Professional artists continue to take issue with AI

Creative Bloq reports on what real life artists have to say about AI at a convention in Lake Como. Trouble is, some of those quoted are some of the most pretentious, or worked on projects that do no favors for their reputations:

The spectre of AI is creeping into every aspect of our lives, and it has felt for some time as if artists and creatives in general are on the front line. We’ve heard how comic artists such as Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau have even told us, “In the future, there will be fewer artists like me – real artists”. [...]

David Mack, artist on Daredevil and creator of his own Kabuki series, who’s been a regular at Como for many years now, had this to say about AI and how it could affect both this show and in a wider context his own work and career: “I'm just focused on my work, making my work the way I like to make it, so I don't really have an interest in using it [AI], and I just like making stuff by hand. We're not machines, we're people.”

He adds, “We can't do everything precisely. Probably because of [AI], people who make handmade art will be more in demand. That'll be a more precious commodity because not everyone can replicate it. Talking about the tactile nature of things and a real 3D material object that exists in the physical world. People like that, and that'll probably be even more treasured, in the future, if more and more people lean towards prompting things on AI to magically just make something.”

I think when somebody who worked with Brian Michael Bendis on several issues of Daredevil and Avengers is one of the interviewees, it's hard to understand why we're supposed to care, since such work is basically meaningless. Certainly it would be great if what he tells will be so in the future. But that depends on whether they're talented or just overrated. And Mack is the kind of artist who decidedly belongs in the latter category.

As for Artgerm, he may have more talent in his own way, but he's also, most unfortunately, lent said talents to covers that were stapled onto poltical propaganda. That has the effect of dampening the impact.

British artist Gary Frank, whose career has included drawing Hulk for Marvel but who has now won plaudits as artist on Image’s Hyde Street, part of Image’s Ghost Machine imprint, had his own take on AI: “I think AI is possibly something which has its uses. I don't think that any of those uses include making art, because art is a human thing. The worry I've got is not so much that AI is going to replace people like me, because I'm known and people know I'm a real person.”

He explains it's the next generation of artists who could suffer more, saying: “My worry is the next generation coming through. So we're going to have to compete with dishonest actors who are using AI to fake stuff. We've already seen a little bit of this in the comic industry with people using AI to fake covers. So it's more whether it ends up making it difficult or impossible or damaging the prospects of young people coming through.”

Oh, and isn't Ghost Machine the insufferable Geoff Johns' project? Frank may be a talented artist too, but if this is what he's turning to lately, that also sours the milk. I just don't understand why artists like these are the ones the journalists are turning to for information on the topic...or maybe I do? Is it because their politics skew left?

Now that I think of it, what newer generations of artists could have to worry about is if AI is seen as a perfect substitute for real life talent based on politics. In other words, if a right-wing artist is looking for work, and the company is left-wing managed, they'd pass over him/her and resort to AI instead if that's what it took to avoid hiring somebody whose political platforms they hated. Not that you could expect artists like the above to comment on that issue, unfortunately. But no doubt, it's a valid subject, and some people are going to have to start asking whether it could happen.

Politically obsessed British writer decided to turn back to comics reading to get his attention away from Donald Trump

Here's a writer at the UK Guardian who says he decided it was better to stop "doomscrolling" about all the stuff he didn't like to hear about Donald Trump, and turn to comics reading instead, which he had done in his youth:

I’d been a voracious comic book reader as a youth, growing up in the early 1990s on a diet of the Beano and Dandy, before graduating to The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix. From there, I moved on to my father’s 2000 AD collection – which, to a young teenager, held a rather illicit thrill due to its intensely violent strips. I then devoured anything I could get my hands on. Preacher, The Sandman, Watchmen, Batman – I’d read the lot.

But as an adult in my 30s, I wasn’t the devout reader I once had been. That changed in late 2024, when I finally decided to ditch doomscrolling. Spurred on by the online furores that surrounded the imminent second term of Donald Trump, I realised that I needed to preserve my mental health and make new routines before I became entirely consumed with fear and anger. And who knows more about self-care than your inner child?

