Amazing Spider-Man writer Dan Slott recently told a poster at the Comic Book Resources Spider-Man forum to go F-themselves. A poster by the name of lejayjay had a snarky comment about Slott saying
It is jus a paycheck for Slott anyway. He’s not a real fan.
Slott then replied with this comment.
As a guy who turned down a side job this year for a paycheck that would’ve been over a third of his yearly income– BECAUSE it would’ve meant cutting back on his not-so-lucrative comic book writing career– and get in the way of working on his Spider-Man dream job…
…and the guy who slept less than 12 hours over the course of 4 days this week working on a script while he was sick… a guy who finally had to be ORDERED off it by his editor to go see a doctor… and is still in a good deal of pain today…
…this is the first time I think I’ve ever said this to somebody over a comic book message board:
Go fuck yourself.
Seriously.
Go. Fuck. Yourself.
Now I post this not to bring up the Slott/ Crawlspace disagreement again, but it opens a good point of discussion.
Should the pro’s be held to a different standard when it comes to online behavior?
Should they bite their tongues?
Are they risking future sales to an already small audience, when they tell a potential or current customer to go f-themselves?
I’d like your thoughts in the comment section or on this thread on our message board. Remember no personal attacks, keep it civil. Refresh yourselves on the rules before you post.
CBR has since deleted the post however Google was able to take a cache of it before it was deleted. Here’s the link.
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
Where’s the proof of this alleged “fire” comment?
621, written by slott, with Black Cat and Mr. Negative
@persian-spider
We’re trying to get as many comments as the number of Amazing Spider-man issues, which is 649. I forgot what issue #620 was about, though.
Wow, this is still going on?
Hi everyone!
i have not been around for a while. can somebody tell me what is going on here?! I know what Mr. Slott did but why so many comments?
@Comment 581
Who says that? People in the know. People like myself and the esteemed editor of Amazing Spider-Man. 🙂
Question- Which “admin” has said “hurtful” stuff about Slott? I got a feeling by mod he means George but I’m fairly certain George hasn’t said anything “hurtful” either
And who the frig said he should die in a house fire? Some people just confuse me
If we go beyond 650 do we get to start writing spider-man history
615- i gave up reading 10 issues ago
Isn’t flaming a bannable offense (post 578, Crawlspace rule 2 and 4)? Mr Wacker’s unfunny comments are quite baiting and annoying. And they smell bad and contribute to a rise in communism somehow.
@597: The example of a heckler is not applicable either. The heckler is interrupting a performance by speaking as loudly as the performer. Some of us are making the point that the original poster, who could easily be ignored as an illogical internet ranter, got more attention when someone who actually had respect and authority (Slott) used his megaphone to start a pissing contest.
If you want a better example, this is a case of some random person yelling an insult from the stands of a pro game, and the player singling out this one person to run into the stands to start a fight.
@605: I definitely haven’t read all the comments. Maybe there is more “outrage” here than I realized. (But I don’t think so.)
“In fact he and Dan have spoken about it since, turns out it was all a big misunderstanding and apologies were in order.”
But then you spent a great deal of your comment saying that Slott had nothing to apologize for?
If you had left it at “apologies were exchanged”, that would have been fine.
“Your definition of professionalism seems to be letting someone smear shit on your face and instead of saying, ‘Hey stop that!’ you want them to say, ‘Thank you sir, can I have another!'”
Professionalism means that you give the irrational voice in the crowd just as much attention as it deserves (little), and save the real emotions for people that are actually important to your job. (There is a saying about trying to please all the people.) Your example doesn’t work, because this guy was never close enough to “smear shit”. At most, he was empty handed and claiming that if he had a dung handy, he would use it.
@ #612:
You haven’t posted here till now?!?!
You….you…you Jackal!!
Why haven’t I posted in this thread yet? lol
Over 600 comments and I’m only posting now? I don’t know what issue #612 is all about. I just know its the issue right after that dreadful Deadpool team-up (#611)
@ #610:
Dear Sir or madam,
You may be right.
@ #606:
marvel (execs, full-time, free-lancers, whatever) doesn’t have to do
anything except treat customers with courtesy, respect and lack of F-bombs.
@605
This is probably the most spot-on analysis I’ve seen so far about this whole debacle. And it only took 600 comments.
@ Mr. Wacker – My offer still stands to have a peaceful, fun, calm, non-cussing talk about Spidey in a PM or IM talk some time, in case you missed my earlier comment. That is, when you have the free time to talk. I hope everyone here has a good day. 🙂
Over 600 replies? Oh, man! If this keeps up, we’ll have more replies on this thread than there are issues of “The Amazing Spider-Man”.
@ Post 597 Michael Richards took a heckler down one time at a comedy club… it did wonders for his career.
I do have a question, what do you guys want Marvel to do?
