Recently Don Simpson took to social media to bully Rob Liefeld. It’s not the first time someone has bashed Rob’s work and I’m sure it won’t be the last time.
Don Simpson: Folks, the American comic book is officially dead. This is the worst POS I’ve ever seen in my life…
He added a few comments amongst the over 400 posts that have been added since.
I’ve seen a lot of bad art, student art, and so on. But what is conceptually hard to process is this is somehow “professional.” Yikes. The playground argument is always, “You’re just jealous!” Yeah, I’m jealous — I sure wish I had drawn this drawing!
Back in the day, I actually visited Extreme Studios in Anaheim, within a stone’s through of the stadium, at the invitation of Larry Marder (at the time, Extreme and Image Central were one and the same, or in the same space). I ducked my head into Rob’s cubbyhole with his drawing board and all, no distinct memories of it — Rob wasn’t in that day — there were a few Sharpie sketches on the drawing board. Larry said to me afterward, “You can’t tell anybody what you saw.” I asked, “What did I see?” They were the concept sketches for Captain America, and I couldn’t even recognize them. So, yeah, I can keep a secret! Especially when what I’m looking at doesn’t even register on a perceptual level.
That’s all I’m saying. I’m a worthless hack and a never-was (it’s too kind to call me a has-been); I clearly have no regard for my artistic and professional superiors, and you’re right. I completely blew it! And yet I’m somehow convinced that this may be single worst image of Spider-Man ever drawn by a so-called professional artist — let alone published by Marvel Comics. (How insane is that?)
But the real question is why does anyone think that bullying Rob or any other human being is ok.
Forever fans have argued who is stronger Hulk or Thing. I have been a fan of both the Hulk and the Fantastic Four. The Hulk TV show really energized my Hulk fandom as a kid and while the show more resemble the Fugitive than the Hulk comic it still increased my enjoyment of the Hulk as a character. That didn’t diminish my love for the Fantastic Four, and all that went with it from the Silver Surfer to the Inhumans. I loved John Byen’s Fantastic Four even with She-Hulk replacing the Thing. I realize everyone has their favorites and that’s a good Thing. But it’s not ok for Hulk fans to hate the Fantastic Four enough to try and get them canceled. If they don’t like the Fantastic Four they don’t buy it. If enough people don’t like the Fantastic Four it will be canceled. At no point would it be considered reasonable or acceptable to actively work to get Fantastic Four canceled even though it is a commercial success just because you have a preference for the Hulk. Also, it is not ok to bully Thing fans because you liked Hulk better. The same should be true for Rob’s art. If you don’t like it don’t buy it if enough people don’t like it that is the marketplace speaking. However, Rob’s work is extremely commercially successful, I have no understanding why people would take their time and energy trying to disrespect and bully someone else’s taste in what they buy, insult the creator, and by implication insult the consumers that support the artist.
Vanilla is the most popular flavor of ice cream in the country. Baskin Robins has 31 flavors and vanilla outsells them all. I don’t like vanilla ice cream. I don’t eat ice cream anymore but when I did I was a chocolate ice cream guy. I have never gone to get ice cream and had anyone working at the shop or any customer try to insult chocolate ice cream or my choosing chocolate. No one ever says “You shouldn’t order chocolate, because vanilla is the superior ice cream”. Everyone accepts that it’s a matter of personal preference and they don’t actively work against chocolate ice cream. If I like Rob Liefeld’s art why is there ever a discussion? Why does someone else feel it’s ok to weigh in on my choice and try to change my opinion?
If Rob were a plumber, and his customers were happy with the job he did. He had worked in his field for nearly 40 years and was a successful plumber. But some of his competitors were unhappy with his success for whatever reason. If those competitors started an online campaign against Rob the Plumber this is unacceptable. If people who had never been customers of Rob the Plumber took to Yelp complaining about Rob the Plumber and freely admitting they were not customers of Rob the Plumber this would also be unacceptable.
Now you could say well Rob is an artist, not a plumber, a character, or a flavor of ice cream. But following that logic Let’s compare Rob’s art to Charles Shultz. Charles Shultz was a cartoonist like Rob who had his work adapted into other mediums and had a solid fan base. If you go into a Barns and Noble today and pick up a copy of Peanut, I promise the clerk will not argue with you about your purchase. At no point will he tell you he doesn’t like Shultz rendering of a dog. No one will compare and contrast Shultz, version of a dog with Brad Anderson’s Marmaduke. Nor will he try to discourage you from making your purchase. Why does any retailer think it’s OK to disrespect Rob’s work or fans of that work while at the same time profiting from selling it? Likewise, no customer will try to convince you not to make your purchase of Peanuts.About Author