Instead of reaching for my phone in the evenings, I picked up a comic instead. Reading them as an adult restored a sense of childlike wonder that transcended my anxieties. I found my quality of sleep started to improve. My dreams were more fanciful and less marked by the banal terrors of day-to-day life.

I began to wake up feeling revitalised, free of the residual negativity from the previous night’s miserable doomscrolling. Inspired by the colourful imagery and ideas I found in comic books, I was able to channel a newfound sense of creativity into my own work as a journalist. I also felt less of an urge to check in on work channels after I left the office, as this had become valuable comic book time.

Wow, isn't that amazing. He wisely took the path of absorbing himself in reading comics, rather than waste time railing against Trump, as appears to be the case. Too bad he wasted time on what I assume is the disgraced Neil Gaiman's oh-so masterful Sandman series, though. I would think the smart reader would set a better example by looking for archives of the Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds, instead. And hopefully, they will eventually be reprinted in DC Finest archives. Simultaneously, the columnist suggests he's unfortunately the kind of reader obsessed with all that's dark, noticing all the USA-published series he cites are darkness-laden, and similar observations can be made about 2000AD. And while it may be impressive if he's willing to avoid obsessing about Trump for now, it's a shame if he's the kind of fan who thinks darkness solves everything. Though such leanings do make it worth wondering if the anti-Trump crowd really is that obsessed with darkness, selectively or otherwise.

Maybe this kind of news could present a good example of what better to do than obsess over what a right-winger supposedly did wrong while excusing all a left-winger did wrong. But the only problem of course, is that the propagandists writing such items have to reevaluate whether it's doing any good to be pushing darkness, and only embracing brightness with political strings attached. Only when they consider that, and why comedy can also make a good pastime, will anything improve.

What some specialty stores had to tell for FCBD

The Kingston Whig-Standard in Canada wrote about Free Comic Book Day, and told the following:

In Kingston, local comic retailers and educators say the day is about more than giveaways — it’s about challenging perceptions and encouraging people to explore a rich, expanding world of storytelling.

Okay, here's a challenging question: were any stories that aren't PC-influenced offered? Because that's the only way this current event will work well. But if nothing of the sort's offered, what's the use of continuing with it?

KRVN880 in Nebraska also wrote about FCBD, and says:

The free day isn’t a free for all. There’s a special selection of books just for this event.

“You’re not getting old books… we have completely brand new books,” Dame said. “Everything for Free Comic Book Day is brand new comics that were made specifically for this day from all your favorite publishers.”

Those publishers include Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Image Comics. Many offer preview editions of upcoming series, while others release special standalone issues. Dame noted that Archie titles are a consistent favorite for kids.

The event is designed to appeal to a wide audience—from longtime collectors to families with young readers.

“Free Comic Book Day is for everybody,” Dame said. “It has stuff for the little ones and it has stuff for the big ones.”

Well sure, it can be for everybody, but when they emphasize new books rather than old, it risks suggesting the older ones aren't worth their weight compared to the new ones. Also, what if the individual pamphlets are little more than advertisements for something longer, but not better? Such is the case regarding recent fare from DC/Marvel, and quite possibly Image. Better still, just what items do they have for children, and from where? If they were dishing out stuff like this, that would be very bad, and the same could be said if they were dishing out political propaganda.

I'm sure there are some decent items that could be offered for FCBD and the recent rival event formed. But their failure to identify any of them clearly is problematic, and another reason why this is hardly an event to celebrate anymore.

William Bernhardt's history of the legal wars on Superman

Crime Reads interviewed author William Bernhardt, who's published a history book titled The Superman Wars, which is about the legal issues surrounding the history of Superman's publication:

The story of Siegel and Shuster has been told before—most notably in Brad Ricca’s 2013 book Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster—the Creators of Superman. Bernhardt has updated the long-running legal battles the two men and their heirs endured over the rights to the character. The subtitle of his book is A Battle for Truth, Justice, and an American Icon. [...]

