Chances are, you know superheroes like Batman and Spider-Man, two of the most popular superheroes from DC Comics and Marvel Comics, respectively. You might also be college students wondering what is considered professional behavior; from verbal and non-verbal communications to sending an e-mail. However, the comics industry is plagued with behavior resembling that of elementary school children fighting.
Never learn conducts from professionals in name only.
Aubrey Sitterson, who worked on IDW Publishing's “G. I. Joe" comics series, an iconic brand, posted a tweet on September 11, 2017.
This is always an insensitive comment, but what makes it especially inappropriate is when it was posted. As it was the sixteenth anniversary of one of the United States' worst tragedy. Americans, and especially families and friends of 9/11 victims, may have stumbled across that post.
For those people, it opened painful memories of lost loved ones. For everyone else, it devalues an event that changed history.
Even if Sitterson had good intentions, he demonstrated exceptionally poor communication with his target audience, people who read G. I. Joe comics.
Yojoe.com, a major G. I. Joe fansite, ceased support for IDW products unless IDW fired Sitterson. Sitterson later confirmed in an interview with Bleeding Cool that IDW cancelled the then upcoming Scarlett Strike Force, resulting in the mini-series ending in a cliff-hanger.
IDW reported to Sitterson that low sales caused the cancellation, but considering how he alienated the audience that keeps the property alive, his crass comments may have killed the project and any favor he had with the G. I. Joe fan base.
Even more concerning is when a famous comic book writer from Marvel, the top comic book company in the industry, abuses his power. Mark Waid, known for works like Superman: Birthright and Irredeemable, stumbled across a successful Indiegogo campaign of a non-political comic started by YouTube comics critic Richard Meyer, his channel named Diversity & Comics, Jawbreaker which raised over $336,000, enough to sell an equivalent of 100,000 copies.
Unwilling to accept political differences, Waid harassed Variant Edition to the point where they declared they would not stock Jawbreakers, forcing the team behind the comic to find another distribution Not only that, Variant Edition confirmed that Waid did call them to “express concern" and influenced their decision to cancel distributing the product. Notably, Waid shut down his social media shortly after Jawbreaker's cancellation, breeding speculation that he might have gotten fired.
Yet if Marvel still tolerates Waid after such a malicious and petty move, what does that say about how the comics industry conducts? It sets a grim precedent of how comic book fans, the group keeping the industry alive, feel as their voices are ignored in favor of the unprofitable push towards identity politics in comics.
However, people in the industry can curtail its amateur behavior. One way is to introduce policies on how to behave on social media. DC Comics does this and it curbs the worst offending behaviors within the company. However, one company taking steps towards respecting their audience is insufficient. More companies need to reign in their employees so they can focus on satisfying customers and not their egos.
Until then, college students should learn professional conducts from a good network of peers, or a business or technical writing class.
