Title : The Trial of Dave Sim
link : The Trial of Dave Sim
The Trial of Dave Sim
Hi, Everybody!A Moment of Cerebus Interim Editor Matt Dow here.
Before I begin today's long slog through the dregs of humanity, I'ma putting up the:
CLAIMER: (like a disclaimer, but I'm stating what I actually own up to.)
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The following is MY (Matt Dow's) accounting of the latest controversy roiling the internet regarding Dave Sim. Unless otherwise accredited, everything is MY opinion, and from MY understanding. I'm speaking for MYSELF. (Or, as it says at the right hand top of this blog: "I AM NOT DAVE SIM"...)
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So it started with a comment on the Hot Wacks post on the second of January from my new bestest friend: JLH:
I asked for a link or such, and Everybody's Friend (and Superman's frenemy): David Birdsong posted:
- Happy new year! Woke up today to seeing people claiming on Twitter that Dave groomed a child into having sex with him. The fun never ends.
https://twitter.com/renfamous/status/1080214363125022726Which included this image:
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| ...the fuck, right?.. |
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| Here's part one, the fax TO Dave, from Edwin Boyette |
I didn't correct any language or punctuation.Mr. Sim,Aloha and Happy New Year.There is a culture war at large, and specifically within the domain of comic books at the moment.Over the past year a group of fans and associated creators have managed to crowdfund and put into production dozens of new comic books - bypassing the traditional network of publishing houses, comic book media, reviewers, and influencers.One of the primary figures in this movement is Ethan Van Sciver, he and the movement are currently being attacked for mentioning support for your work and you potentially being a writer on an affiliated project.A particular influencer has dug up your comments on your initial attraction to the then teen aged "Judith Bradford" and your subsquent relationship.Your comments are being used as a cudgel against Mr. Van Sciver and the movement - and you yourself are being accused of predatory grooming.Reading your article in context you appear to repudiate your earlier behaviour (admirable). Has Ms. Bradford commented on this as an adult, or is this there additional context?I would like to be able to unequivocally answer this, and as much as is possible and remove it as a point of discussion. I note that in the age of character of assassination on social media, you make an easy target to disparage in absentia.Thank you and Aloha.Edwin Boyettefax: +1 [REDACTED]celluar 1-[REDACTED]
Here's Dave's response:
And here's Mr. Boyette's response to Dave:
Don't worry, I retyped this too:
Again, I didn't correct any language or punctuation.Jan 2, 2019 2:00 Hawaii Time.Dave,That is and admirable display of confession and remorse. Paul's observations on marriage in scripture are always germane. Hopefully the Scripture has remained a guiding light for you.Frankly - I don't want to share this with anyone, you will likely be crucified - by the NEO-Puritan Social Justice Warriors, it would be bitter and ugly.I appreciate you being forth coming with me, a stranger.When you have the opportunity please do make contact with Ethan.Thank you and Aloha.Edwin Boyettefax: +1 [REDACTED]celluar 1-[REDACTED]
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And then Ethan Van Sciver posted:
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| Fuckin' classy... |
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Okay, so in the meantime I called Dave and left a message, then I got online and looked at some of this stuff, and faxed up:
1/2/2019Oy, Dave,So, the Judith Bradford thing got brought up on Twitter (as Sir Alec Guinness said as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: “You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy…”)It started like this: [and the first image up top from the Twitter-MD]Which is a screen grab of a comment you made on a post from February, 22nd 2017. I’ve sent a couple of tweets to try to clarify things. I expect that it’ll do nothing. It’s Twitter. I gotta learn to avoid it like the plague it is.Sorry to have called BEFORE I fully checked out what was going on.Take to you tomorrow.Matt
And he faxed back:
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| Which I posted previously... |
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And that was the Trial of Dave Sim. It lasted all of five minutes, Dave was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to the Cursed Earth, there to walk the Wastelands until he dies of radiation poisoning.
The End.
Ya know, again...
Ya know, again...
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As I mentioned in my Fax to Dave, the screengrab from AMOC is from Dave's comments on this post.
Okay, I'm gonna pause here to remind everyone of a couple of facts:
- The "girl" in question was born tomorrow January, Eighth. In 1970. I know it's bad form to mention a lady's age, but the "13 year old girl" everybody's up in arms about, is 49.
- As Dave mentioned in part 3 of this month's "Please Hold For Dave Sim," she's also a real person with a life. And she might not want her past with Dave Sim becoming an internet "thing" intruding on her life today.
- Dave has not tried to hide his past. He put it in the book. (Issue #78, as Dave mentioned)
Click to see bigger, (Thanks Margaret!)
Click for bigger - Dave also talked about it in The Many Origins of Jaka Pt. 1. (At the 3:30 mark) (thanks, Anthony Kuchar!)
- Plus, there were his comments on the post I just mentioned.
- In case anybody missed it in Dave's fax, Dave has been celibate for almost 21 years (since February 1998).
- Dave, himself, has said that his relationship with the lady in question was Wrong.
- Dave met her in 1983, and he never saw her again after March, 8th, 1992. I'm fairly certain they weren't "exclusive" during those nine years. Meaning, I'm pretty sure Dave had other girlfriends.
- Ya know, when Dave said he was gonna do a : "Russian Novel" in Cerebus, I thought he was talking about Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky... not Nabokov... *sigh*
Alright, So, issue #78 was in 1985, #4 is from 2016, #5 is from 2017. It's not like Dave was trying to hide the relationship.
