself, a mid-book format change. All these things hopefully seem to unify and combine and come back together, but it’s meant to be a wild ride that is throwing everything plus the kitchen sink at you.”

What if it turned out any and all of the "new" characters they speak of were written for the sake of woke brownie points? Not to mention that, years after continuity was ruined and turned incomprehensible, it's pretty rich to tempt everyone with the claim Dimensions will be a tour of the "classic" universe, even as the modern one desecrates all that and worse. A story dealing with the old universe is no substitute for a respectable tale set in modern times.

Even under C.B. Cebulski, there's been only so much that's remained damaged, it does little good to market a project like this, when a single product alone isn't reason enough to resume reading their output. They vehemently refuse to restore the Spider-marriage and Iron Man's parents as biological ones, or quit producing the mess they've made of X-Men and Avengers, and then they actually think we're going to let go of our principles just because they promote a project based on "nostalgia"? No, it's no simple matter at all.

I do appreciate that Ross firmly and wisely refused any part of DC's Identity Crisis over 2 decades ago. But that's exactly why he shouldn't be associating with the Big Two based on what people run them now, which will not change so long as they're under conglomerate ownership. Why, does he even believe this'll sell millions years after rising prices gave many customers pause? It's delusional to believe Dimensions will be much different sales-wise.

Some coverage of a Cleveland specialty store that's out of touch with the real picture

The Land did some coverage of a comics store in the Cleveland area, and the way they describe all this is sadly not looking at the modern picture of where mainstream comicdom sunk down to:

Carol & John’s Comic Book Shop feels less like a retail space and more like a place where stories are handed down. Some people come in looking for something specific, some people come in just to browse, but everyone leaves with something. A kid walks around looking at a Spider-Man book, a longtime customer flips through new releases on a table in the center of the store, each one of them there for the same reason. They’re a part of a community.

This is part of why comic books endure. They survive because we share stories with each other. It is a part of how we got to where we are culturally. Comic book heroes are America’s mythology. Much like England has its Arthurian myths and Greece has its Hercules, we have Superman, and places like Carol & John’s are the reason why our heroes have endured for generations.

But do we have these creations appearing in modern stories that are readable anymore? Sadly, quality's gone down so badly, with Superman's downfall in story merit just the beginning. Yes, comics as a medium can survive in some form or other, but what about IPs owned by conglomerates? Why doesn't that matter?

For Dudas, the story stretches back even further, to a great-grandfather who used comic books as a bridge into a new country.

“My great-grandfather was a Polish immigrant,” he said. “He could speak English, but he couldn’t read or write it. So he would learn from the context by reading comic books.”

When his great-grandfather died, the comics were left to the kid who cared. Dudas was 6 or 7 years old and studied them closely. By the time he was 12, he was working in a comic shop. Then, later, he and his mother opened their own.

“Between my great-grandfather and my daughters, it’s five generations of comic books in the city of Cleveland,” Dudas said. “I could talk to my great-grandfather about Superman, and I could talk to my daughter about Superman.” It’s a bridge that ties them.

That inherited understanding is what turns stories into cultural touchstones. Spider-Man and Captain America aren’t just characters. They’re mirrors. These stories persist because their morality transcends eras and they answer the same questions for every generation. Questions about responsibility, sacrifice and how tough it can be to be a righteous person when it is so easy to give in and quit.

That, alas, is what modern leftists writers did, in a way. This part completely obscures the disaster Cap's stories became in 2002, after the regular series was cancelled and a Marvel Knights series replaced it, which turned out to be apologia for Islamic terrorism. It was so stunningly vile, and quickly degenerated into even more aimless propaganda that seemed more about blaming America than actually solving problems like barbarism in modernity. IIRC, that series was easily the shortest lived of the Knights imprint, being jettisoned after 2 years, but the damage that began there was sadly never fixed, and successive editors/writers/artists never tried to avoid the kind of pettiness that first brought down Cap as an icon, seeing how later, there'd be stories where Steve Rogers was repeatedly replaced by other characters, some of whom were diversity-pandering tokens, and the worst moment was when Cap was made to say "hail Hydra". And Joe Quesada never apologized for what he enabled.

I think it's impressive the store owner's great-grandfather learned reading from comics, but the way this article airbrushes the bigger picture concerning the moral collapse of mainstream comicdom is very appalling.

I asked John whether comics had always shaped who he was, or if it was something that he discovered about himself later in life.

“I’m a better man for it,” he said. “My morality was developed around it.”

But was that decades ago? Because not many people seem to have grown attached to the creations since, and morality isn't developed based on the newer stories post-2000, based on the defeatist politics and ideologies they fell victim to since.