L. Wayne Hicks: What are people going to learn from your book that wasn’t in Brad Ricca’s book?

William Bernhardt: There are several things. And don’t think I’m putting down Brad’s book, because I like his book, and I like him. I thought he was a really generous guy when I interviewed him. The first thing I said was, “Are you thinking about doing a second edition or an update or anything?” He said no. I said, “Okay, I don’t want to step on your toes.”

But for one thing, his book’s about fifteen years old now, and we’ve discovered a lot since then. I’ve discovered some things since then, and others have as well. He couldn’t tell the end of the lawsuit, because that hadn’t happened yet. That didn’t happen until 2016, that it was all over. The Siegel family did not talk to him, at least not on the record, because there was pending litigation.

I did eventually get them to talk to me, which was a real treat. I dug up the bankruptcy papers and figured out what really went down, and so I’m able to explain that, and I think the other lawsuits as well, in a way that will make it more comprehensible. And at the same time, I tried to write those things so that you don’t have to go to law school to understand it. It’s going to be understandable to anybody.

I'm sure there's always room for another take on the history of the legal wars, which Siegel/Shuster's families sadly lost in the end. But I get the feeling Bernhardt won't take an objective view of later executives at Time Warner, who enabled some of the worst abuse of the Superman franchise since the turn of the century. And that's a problem, if not a new one.

LWH: Which was the bigger problem: the boys being naive, or the publishing executives being crooked?

WB: I’m going to go with the latter. Because, you know, the Major (Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson), the guy who founded the company, was perhaps not the world’s greatest businessman, but he was a writer. He understood that creatives deserve to be paid, and sometimes he was late, he didn’t pay that much, but his idea was that someday we’re going to have a breakthrough, and then I’m going to share it with everybody.

That’s what he says at the bankruptcy courts. He says, if you let this go through, these guys aren’t going to treat the creatives the way I did. And boy, was he right about that. This was such an unexpected windfall to Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz. This is what they did. They acquired other people’s companies by basically creating debt or finding people in debt, or both, and using it to take over their companies. They had no idea that just weeks, if not days, after they fully controlled the company, Superman would come out and be an immediate sensation.

Harry Donenfeld is a millionaire less than a year later. Jack is not far behind him. And they had no intention of letting go of anything. They didn’t have to. Jack’s attitude was always, “Anybody can write this stuff. If you don’t cooperate, we’ll get somebody else to do it.” To be fair, Jerry and Joe did make some real money, especially given that the Depression was going on and a lot of people weren’t making any money. They made good money in the early days. But it doesn’t last.

If the head honchos at the time were corrupt, do they believe the later conglomerate heads were any better? Because look how far the might of the Man of Steel's fallen over the past decades, artistically and financially, no thanks to their neglect/enabling. That doesn't count?

LWH: What does Superman mean to you?

WB: I loved Superman when I was a kid. Part of that was when I started reading comics, the Batman comics were trying to imitate the Adam West series, the comedy series, so they were trying to be funny, not really very successfully. That didn’t appeal to me very much, but Superman stories were more science fiction, and that’s what I liked.

There were two main magazines, Superman and Action Comics. Superman, in my era, usually told the slugfest super villain stories, but Action Comics usually told science fiction stories. He’d go up in space and encounter a world where something’s different and I loved that stuff. In time, I came to realize that over and over again, Superman has been a symbol of hope, which I think is why he continues to be meaningful to people.

As an iconic creation, yes, but the comics themselves in over 2 decades, no. That's all collapsed, courtesy of all the company managers whom I sadly suspect Mr. Bernhardt doesn't say a negative word about, and anybody who won't show the courage to do so remains unconvincing in their alleged support for Siegel and Shuster, let alone any other creators of the times.

As for what he says about Batman comics imitating the West TV show, I think they became more tongue-in-cheek by the 1950s, and it was more a case of the TV show imitating the comics, so this is definitely not the most accurate statement Mr. Bernhardt's made. One more reason I'm not sure now if his new book about Superman history will be the most straightforward take on history available.

