An Open Letter to Matt Idelson
Hey Matt! Although it is true that when the internet falls into the wrong hands it becomes a vessel for the work of evil, without it, I would not have been alerted to your most recent Q & A session on the Superman Homepage, so, silver linings, right?
I would like to draw your attention to two questions in particular, and your responses to them. I’ll deal with them one by one. So, first;
‘As a female fan of Superman I find it very disheartening a certain section of this fandom are going around the internet and accusing DC creators like Rags Morales, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, James Robinson as woman hating. I for one love what you are doing with Superman and I don’t agree nor appreciate the unfair bashing of hard working creators. How do you begin to deal with this kind of irrational hysteria that is in no way reflective of all female fans?’
And your response;
‘That’s an awesome question, fmoon, and I wish I had a (semi) monthly prize to give you! Honestly, the only way to deal with this sort of thing is to ignore it. The internet invites all sorts of horrible commentary, accusations and rumor mongering, and it’s like that ‘cause people don’t have to sign their name to it or look you in the eye when saying it. It’s kind of the coward’s domain, in effect…’
This correspondent’s question leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, truly, I applaud it. It is, far and away, one of the best examples of strawman-argumenteering I have seen for, well, quite some time. Certainly since one of those crazy sandal-wearing, tree-hugging, paper recycling, human rights-loving types dared unveil the seismic revelation that, no, maybe people beset by bigotry, racism, sexism, small-mindedness and a tendency to litter might not make (shh, whisper it) ideal candidates for a citizen of the year award. Away from content, structurally speaking, the inclusion of ‘hard working’ is a nice, creative, adverbing flourish but, everything considered, I think it is that last leading loaded semi-rhetorical question that raises this above mere myopic filibustering to become Art.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I also cannot help but feel personally and hurtfully offended by this question- not only as a gross misrepresentation of my views but also as an uncalled for slight against my previously unimpugned and unbesmirched good character. It makes me feel sick, actually. To my very stomach. I have never EVER accused or sought to villify ANY DC creators as being woman-haters. I believe my exact words were, ‘anti-female misogynistic bastards’.
:P. My little jokes aside, Matt, and, I have to level with you here, (although it is true I do know all the words to the ‘Votes For Women’ suffragette song from Mary Poppins) I’m afraid my pitchfork-toting feminazi credentials are far from perfect, and so it is with a kind of sadness that I reveal to you I have never once engaged in ‘horrible commentary’, ‘accusations’ , or, indeed, ‘rumor mongering’ towards the good people behind DC Comics. (Except for that single occasion when I said Dan DiDio’s head reminds me of a boob, but I swear it was just that one time.)