In the UK we have a term for people who get outraged at minor things like this, “Daily Mail readers.” The Daily Mail being a newspaper that usually prints over the top nonsense that get’s people outraged about how awful everything is and how everything was better in the old days. Hmm, maybe there’s more to this comparison. Anyway, usually they’re not actually outraged, they just want to be or don’t like the person involved. They usually haven’t seen the thing for themselves, someone has said, “here is something to be outraged over.” And the, for lack of a better word, victim s usually the least outraged, or,like this case, not outraged at all. In fact he and Dan have spoken about it since, turns out it was all a big misunderstanding and apologies were in order. The two guys actually involved in the situation can put it behind them but the rest of the world can’t. Funny that. I guess it’s just easier to believe that Dan is a bad person. After all, comic are all opinion, good and bad are subjective but if the person is an asshole, you can at least be morally right.
All this talk of professionalism is comical. Just because a guy is professional doesn’t mean he can’t have a bad day? Dan Slott is not as perfect as all of you, who have never said anything out of turn. Now, I know what you’re all going to say, “He can’t take criticism!” Laughable. He’s a successful writer, to get to where he is he would have had to take criticism far worse than what passes for critical thought on an internet message board. Wacker has probably said worse to him that any of you. Your definition of professionalism seems to be letting someone smear shit on your face and instead of saying, “Hey stop that!” you want them to say, “Thank you sir, can I have another!”
And why do you expect Wacker to state his opinion on the whole thing,I can see the headline now, SPIDEY EDITOR SAYS IT’S OK TO TELL FANS TO FUCK OFF or SPIDEY EDITOR BLASTS SPIDEY WRITER.
I didn’t talk about behavior here.
I reread it…are you saying you thought Brad was wrong to punish Gerard?
600 comments! I don’t know what happened in #600 exactly but I hear Doc Ock got ugly.
Bert-read my example again.
We’re almost at Aunt May’s wedding. Hard to believe she had died only 200 issues ago.
Actually Brad has punished staff members and contributors for attacking members. Gerard was reprimanded for responding to a heckler in one of his reviews.
Do you blame a comedy club if the performer takes a down a heckler? I suppose you do, but most people don’t.
Your frustration about it aside, the examples you cite aren’t applicable. Dan is simply not an employee at Marvel. And we don’t control our talent’s free time they way you think we do (or wish that we would). That’s one of the many benefits of freelancing.
(Not too mention the fact that we don’t pay Dan to talk on message boards. Would you ban a moderator here if they got in a fight with another comic book fan (a potential listener, after all) at the comic book store this week? I assume so, since he’s a representative of your website, but I think that’s wrong.)
Hot dog we’re in the middle of American Son.
@594: Even if a company does not want a particularly obnoxious customer to come back, they can do so in a professional manner. A bar bouncer can be brutally physical in knocking a drunk out the door, but the bouncer shouldn’t be screaming and taking it personally while doing so.
I agree that Slott should not be fired or reprimanded. Just that he should have been cleverer and professional when telling the original poster that a proctology exam does not require him to stick his head up his own backside.
Yes the story made it headline newsworthy because the comment was made by a professional comic book writer. This person is the lead writer of the flagship character of your company. Your argument is that he doesn’t work for Marvel, he works for you. Who pays his checks? Is it Disney/ Marvel or do you write a check to him personally that says Steve Wacker on it?
The imaginary hoop you talk about is a general rule in business, however I’ll concede that it may be different at Marvel.
If a customer buys a product they expect the employee and company they bought the product from to be professional.
Meaning they are civil and respectful to the customer.
If you told a pizza man that this pizza sucks and the cook was a hack, they should say that they’re sorry you feel that way and ask how they can fix the problem. The customer is wrong in his behavior but it doesn’t mean the seller has a right to be rude too.
A manager should not condone the pizza man shoving the pie down the customers throat and then telling him to go f-themselves. The pizza man would be reprimanded or fired at the very least.
Now I’m not asking for Slott to be fired or reprimanded. I just don’t think Marvel has any policy when it comes to responding to fans online. Does it have one?
As far as Slott charging us $3.99 each time he talks to us. Will he at least do some heavy breathing next time?
@Slash – What? Then what is this issue #648 I’m holding in my hands? Maybe a printing error. 😉
Also I’m pretty sure we don’t charge you 3.99 to talk to Dan on the internet.
I’ll check though.
Brad, plenty of writers settle for cheap shots…especially when it comes to cranks and hecklers. Dan usually doesn’t. He certainly did this time.
But to pretend this is just uncommon and beyond the pale is forcing people here to jump through a lot of hysterical hoops. This is all about who it was…and it’s why the piece was posted in the first place.
Issue 591! Superboy VS Superman 😀
Wait a second. Oh, we are talking about Spider-man. Right.
p.s. LOL I’m kidding, of course I know Spider-man ended in issue 545 😛
Hot damn, Wacker’s made this site fun and interesting again! Things haven’t been this great since Farley was sent packing. Three cheers to the fly in the ointment that reminds us that community is only interesting if it allows and responds to that which disturbs and disrupts. Probably not a popular opinion . . . but i stand by it.
@Wacker’s 578 post:
The difference is I don’t charge people $3.99 each time they enter the Crawlspace. I think when you plunk your money down it entitles you to an opinion. People have always been passionate about Spider-Man, this is the one constant that we both agree on. If Stan Lee were writing the book again, in this day and age, he’d still have critics.