After nearly 3 decades, Newsarama is closed down

Popverse, which, ideologically speaking, isn't all that different from Newsarama, announced the latter site's been closed down by Games Radar, the last to maintain ownership:

The storied comic news site Newsarama is seemingly defunct, after a series of layoffs by parent company Future PLC resulted in the elimination of the last dedicated person working on the website. Long-time Newsarama staff writer George Marson announced earlier this month that they had been laid off earlier this month as part of a broader round of cuts across the journalism & events corporation. [...]

Newsarama was formally launched in 1998 and quickly became one of the primary places to get news, interviews, and commentary on the North American comic book industry online. The site changed as the comics industry and the digital industries changed, and following a series of acquisitions, it was folded into the comics vertical of the website GamesRadar.com by 2018, while keeping the Newsarama branding, alongside other publications including Total Film and SFX. In the past 12 months however, the Newsarama branding on the GamesRadar.com website was largely eliminated, with the comics coverage remaining left as a secondary vertical and writing efforts minimized to focus primarily on games, film, & TV related to comics.

At its peak, Newsarama had a full-time staff of three with various additional writers, videographers, and others working in a freelance capacity. That was cut down to two by 2022, and, following his abrupt departure, co-founder Mike Doran was replaced by a general 'comics editor' that was shifted soon after to focus (in title and in work) on streaming TV & film, leaving Marston as the sole remaining Newsarama staffer until now.

Considering how biased they were towards the worst of the industry's leftists, their closure is no big loss. Unfortunately, Popverse is little more than a continuation of the same MO, perhaps even worse, and it's not like the writer's pointing out whether they made mistakes that need to be mended.

A writer at First Comics News, who used to work for Newsarama, tells the following:

Launched in 1998 by co-founders Matt Brady & Michael Doran, Newsarama quickly became a must-read destination during the early days of online comics coverage. It delivered breaking news, in-depth interviews, convention reports, and thoughtful analysis at a time when the internet was still finding its footing as a journalism platform. [...]

I had the privilege of contributing to Newsarama during its vibrant early online years. In 2004, I began producing interviews for the site. By 2005, I was regularly writing for both Newsarama and Comic Book Resources (CBR). Those were exciting times; the comics internet was exploding with new voices, and Newsarama sat at the center of it all.

Interviewing creators, covering trends, and helping to document the industry during a period of rapid change remain among my fondest memories in comics journalism. Newsarama wasn’t just a job; it was part of a community that connected fans directly with the people making the comics we loved. My time there bridged my earlier work at Silver Bullet Comic Books and led to my role as Public Relations Coordinator at Archie Comics starting in late 2005.

For close to three decades, Newsarama set the standard. It broke major stories, platformed emerging talent, and provided a professional home for writers who truly understood and cared about the medium. Many of us who built careers in this space, whether as journalists, publicists, or creators, passed through its virtual pages.

Yes, please tell us about it. There's quite a few who don't, no matter what they say. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had the embarrassments seen since the early 2000s, like Avengers: Disassembled, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Civil War, One More/Brand New Day and Forever Evil. They never argued whether fandom should ask if it's time to boycott the Big Two, if company wide crossovers, forced villifications, forced leftist politics and forced erasure of the Spider-marriage signaled they were going way too far at the expense of talented writing and artwork.

The comics community is resilient. New voices and platforms will rise to fill the gap, First Comics News among them, where I continue the work I started decades ago. But we should take a moment to honor what Newsarama accomplished and thank the journalists, editors, and contributors who made it special.

There was nothing special in it, since the writers never took objective stances on what Marvel/DC were doing wrong. Not even Dark Horse and Image. In past years, they fluff-coated the topic of deaths in company wide crossovers, they even gushed over the worst of Green Lantern stories, sugarcoated the forced replacement of Dr. Strange with Clea using his codename (and IIRC, she was later replaced too), and made no distinction between best and worst Spider-Man writers. Some of those examples may be more recent forms of tabloid nonsense they wrote up, but with that kind of propaganda being put out, is it any wonder if nobody liked their news in the end? Yet the former contributor saw fit to fluff-coat the site's MO, serving as little more than an apologist, and if that's how it's going to be, he can't be surprised if nobody cares in the end.

