Tag Archives: free speech

contributors, controversy, cultural, interviews, online

UPDATES: Baron Leaves Alt-Right “Based Stick Man” Comic, Alt★Hero Looms

VOX DAYIn a recent e-mail to Sacred and Sequential founder A. David Lewis, Eisner Award-winning comics creator Mike Baron wrote the following:

I am no longer involved with this project.

Baron was writing in reference to the Based Stick Man Graphic Novel, whose Facebook site, at the time of this writing, still features his name prominently as its writer and has made no further announcement. Sacred and Sequential spoke with Baron in August for his views on the project at that time.

Offering no additional explanation, Baron steps away from this alt-right project both as its Indiegogo fundraising page has disappeared and as provocateur Vox Day’s Alt★Hero series (discussed previously by guest columnist Sean Kleefeld) has apparently raised over ten times its campaign goal on the new “free speech” crowdfunding platform FreeStartr. Whether the BSM project could resurface on FreeStartr is unknown at this time.

As of last month, comics writer Chuck Dixon remains attached to the Alt★Hero volumes. Vox Day (aka Theodore Robert Beale) continues to tweet publicly about the project:

https://twitter.com/voxday/status/914164822119473152

https://twitter.com/voxday/status/914112394749730818

 

controversy, cultural, interviews, podcast

Writer Mike Baron on Based Stick Man, the Alt-Right, and Free Speech – 001 Sacred & Sequential Audio

Promotional cover art to Based Stick Man
Promotional cover art to Based Stick Man

A. David Lewis speaks with Mike Baron in August 2017 about the upcoming Based Stick Man series, the politics of the series, and Baron’s own views on free speech and violence.

“Sometimes our heroes aren’t the people we’d most like them to be. You’ve got to take who you can get.”

controversy, interviews

Even More Foreskin Man

3 Comments

Following on the initial discussion of the comic book Foreskin Man and the Anti-Defamation League’s denouncement of it as anti-semitic, several responses have appeared online.

First, there’s the blog The Truth Will Set You Free: In God We Trust, whose “About Us” page describes the site as having “a desire to expose America’s fraudulent monetary system and the evil of charging interest on money loaned” as well as  “a quest for truth and justice in all aspects of life and human culture with a special focus on political and economic justice – free from racism and oppression.” Contributor Andie531 speculated that Foreskin Man may be “just another Jewish invention,” reasoning that the creators Hess, Barretto, Sololiwski, and supporter Schofield all have apparently Hebrew surnames. Essentially, the blog accuses the ADL of creating its own artificial opposition, though the site does not outright say to what end the ADL would want this.

Next, law blog Above the Law speaks with anti-circumcision proponent Andrew Sullivan about Foreskin Man. Despite being “the most prominent supporter of circumcision bans,” Sullivan opposes the comic book:

“It’s maddening and sickening at the same time. Given these themes behind the movement, despite my conviction that male genital mutilation is a violation of human freedom, I’d vote against it now. The contempt for religious freedom and the use of this kind of anti-Semitic dreck – Monster Mohel anyone? – have pushed me over the edge. One day, a rational, calm and tolerant campaign to prevent the routine mutilation of male infants will emerge. But not this one. It’s despicable.”

Lastly, The Mary Sue: A Guide to Geek Girl Culture also decries the message of Foreskin Man but lauds the environment in which such a work is created:

It’s sad when you see a beloved medium used to spread a hateful message (even when it’s weirdly ineffective), but we would all be poorer without free speech. Because free speech also allows us to mock others.

The site’s coverage has led to over two dozen comments on the comic, the ADL, and free speech. The Mary Sue is part of the Abrams Media Network.