On Free Comic Book Day, thousands of people pass through the doors, and tens of thousands of comics are given away. The store provides free vendor space for local artists, hosts cosplay groups, and runs charity events that have helped generate more than 200,000 meals for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Free Comic Book Day is scheduled for May 2 this year.

On a Saturday, standing in the middle of the shop, that story becomes easy to read. Comic books endure because we need heroes. Not perfect ones, but flawed ones who try the way we try. We pass these stories down because they help us explain who we are and who we want to be.

“I believe in the hobby,” Dudas said. “I believe this hobby makes you a better person.”

I'm afraid the hobby alone doesn't do that. It depends on if you understand any of the messages clearly, show the guts to tackle challenging issues, which wasn't what the Knights volume of Cap did, seeing how it followed a leftist Blame-America narrative. Why, even reading literature alone doesn't make one a better person, if said literature happens to be built on negativity. It's a shame we seem to have here folks too full of themselves to show the courage to admit that, like Hollywood movie production, even comicdom's fallen victim to political correctness that won't be fixed by painting a superficial picture of the hobby that doesn't acknowledge what's gone wrong over the years. Also, have they considered what a disturbing emphasis on villainy turned up in the past 2 decades, sometimes at the heroes' expense? That kind of approach is also what brought down Cap, and makes it hard to believe Marvel's staff at the time respected heroism. Comicdom may continue to survive, but if store owners aren't willing to raise all the relevant issues, all because they may worry publishers won't do business with them, then they've failed again to solve anything.

News about artist Dave Brown

For Black History Month, Mid-Michigan Now/Fox 25 gave a report about how comics artist Dave Brown built up his career:

Detroit artist Dave Brown has transformed his lifelong passion for art into a successful independent comic book career. Growing up in a creative family, Brown was inspired by his father, an artist who specialized in landscapes and portraits. "I always wanted to draw," Brown said. "I started drawing Ninja Turtles... I had the love for it and kept going."

Brown honed his skills at Wayne State University and through years of experience on the convention circuit. His wife encouraged him to showcase his work at conventions, which led to collaborations with local writers and creators. "I can start doing this myself really," Brown said.

As an independent artist, Brown writes, illustrates, and self-publishes his own comic books, covering genres from family stories to horror and sci-fi. He emphasizes the importance of representation, especially for his sons. "I never really seen a black superhero that stood out," he said.

On this, I would like to make a crucial point that, without building on merit, of course nothing's going to stand out, and today, after all the damage done to Marvel/DC by cynical editors and publishers, even white superheroes don't stand out anymore, because almost nobody cares about the whole genre anymore. And if representation matters, how come nobody seems to go by nationality? Don't countries like Cameroon have what to draw inspiration from?

So good luck to Mr. Brown with his career, and he's doing the right thing by staying close to the indie world, but once again, we have an example of somebody who's not building an argument or vision based on the importance of merit. And seriously, I think it's a shame if he's working in the horror genre, because there's far too much of that these days. The sci-fi and family genres are what matter more.

Federal judges not accepting lawsuits against Neil Gaiman

The victims of Gaiman may not get the justice they seek in a court of law, as this Breitbart/AP Wire report notes:

Federal judges have dismissed three lawsuits accusing bestselling British fantasy author Neil Gaiman of sexually assaulting his children’s nanny in New Zealand four years ago.

Scarlett Pavlovich filed a lawsuit against Gaiman and his wife, Amanda Palmer, in Wisconsin in February 2025, accusing Gaiman of multiple sexual assaults while she worked as the family’s nanny in 2022. She filed lawsuits against Palmer in Massachusetts and in New York on the same day she filed the Wisconsin action.

Gaiman has a home in northwestern Wisconsin, and Palmer lives in Massachusetts. Pavlovich moved to drop the New York lawsuit against Palmer in May, explaining in court documents that she filed an action in that state because Palmer had recently relocated from New York to Massachusetts and she was unsure which state had jurisdiction. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in New York City granted the request in June.

Pavlovich also dropped the portion of the Wisconsin lawsuit against Palmer in May, and U.S. District Judge James Peterson in Madison dismissed the rest of it in October, saying Pavlovich needed to pursue the case in New Zealand. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston threw out the Massachusetts filing on Friday on the same grounds.

It's sad that there's cases like this where only the court of public opinion can help deliver a much needed penalty to the offender, who may never face jail time or even a monetary fine for his offenses. Gaiman's career may be washed up, but once again, we have a sad case of a would-be celebrity who's all but getting away with serious violations as the legal system's regrettably not willing to enforce the law against him. Though it makes clear how, nearly a decade after the MeToo era, things haven't improved.

How are Canadian specialty stores managing now that Diamond's out of business?

Something I may have vaguely noticed in the past few months, but was unable to address until now, is that Diamond Distribution went throughly out of business; more than just filing bankruptcy. The CBC's looking at how this affects specialty stores in provinces like Newfoundland:

Comic book shops and a publisher in St. John's are still grappling with the repercussions more than a year after a major distributor declared bankruptcy.