Newsarama won't be missed. But it's clear Popverse and First Comics News won't be good successors, if their sugary tales say anything. I have no thanks to offer, so long as they don't focus on how it's possible for propagandists like them to make serious mistakes, much like the industry insiders.

Specialty store in Fremont runs FCBD with contributors to smaller business

The Fremont News-Messenger says a local store's brought over contributors for Aspen Comics to participate in their FCBD membership. But, there's at least one part here that's troublesome:

Locally, Rupp’s Comics will have four comic book world celebrities at his store to do signings and special sketchings, industry professionals from Aspen Comics Frank Mastromauro, Peter Steigerwald, Alex Konat and Chris Ehnot.

Mastromauro is a writer and the owner of Aspen Comics. Steigerwald is a comic artist with Aspen Comics that has done many covers for Marvel and DC. Konat began his career at DC, with the Gotham Gazette and has since also worked in the film world, doing PR for 20th Century Fox on many superhero titles. Ehnot’s art has been published in a list of award-winning publications that boggles the mind, but not the comic publishing industry.

[...] Rupp’s Comics store owner Chris Rupp has seen the evolution of comics from a rebellious frowned-upon genre, that teachers would take away from children, to the emergence of comics as collectibles and now returning as a rebellion to all the screens in our lives.

“This is international. I personally know stores in Italy and Paris that do Free Comic Book Day. To me, it’s just getting somebody to read, and put the phone down, or the iPad down and just read a comic book,” Rupp said. “Especially in this day and age, I think it was 25 years ago that Free Comic Book Day started, that the internet wasn’t so prevalent in our easy-access, every-day, every-second. I really feel that we need to take a break from technology and just read a book, or read a comic book.”

If they're not putting a heavy emphasis on Marvel/DC, and more of an emphasis on independent publishers, that's what'll make their specific event worthwhile. But, did they hint they consider comics merely "collectibles", and not enjoyable visual literature? Though the store manager does say reading's important, the part about collectibles dampens the part about reading being a good example. A shame, but that suggests even at this store, the collectible mentality's still prevailing, and it's something serious merchants need to move away from. Exactly why the continued use of pamphlets for storytelling needs to be abandoned.

Len Strazewski passes away at 71

The Columbia Chronicle of Chicago announced that Len Strazewski, a professor and news writer for the AMA who wrote several comics in the 1990s, and co-created Jesse Quick as the teen daughter for the Golden Age Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle with the late artist Mike Parobeck, passed away at 71 years of age:

Len Strazewski, a Columbia College professor emeritus and comic book writer known for his work on “The Flash,” died Monday, April 27, at 71.

Strazewski died peacefully in an Evanston nursing home following months of infections and hospital stays, Kevin O’Reilly, the son of his longtime partner, shared in a Facebook post.

Strazewski spent more than two decades at Columbia where he became a defining figure in the journalism program as a professor, mentor and administrator. He also built a career in comics, writing for DC and contributing to titles including “The Flash,” “Starman” and “Justice Society of America.”

When it comes to Flash and Starman, yes, he wrote at least one story for both, though it should be noted that the latter was the 1988-92 series primarily written by Roger Stern, starring a newer character named Will Payton, coming several years before the pretentious James Robinson was allowed to make mockery of everything with his overrated take, which starred a son of the Golden Age character Ted Knight, named Jack. Stern's series has yet to be reprinted, from what I know, and while it may not be perfect, I'd sooner read all of that specific Starman series than what Robinson wrote during 1994-2001; a post-Zero Hour concoction as it was. I don't think any of the forced replacement characters that came along in the wake of that shoddy crossover worked out well, because, simply put, they weren't introduced organically.

Outside the newsroom and classroom, Strazewski wrote for DC Comics and was part of projects spanning dozens of titles.

In 2013, he told Chicago Talks that he estimated he had written between 160 and 200 comics. Part of his work was on display at Columbia’s campus at the time.

