Author: Gabriel Persechino-Forest Published: May 26th, 2018
Jawbreakers Controversy Expands
The controversial comic book Jawbreakers is causing further controversy in the industry. Why am I talking about comic books? Since the same parties that are censoring Western media seem to now have an eye on anime, seeing how they operate and what they do can be good to understanding them, their methods and what to expect. In this regard, Comic Book Resources (CBR) implementing forum-wide censorship concerning the topic of this comic by issuing the following statement is very telling:
Originally posted by Matt (Link 1 and Link 2):
Over the past couple of days, we’ve had some folks try to start discussions relating to the Antarctic Press/Jawbreakers story. As a Moderator team, we have decided that we do not wish it discussed and deleted such threads. “Why?” is a pretty obvious and fair question.
The answer is very simple. We, again as a Moderator Team, do not wish to give D&C and the followers thereof any sort of platform to advertise their particular brand of nonsense. We have looked at all the information available and concluded that the viewpoints involved are abhorrent, the behaviours sickening and the general attitude a detriment to civil discourse; in short, they give comic book fandom a bad name.
This is an issue that is not open for debate or discussion at this time. Thank you for both your consideration and understanding.
…
The Moderating Team have decided that D&C do not deserve a platform for their views on these forums. Their position is abhorrent. Their behaviour is sickening. Their actions are a detriment to comic book fandom in general. The CBR Forums will not be used to give them any sort of publicity or chance to further play victim (when they’ve been the ones causing all the issues).
This is not an issue that is going to be discussed on the CBR Forums. As far as the Mod Team is concerned, D&C and anyone who follows their position are not welcome here.
Censorship of free speech based entirely on a “moral” decision made by self-serving and self-appointed moral guardians that decided for everyone else what was “appropriate” and what is not. Think about it, they are using their platform to censor free speech because they do not agree with the stance a certain group of people have taken and have decided that their personal viewpoint is now a de facto moral imperative that has to be acted upon by everyone. This sort of attitude is very dangerous and authoritarian. This is also besides attempts to encourage real life violence against the comic’s creator and attempting to shut down his Patreon; for the establishment, what they can’t destroy with popular support they will through illegal actions and intimidation. The harassment campaign of these radical groups led to the deal the comics had with Antarctic Press being cancelled.
Following this, Tim Doyle, the man who runs Nakatomi Incorporated, attempted to get Ethan Van Sciver fired from D.C. Comics and thanks to the folks who run that publishing house not being open to intimidation by authoritarian thugs, the attempt completely failed. That didn’t stop good old Doyle though, he moved on to attacking Richard Meyer of Diversity & Comics (Who is making Jawbreakers) and this time he threatened his kids. He falsely accused Meyer of being behind in his child support and then sent ominous messages such as:
Originally posted by Tim Doyle:
Don’t be a dick online for years – bad things happen to you.
Not to mention a letter that ends with “Take care of those kids.”
Outrage over that repulsive behavior was severe, severe enough to force Doyle to delete most of his threats and tweets.
But it seems that people are finally having enough of this communist-style harassment and censorship as when an Edmonton comic shop decided not to carry the comic, moving from being a business that allows its customers to make their own decisions to being an extension of authoritarianism that decides for the readers what is appropriate, it resulted in people massively protesting, boycotting and letting the owners know how they feel online. To try and divert attention away and play the victim, the shop claimed that vandalism caused on their establishment was from people supporting Diversity & Comics, even though no evidence indicating as such has surfaced.
Source: Bounding Into Comics, Global News and Article Image: Indigogo
American Businesses Continue to Move in
Prominent hedge funds are now backing Bilibili Inc., who owns China’s most popular streaming platform for animation, in the hopes of further cementing their stake in Japan’s industry. This should be seen as a red flag considering that the more corporate control Westerners gain over the anime medium, the more influence they gain over how it is made.
Source: Bloomberg
And More Normalization…
SyFy Wire wrote an article in which they are strongly putting support behind the man who appears to have become the Western establishment’s “Point man” in the industry, Masaaki Yuasa of Devilman Crybaby fame. The man is a favorite of the West due to his overly cartoonish style that largely Westernizes his works compared to his counterparts in the industry and this has been hailed as “Going against every trend of commercial anime”. The article points out that his reputation in Japan is not the most flamboyant but that he is certainly popular in the West right now, where he is promoted and supported by the establishment in full force. The article builds the man and his works as much as they can and already proclaim him the “Most important director in the anime industry” (Because he’s making it mainstream).
Besides that we have Nerdist that continues more subdued normalization by making a list of classic anime to stream. The article advertises Netflix and Hulu first, then Crunchyroll and doesn’t mention Funimation (Western corporate giants first, actual anime platforms seconds… some of them anyways). There isn’t anything controversial in the article, it is simply more attempts at normalizing the medium to the average Joe.
Further Reading:
Devilman Crybaby’s Westernization