In a surprising move, Star Wars author Chuck Wendig took to Twitter today to announce that he had been fired by Marvel and taken off the upcoming Star Wars: Shadow of Vader comic book mini-series he'd been working on, as well as another unannounced Star Wars project with Marvel. The first three issues of the series will still be written by Wendig, however the final two will be written by someone else (or just maybe just cancelled, it's not really clear, since Marvel has yet to comment on the news). The Star Wars Aftermath author revealed in a lengthy Twitter thread today (which you can read at the bottom of this article) that he got the news this afternoon, as well as Marvel's reason for firing him. That reason: they didn't like his tweets.
There is a lot to be that is weird about this story, not the least of which is that Lucasfilm just announced Shadow of Vader last Friday at New York Comic Con during the Star Wars Publishing panel. Wendig was on the panel and talked excitedly about writing the series, where each issue would cover a different character whose life had been impacted by Darth Vader. Issue two is Willrow Hood's story (ice cream man in The Empire Strikes Back), and issue four would have dealt with the Acolytes of the Beyond (a cult of Vader-worshipers, whom Wendig introduced in the Aftermath novels). And then a week later, he's off the book.
This is dangerous precedent that Marvel is setting by removing Wendig from the series. Wendig has been controversial in some circles because of his work on the Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy of novels, where he made the decision to include a couple of LGBTQ+ characters in the story. This upset a certain, reprehensible segment of Star Wars "fans", the same segment that would go on to chase The Last Jedi star Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico) off Instagram with racist and sexist comments earlier this year.
And yes, obviously, you are absolutely entitled to like or dislike any or all of the Aftermath books, just like you're entitled to like or dislike The Last Jedi, The Phantom Menace, or even The Empire Strikes Back. If you dislike Wendig's writing style or the story of those books, that is totally fine. This is not about that. This is about a certain group of people who are using Star Wars as an excuse for their abusive behavior and bigoted beliefs.
This decision to fire Wendig because he was vocal about his political opinions on Twitter--things like children and their families shouldn't be separated at the border and the kids put in cages, or that white supremacists are bad, or that climate change is real and dangerous, you know really controversial stuff (#sarcasm)--is at best cowardly and sends a poor message, both to creators and to those who are trying to turn Star Wars into a bizarre, alt-right fantasy (while pretending it always was that, ignoring the fact George Lucas himself is a progressive and has imbued all his films with progressive values).
To the creators it sends the message that they can't be themselves on their social media platforms. Which, as a fan, I think sucks. I hate the idea that high profile people on social media should become bland, opinion-less automatons, who just promote their work. If all I wanted was promotion, I would just read press releases. If I follow someone on social media, be they an author, a celebrity, or a friend, it's because I want to hear from them about a variety of topics. About their work, yes, but also their craft, their process, and their opinions--including their political opinions.
As for the message it sends to the tolls, that is far more chilling. Marvel is basically saying if you don't like having diverse characters that represent all people in Star Wars, all you have to do is harass the creators and the publishers/producers enough and you'll get your way. The behaviour and beliefs of the people who chased Tran off social media and led to Wendig being fired are not those of the Star Wars films. The films are about heroes coming together to accomplish something great in the face of unspeakable evil. The bad guys are the ones who attack people who are different from them. As Wendig himself said in 2015, "If you can imagine a world where Luke Skywalker would be irritated that
there were gay people around him, you completely missed the point of
Star Wars."
What little solace that can be taken from this is that this decision
seems to have been limited to Marvel, and not made by Lucasfilm. Wendig points out
in his tweets that, in the past at least, Lucasfilm has been supportive
of him sticking up for himself and Star Wars in the face of the
trolls. So there's hope that there that this just a Marvel-thing and that
Lucasfilm is willing to continue letting its creatives be
themselves on social media (as long as they are not hurting anyone, of
course).
Regardless, this decision by Marvel has left a terrible taste in my mouth to the point where I don't think I'm going to to continue reading Star Wars comics after Charles Soule's Darth Vader series wraps up at the end of the year. Marvel is setting a dangerous precedent by doing this and I shudder to think where this may lead us. It's a slippery slope, folks, and those of us who believe in what Star Wars truly is need to make sure we're making our voices heard and that the trolls aren't the only ones with a platform.
You can read Wendig's Twitter thread in its entirety below,
So, here’s a thing that has happened – I just got fired from Marvel. Taken off issues 4 and 5 of SHADOW OF VADER, and taken off an as-yet-unannounced SW book.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
This might be a long thread, so apologies in advance.