He said he got into journalism because of Superman. “The job of reporter and journalist seemed to be a suitable profession for a young man because Clark Kent did it,” he said.

Yes, but for many years, there's just far too many journalists influenced by J. Jonah Jameson and Bethany Snow. Maybe Strazewski had a great idea working as a contributor to medical news, rather than political per se. Something that rather unsurprisingly isn't explored here is that back in 1993, the DC editor Mike Carlin cancelled Strazewski's Justice Society series after 10 issues because he didn't think they should be writing stories starring older heroes, and possibly despised Strazewski's writing and Parobeck's artwork too. And this was at a time when Marvel had been publishing Doctor Strange, easily the oldest protagonist in their universe, for many years as a series. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four could easily come 2nd in terms of age at Marvel for "field warriors", and I'm sure there's more (Wolverine, anyone?). Carlin was also an editor on the repellent Identity Crisis in 2004, and that certainly doesn't speak well for his reputation. Let's also recall at least a few of the Justice Society characters who appeared in Strazewski's series were wiped out in Zero Hour soon after, and that was kept canon for many years.

Surely one of the most important lessons to learn in the debacle involving Strazewski's Justice Society series is that editors/publishers like Carlin weren't marketing on merit. One silver lining is that Strazewski/Parobeck's creation there, Jesse Quick, went on during the following decade to become a recurring co-star in the Flash as a resident lady speedster. But of course, all that went downhill after Mark Waid stopped writing, and terrible writers like Geoff Johns made things worse.

If there were any mistakes Strazewski made during his career in comicdom, it would have to have been when he wrote 2 items for the now defunct Malibu. One was the 1993 Street Fighter comic, the earliest USA adaptation of the video game franchise I know of, when, in the 3rd and last issue, he wrote Ken Masters being slain at the hands of Sagat, as though this were Mortal Kombat rather than SF. Capcom management and the fandom found that objectionable, and it was put to an end as a result, and only several years later when the Canadian Udon Entertainment took up a license did SF adaptations get better traction. Another far worse mistake was when Strazewski and the late artist Norm Breyfogle co-wrote Malibu's Prime with the disgraced Gerard Jones. I wouldn't be surprised if both Len and Norm disowned that comic later on, and stuff like that definitely tarnishes the entire Malibu output, which Marvel bought out at least a few years later, in what was obviously a huge mistake.

Apart from those errors, Strazewski's resume, though small it may be, looks okay, and his contributions to DC are to be admired. Exactly why it's a terrible shame later writers and editors took repellent directions with some of the characters he worked on. So Strazewski's a writer who can be appreciated - certainly a lot more than some of the other figures he worked with, and it's to be hoped that someday, more sensible creators will be able to do justice for his writings as much as previous generations of the past century.

A creator who's gender-swapped an established character in his own franchise tells us the industry's too reliant on already established franchises

Popverse says Robert Kirkman, co-creator of Invincible, spoke at the ComicsPro convention about how the industry's too reliant upon long-established franchises like Batman, Spider-Man and Transformers for comics and other such ventures:

Batman is one of the most popular characters in the comic book industry. Absolute Batman was the top-selling comic of 2024, and Batman’s monthly adventures regularly garner huge numbers, topping sales charts. Looking at data like that, it seems like the Dark Knight is a positive thing for the comic book industry. However, Robert Kirkman believes the overreliance on characters like Batman is hurting the medium long-term.

Kirkman, who co-created Invincible and The Walking Dead, explains that focusing on decades-old characters (which he admits he does as well) has kept the industry from exploring new things.

“Things have their day and then settle down,” Robert Kirkman says during a keynote speech at ComicsPRO 2026.

“I sometimes think the original sin of this industry, the thing that holds it back the most, is that we as an industry often refuse to move on. Batman was created in the 1930s. Spider-Man was created in the 1960s. Transformers was created in the '80s. Invincible was created in the 2000s. All of these started as new ideas. They had their peaks in popularity, and they’ve had new peaks and new valleys to varying degrees of success ever since.”