Diamond Distribution, one of the world’s largest English comic book distribution companies, filed for bankruptcy in the United States in January 2025. For decades, it had been a supplier of comic books, board games, collectives and figures.

“Truly, everything you see in my shop, like, at one point I could have ordered from Diamond,” said Kerri Neil, owner of Downtown Comics in St. John’s.

Neil now orders from eight different distribution companies to stock her shelves. She said there were problems with having just one company dominating the industry, and it was expensive to use with the U.S. exchange rate and shipping from New York to Montreal and finally to St. John’s.

“As soon as we could jump ship … we were out of there,” said Neil.

But having to order from multiple companies can be a headache for small business owners, Neil added.

I realize many specialty stores are small business incarnate, but even so, nobody should be held hostage to just one single distributor if, in the end, they rip off the clients as Diamond did, including the following:

Black Panel Press founder Andrew Benteau said he previously used Diamond as a distributor and was owed thousands of dollars when the company went bankrupt. He has since been able to secure IPG as a distributor.

“We've had no revenue from books distributors since … [the] end of 2024 until last week, we got a payment of $600,” Benteau said.

As a result, he’s taken a second job in advertising.

So there's another business that got short-changed by Diamond, and no telling if they'll ever be repaid. Seriously, it was a mistake for retailers to rely solely upon their business years ago, and a shame if nobody would establish competitors years before. Now, many are finally trying, but maybe they should consider that some formats for comics like the pamphlet have to be jettisoned in favor of the paperbacks/hardcovers. If they'd consider, it just might alleviate the difficulties now faced in seeking distribution and how its done. Just like USA retailers, even Canadian specialty stores should give that some thought.

J. Scott Campbell draws Carol Danvers in her original 2nd outfit as Ms. Marvel

Artist Campbell took a most interesting assignment along with colorist Sabine Rich on a Marvel cover featuring a lady who's been wronged for nearly 15 years, all for the sake of being pushed out of her original codename and costume for the sake of a politically motivated direction and character in her stead:

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This certainly is quite pleasantly surprising on its own, though a title like "Dark Past" is cause for caution, no matter you look at it, based on the people now in charge of Marvel. Indeed, nobody should be foolish enough to trust them not to screw up again, even if they've shown signs and suggestions they're finally willing to move away from the repellent directions they took with Danvers in the past decade. They're also going to have to stop promoting the Muslim Ms. Marvel based on the background they gave her for political reasons, and it would do a lot of good if they'd remake the character into one that doesn't adhere to the Religion of Peace. Until then, it would be best to put the character on the shelf for a long time to help get over the stench they left as a result. That Marvel, under Axel Alonso at the time, went out of their way to produce leftist propaganda like that only wound up increasing the damage, and undoubtably, even now, much of said damage still remains and will continue to be there for as long as they're still publishing under the ownership of Disney.

Campbell's illustration of the real Ms. Marvel is something to appreciate, but let's consider that it is still just a cover drawing, and Marvel's books today can't be judged by just the cover.

This kind of history may be eyebrow raising, but is it really "wild"?

The Saturday Evening Post wrote about 10 stories from comics history they describe as "wild", and while that may be the case for some, I don't think such a description fits the bill when it comes to the following about a certain late cartoonist:

In their heyday, Ham Fisher, the creator of Joe Palooka, and Al Capp, the creator of Li’l Abner, were superstars of the comics pages. They were also bitter enemies who engaged in a years-long feud over the origins of Li’l Abner that ultimately destroyed them both. Their animosity came to a head when Fisher, in a pique, accused Capp of hiding pornographic images within the panels of Li’l Abner. Almost no one believed the accusation, and it destroyed Fisher’s reputation. He was drummed out of the National Cartoonists Society and took his own life shortly after. But Capp was no saint. In the 1960s and ’70s, several women accused him of sexual impropriety. Capp pled no contest to certain accusations, which led to hundreds of newspapers dropping Li’l Abner from their pages.

Yes, I know all about that sad history regarding Capp, who also offended actress Goldie Hawn decades before. And what he did is much worse than what the now deceased Scott Adams was accused of. Capp may not have concealed smut of the sort Fisher accused him of, but I do recall seeing an illustration or two from Capp's work that were troubling in terms of implied male-on-female violence. And that certainly doesn't reflect well on his reputation viewed in context of the sexual offenses he was accused of.

That said, this particular history isn't what I'd call "wild". It's just sad and disgusting. Here, Capp could've made an effort to stick to a more positive path, and instead, he became one of the earliest examples of a comics specialist who did horrible deeds, and now, if Lil' Abner's obscure by today's standards, it shouldn't be a surprise.