I don’t think he’d say go F-yourself, but he’d write something more creative. Tom DeFalco had a great line at the Spider-Girl boards to a critic. He said, “I own ya one.” Of all people I would think a writer would not simply settle for a cheap shot. Think of some creative way to tell someone off.
ENIGMA: I can certainly understand why you wouldn’t want the people you harangue about to respond to you. I mean, JEEZ, why won’t people just let you be relentlessly rude and swim in conjecture privately?!?!?
You guys are still at it?!?!
@578
You’re kidding, right? This thread derailed into a trainwreck the minute YOU showed up!!!
@ #584:
Okay, I can buy the Immunity part.
But Diplomatic? Nah, not so much.
The more I think about it, the more I’m beginning to liken Mr. Wacker to the bad guy from Lethal Weapon 2.
“I have diplomatic immunity! I can get away with anything!
Can’t touch this!!!” *sings song*
583! This is the issue with Obama that sold ten gazillion copies!
Heeeey… I know how to get this thread to a thousand posts. Let’s insert politics into it!
Stephen Wacker cries more than Glenn Beck and promotes himself more than Sarah Palin. There we go. 😉
Crawl Space uber alles!
marvel doesn’t hate anybody; a conglomerate can’t have emotions.
On the other hand, people working for marvel are disappointed and
bewildered that so many fans are now FORMER fans and wish same
would just shut the aich-ee-two-hockey-sticks up.
And hey, I breached the Smelt It House lair and….wouldn’t you
know it?! Wacker’s graph is UPSIDE-DOWN!! Oh, that guy….!
I think that the Robot 6 commentary in the link on #539 puts it very well, pretty much exactly how I feel.
@Spider-Dad
I was offended by the “Go Cardinals”….ugh, seriously, who says crap like that? 🙂
Issue #581 I was one of the Molten Man issues where we kind of find out about Harry’s “history”, written by none other than Dan Slott.
If this thread is going in the wrong direction, we could always have Mephisto ret-con the last 400 posts. (Pow, zing!)
Mockery is the highest form of flattery.
I have a graph that will show (using my questionable and remedial statistical skills) that this thread is falling off a cliff as of post #546! Good luck getting new readers to this thread (that was what you said you wanted in your “Crawlspace Manifesto”, no?)!
Spider-Man Crawlspace? Ha! Sure. more like Spider-man “Fall” Space!!
I am boycotting this thread and others like it until you bring back some of the posters from pre#546. I used to love this thread, but no more. You have slapped my last Monday in the face, Crawlspace!!
Now, all of you come join me in my club, Smelt It House! I will make a jpeg for you and together we can pretend the world is against us!! ::roll eyes:: :vomit face ::shrug::shrug::FAIL:Star Trek guy doing facepalm thing::
It’s time for us to ban together to get the owner guy fired for this! This website used to be better without him!!!
SW
-#2 on the petition I made!!!!
Poor Flash…he had just lost his ability to walk a few years before and had finally regained it. That Thompson luck.
I was very impressed that the US Marine corp let him serve even though he still had extensive brain-damage and partial amnesia.
My nitpick. 😉 But yeah, good story.
Aw cripes. Just realized that last post was the excellent Flash Thompson story by Guggenheim…now if that story arc did not come out of no where and we had seen Flash go off to serve a few issues before, it would have been even better.
Sorry…nitpicking again.
Berkman had knee surgery last year and is feeling better. We will have to see. No matter what, I will go to Busch this year and root for him. Always thought he was a quality player, much like Larry Walker. We will have to see…for me it is about results. Gamble yes? If it works, payoff is big…
As for this situation with Dan, I guess if his boss wasn’t such a slave driver he wouldn’t be stressed so much to lash out at a fan like that. 🙂
I do truly understand Dan’s frustration. DS is clearly passionate about Spider-Man and I for one believe it is his dream job. In my job I get criticized for my decisions, (you see I do sit in the “big” chair…) and fully understand that sometimes boneheads will criticize, nitpick or say things are just flat out idiotic. Do I want to vent? You betcha. The key is walk away, calm down and do your best to say f*** you, without saying f*** you. To survive in any position of responsibility, (especially in the entertainment biz) you really have to have thick skin…always take the high road. The view is better.
Good luck with this latest controversy. By now, you should be used to it..
I don’t think there’s much here of my defending anything, but regardless…
I’m hopeful of the Berkman pickup. (I’m an annoying sports fan is that I don’t have a lot of strong opinions.)
I do know one of the Cardinal writers for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a huge comics fan and even mentioned the Spidey letter column in one article.
Well, I can understand why. Some carpel tunnel may be sitting in with all this typing you do. As a fellow redbird fan, let me help ya out…
@ Steve: Staying in NY getting to ya? You sound like a Cubs fan defending something that is not really worth defending.
BTW: Do you like the Berkman pickup for LF? Weird, not sure if I do. Go Cardinals!