Of course, as long as Batman and Spider-Man bring in huge sales numbers, it’s doubtful that Marvel and DC will be giving them less of a focus anytime soon. Still, Spider-Man debuted two decades after many of DC’s most iconic heroes, and Invincible made his first appearance 40 years later. It might take a while, but the next breakout character is just waiting to be created.

But they don't actually bring in enormous sales numbers, and for years already, the supply of pamphlets printed up - and presumably sold - rarely go above a million copies. Interesting they cite Batman again instead of Superman, because all they've done is confirm a continuing problem with how the industry's similarly become too reliant upon the darkness in marketing. And Kirkman predictably doesn't address how Spidey's story quality and merit long collapsed, even before One More Day. So too has Batman's. If he won't address those creative issues, what he's telling won't carry much weight.

The argument presented by Kirkman at the convention does itself have value, but let's consider Kirkman's dampened the impact of his own by resorting to gender-swapping on the Invincible cartoon (and perhaps the comics are next?), instead of introducing a brand new female character organically without doing it at the original male character's expense. And what next, will the sex-swapped take even turn out to be a lesbian? Which would only compound another serious issue with modern entertainment: it's become disturbingly hostile to heterosexual relations/romance, if they even explore the concept of romance at all. How does Kirkman expect to improve upon an overt resort to nostalgia if he himself resorts to another sad cliche of modern times in Hollywood? Some established franchises have even suffered from worse than what Kirkman's cartoon series is now turning to.

And let's not forget Kirkman's also the co-creator of the Walking Dead, a horror-themed franchise. That's another sad issue with how modern entertainment's being marketed, and that too is something both comics medium and Hollywood have become far too reliant upon. That too needs to cease. Perhaps it's time they "moved on" from the horror genre too? For now, Kirkman needs to rexamine his MO and ask whether he's undermining his points by turning to the same playbook as his fellow leftists have pushed upon entertainment for years already. And he could also consider developing comics with romance themes, and show the courage to explain to everybody why romance is worth it.

Sequel to Avatar cartoon artificially replaces white voice actors with DEI choices

There appears to be a sequel produced for the Last Airbender cartoon from nearly 2 decades ago, and a writer at the Federalist reports the original white voice actors were replaced by Asian actors based on racial background rather than genuine talent:

When The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, a sequel to the beloved 2005 series that’s set to release later this year, was announced several years ago, fans were initially overjoyed. This would be the first animated foray into the world of Avatar since 2012’s tepidly received Legend of Korra. Early expectations were that the original voice cast would return for this sequel series, preserving the amazing original performances.

Instead, the core cast was replaced, sidelining actors who remain active in the industry. It wasn’t pay disputes or scheduling conflicts responsible for the changes but a deliberate shift toward race-based casting standards.

During a Q&A session on social media site Reddit, the film’s casting director, Jenny Jue, claimed, “Since the original show was released, there’s been more emphasis in [voice acting] to match actors’ ethnic/racial background to the characters they’re portraying.”

The “emphasis” Jue is referring to is entirely constructed by loud, out-of-touch leftists with an axe to grind or something to gain from restricting white actors from getting parts. For instance, Korean-American voice actor SungWon Cho has been one of the most prominent advocates of race-restrictive casting. In a 2023 interview, Cho argued characters should be cast “authentically,” meaning actors should match the race of the roles they play.

Yet Cho’s standard apparently only applies to other people. Cho himself has voiced a wide range of non-Korean characters, including the Riddler in Batwheels, the Greek god Zeus in Apotheon, and the Norse character Ratatoskr in God of War Ragnarök.

Cho isn’t alone in his racist hypocrisy. TV and movies are constantly swapping white characters for nonwhite ones in the name of social justice.

Consider the bonkers decision to cast black woman Caroline Henderson as a Viking warlord or Jordan Peters as a gay, black, disabled King Edward. Severus Snape may be explicitly described as white in Harry Potter, but that didn’t stop HBO from casting black actor Paapa Essiedu and causing a racial crisis.