(I hesitate to talk about this, because honestly, it gives the Worst Possible People a win, something they’ve wanted for a while. But I also feel like I’ve long held to honesty and forthrightness, and I don’t feel like lying when people realize I’m not on these books anymore.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
To rewind a little bit, when SW: AFTERMATH came out, I assume most know but maybe you don’t, I put some ahh, elements in there (LGBT characters) that were not received well by a certain subset of fandom.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
That resulted in both a negative review campaign, found across various FB groups and other Worst Places on the Internet, that began mounting the very minute the book dropped online.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I was literally at a midnight release of the book, and when I got done, there were already a pile of one-star reviews piling up – which seemed strange, obviously. And scary, too. I didn't understand what was happening at the time.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(And as a caveat, obviously I recognize that yes, some people just don’t like the book for the Usual Reasons, and people who hold those reasons are not to be lumped in with the more septic side of fandom. Tl;dr see also TLJ reviews.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I also started receiving TONS of harassment – harassment that has gone on for years, harassment that has required me to contact local police and warn them of SWATting attempts, harassment across all corners of the Internet, here, FB, Reddit, YouTube.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Some of it was bot stuff, obviously, or sock puppets, but some of it was pretty creepy, and very personal. I didn't call a lot of it out or even highlight, but it was there, a sort of... constant background noise.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(Christ, for an extra special treat go search for my name and check out the YouTube videos if you want an eye-opening glimpse.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And I was worried of course because, jeez, I thought I had screwed up. I wondered for a time if the book was bad. But then it hit list and stayed on list for four weeks – and the next two books hit list, too, and EMPIRE’S END landed even higher on the list than the first book.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And privately, I was told by folks inside LFL that there was no worry here, that they valued that I spoke out both speaking up for myself and for STAR WARS, which has always honestly been a progressive brand and company.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And it made me very proud to work for them, too, not just because -- holy hell, basking in the glow of STAR WARS, but because the people were great, and they totally got it.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(Hell, a lot of the people inside LFL have experience considerable harassment. I mean, that’s not news, but Kelly Marie-Tran? Bueller? Bueller?)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
After I did HYPERION with Marvel, they hired me then to write the TFA adaptation, which meant I got to work with some wonderful folks – @hantos and @cracksh0t – on a project that was tricky, because it ended up being more a translation of the movie than an adaptation.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(I know Heather received some of the worst harassment in the entire industry – I can’t speak to how well Marvel did or did not protect her from it, but I know she was at the bottom of a major misery funnel from Comicsgate and their ilk. Far worse than I suffered.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Still, I thought things were good, and I hoped to do more work with Marvel or SW or a combo of the two someday – comics isn’t really my “thing,” per se, but I felt like I was getting a handle on it.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Of course, the harassment continued – and it got worse again when TLJ came out. Which I’m sure is no surprise to anyone who has ever tweeted, “Hey, I really liked THE LAST JEDI!” That’s really when I started to see lots of YouTube videos and stuff about me and it was…— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Well, it was creepy.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And I’d seen other signs of people being… fired for political reasons, or folks like @ChelseaCain who was yanked around and was also the subject of considerable nastiness.
And then we announced SHADOW OF VADER juuuuust last weekend, and people were excited, and I thought everything was good. I was not made aware of any issues, and my online self has always been my online self, so.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Except, yeah, no.
Today I got the call. I’m fired. Because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark, the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Basically, because I was not civil.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Which, of course, is their decision to make. I’m not their boss. (And, turns out, they’re not the boss of me, either. Har har.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(I joke because otherwise, I cry.)
My understanding over this call was that this was a Marvel decision, not an LFL decision, but I can’t really confirm that. The editor said he had made the call. He seemed genuinely upset at my tweets and profanity, so maybe that's accurate. And again, that's his right to do so.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
If they honestly feel that my presence will damage the book, I don't want that. I want the book to shine, and artists like Juanan Ramirez and Greg Smallwood to do their amazing thing. Artists like that are gods in my mind, so I'm happy to not distract from their literal magic.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
But it does set a troubling precedent. One we’ve seen already – James Gunn, Jessica White, and so on – of folks fired because they riled up the wasp’s nest of asterisk-gate.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And it seems odd to be mad that I’m mad about politics when – well, look around. Climate change, kids in cages, sexual harassers at the topmost tiers of power, and so on. A call for civility as the PA GOP candidate threatens Tom Wolf with a golf cleat stomping. I dunno, man.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I know it hands Comicsgate a big win. It will embolden them. But they won -- I’m out of Marvel and, I guess for now, at least, out of any kind of Star Wars. Do your victory lap, I guess. (Just please leave me out of it.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(All that being said, a lot of wonderful people still work inside those institutions and storyworlds, and I hope you’ll continue to support them and the stories they’re telling.)— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
To conclude: this is really quite chilling. And it breaks my heart. I am very sad, and worried for the country I live in, and the world, and for creative people all around. Courage to you all.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I have a dire fear this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
P.S. Vote in November like your life depends on it. Because it just might.— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Shame on you, Marvel.
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