In a flashback, Harry’s father, James, bullied Snape by hanging him from a tree, a moment meant to show James wasn’t as noble as Harry initially believed. With a black actor cast as Snape, that scene inevitably resembles a lynching.

Prior to this racial hysteria, fans didn’t care who played their favorite characters as long as they did a good job. Kratos, protagonist of the God of War series, has been voiced by black actors since 2005. Their performances were widely praised, and audiences accepted them without controversy.

Leftists argue that actors whose skin tone matches their characters make for better performances. But the evidence suggests such initiatives are merely a justification to hire unqualified people based solely on their complexion.

Does J.K. Rowling approve of Harry Potter being appropriated for what looks like another horrific blanket indictment of whites? I've read 4 of the books in the past, and can't recall if James Potter was ever portrayed as a bully that alarmingly. Rowling may maintain a good stance in favor of women's right to privacy and dignity, but if she waived creative control over HBO's series development, that doesn't reflect well on how she's approached the adaptations.

Now if this kind of racial discrimination is still prevelant in Hollywood, wouldn't there be grounds here for filing a lawsuit? I guess the impeding problem is that any actors who dared would find themselves blacklisted, and they don't have the courage to brave that. It could also be argued this constitutes a denial of creative license for the creative staff - which has doubtless been taken away by higher echelons in the industry over the past decade - except that for all we know, said creatives are possibly in agreement with said echelons too. In which case, how could they be called "creative" anymore?

As for the Korra cartoon, if there's anything it may be recalled for, it's possible allusions to lesbianism. I recall it may have seen a Dark Horse adaptation, but that doesn't mean it was a true success, and this "sequel" to the Avatar cartoon proper is only bound to make clear what's gone wrong even with pseudo-anime creations. No wonder some people prefer to just watch the real deal instead, provided they don't succumb to PC as well.

Some Canadian creators won't travel to the USA this year

CTV News says some Canadian artists and writers either don't want to travel to the USA this year, in what they call "tumultuous times":

Much can change in a year.

Last April, with talk south of the border about 51st states, tariffs and the like really only starting to ramp up, Canadian comic book artist Tom Grummett (Superboy, Robin) was “thinking very carefully” about attending U.S. trade shows.

The Canadian artist had just finished a comic book cover poking fun at the situation.

Now, he’s steering clear of the country that’s home to many of the comic book properties he’s worked on.

“We’re staying strictly in Canada this year and likely next year,” he said.

It’s not a small stance to take.

The biggest shows on the comic book convention circuit are in the U.S.

But Grummett says there’s too much confusion around travel.

“We have no idea how to approach the border. We checked into what sort of paperwork we needed and (got) multiple, different answers,” he said.

“They can deny you entry for up to four or five years, I hear, so why risk that?

“We’re quite happy to stay closer to home.”

Canadian comic book writer Jim Zub (Conan the Barbarian) says he’s still doing U.S. shows, but fewer of them these days.

He says he knows of “a bunch” of his colleagues who won’t go at all.

He says there’s a bit of “bracing yourself” before travelling south.

“No matter how many times I cross the border, I’ve got Trusted Traveller and it’s relatively straightforward, but you always have that little tense moment,” he said.

“What if this time it’s different?”

From what's told at the start, the political climate does possibly have something to do with this. And that's very galling. They're allowing their potentially leftist dissent impede upon everything. Not that such ideologues are a big loss to USA conventions if that's how they're going to go about their business. But it still makes for bad PR to refuse paying a visit to the USA because you don't dig Donald Trump's policies or anything similar. Do these Canadian artists/writers/editors really think they're going to improve relations if they act like virtually everything a right-leaning politician does is inherently wrong? Maybe not, but their failure to avoid divisive steps on their part certainly speaks volumes.

It'll remain to be seen if the above creators from the great white north come to realize they're not doing any favors for their reputation by refusing to visit the USA or anywhere else just because they don't like the host country's politics. But who knows, they probably won't, and what'll be really reprehensible is if the leftists in comicdom solely blame Trump for that kind of selfish attitude. I hesitate to think what they might say if they were invited to visit Israeli conventions. I hope they know to be polite about that.