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Now, I know the Trial is over, but...
Back when EVS and comicsgate first popped up, and we all started discussing it 'round here, I kept getting praised for my even-handedness and fairness regarding the 'gate.
Yeah, that was because I didn't wanna cause Dave any undue grief.
But since he's off Cyberfrog...
I'm just gonna come out and say it:
Ethan Van Sciver is a Chickenshit.
He's all "ComicsGate über alles, über alles in der Welt!" And ComicsGate is gonna burn down the industry and replace it with something better (or something along those lines...) But the minute the "SJWs"
(Let me digress during my digression: How is "Social Justice Warrior" a pejorative? It's Batman's job description. How the FUCK is calling someone in the comic book world Batman a negative? I don't get it. I just don't... (I mean, if your insult to your opponent is Batman's job description, you are, in essence, calling them Batman. And what does that then make you? The Joker? The Riddler? The Penguin? King Tut? (And before you answer: "Bane. Because I will break the Bat..." let me stop ya right there. You're King Tut. A relative nobody who got clunked on the head, and now you think you're somebody important.)))
Ahem, "But the minute the 'SJW's..." Right, right.
But the minute the Anti-'gate crowd throws this in his face, he folds, like a cheap suit.
Wait, allow me to correct myself, first he defends Dave by saying it's the same as when Elvis met Priscilla. Then he sees the YouTube video by "thatUmbrellaguy" and folds like a cheap suit.
Chickenshit.
If EVS was REALLY interested in working with Dave, don't you think he would have called Dave and asked DAVE to explain what happened?
But nope, calls Dave and says, "you're out."
Which is his right as the creator of Cyberfrog, but it's still a chickenshit move.
Ya know, at one point, I returned to the Twitters for the first time in four or five years. And I contacted Renfamous to clarify a few points.
Renfamous is the Anti-'gater who posted the thing about Dave. While I was sending messages, I sent the following:
Also, if you really wanna "get" EVS, four words: "Where. Is. Cyberfrog. Ethan?"I mean, his campaign to crowd fund Cyberfrog ended on July 30th of 2018. If you factor a page a day, it's forty-eight pages, so (even with a couple days off,) he could have had it finished by the end of September. As far as I know, it's still not done.
Meanwhile, Master-'gater #1, EVS, has posted how many hundreds of videos on YouTube? I mean I get it, he's probably monetizing the shit out of those things, but if it were ME, and I raised half a million bucks to make a comic, I'd be busting that shit out like a bat out of hell. I'd be eating, sleeping, and living my comic until it was printed and delivered into the hands of the fine folks who gave me 500K.
But that's just me. I'm that kind of guy.
And, I believe, so is Dave Sim.
I mean when Dave does a KickStarter, he's pretty good with getting rewards out to everybody as fast as possible. I'm pretty sure he sent me a pack of comics I didn't order, because he THOUGHT it was the rewards I was getting. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Always.
Can the Master-'gater's supports say he's treating them the same way?
I think my biggest problem with the Master-'gater crowd is...
(Well, MY biggest problem is the use of the word "gate" in their name. Putting "gate" after another word to indicate scandal is annoying as fuck. Watergate was the name of the hotel. Calling the scandal "Watergate" made sense. Any other "___gate" is just stupid...)
...the mental cirrhosis. Literally, the hardening of the mind.
Let me illustrate:
Because it doesn't matter what franchise you thought of. Practically everything has "been ruined" at this point.
And the Master-'gaters SAY they want better comics. Okay, make better comics.
"But we're just fans, we don't make the comics..."
Okay, but ya know Previews? That bigger than the phonebook thing at your local comic shop? Well, in the back, past the premier publishers, are hundreds of little publishers. And they're publishing ALL kinds of things. So instead of bitchin' about how Marvel and DC are RUINING your childhood by publishing whatever, grow up and find a NEW thing.
Because let me tell you what I really want from EVS and the other Master-'gater creators.
I want EVS to do A Contract With God.
"Wait Matt, you want EVS to do Will Eisner's A Contract With God? Like redraw it?"
No, I want EVS and his fellows to do THEIR A Contract With God.
See, one of EVS's big ideas, is that Marvel and DC are doing a disservice to their fans, by not giving them what they want. Mind you, that's a STUPID idea.
"Gee, Matt, that's kinda insulting..."
Yes, yes it is. So's the idea that Fan-service is the way to run a railroad.
See, back in the day what the fans wanted from Will Eisner was more The Spirit. And in EVS's worldview, Eisner should have given fans what they wanted and spent the rest of his life writing and drawing The Spirit.
Except, Will Eisner didn't want to do The Spirit. Will Eisner wanted to do A Contract With God. Which is one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Probably Eisner's best work.
But again, not what the mob wanted.
But by that point in his career, Eisner had the financial freedom to do what HE wanted, not what the FANS wanted. And so he created the greatest G__ D___ graphic novel of all time. Because he could.
Now EVS, the Masterest of the Master-'gaters, crows about how much the Master-'gater movement has raised through crowd-funding. Now, I think he and his fellow Master-'gaters should fulfill their obligations, and then, with the financial freedom they've earned, they should produce works that are THEIR A Contract With God. Ya know, the Greatest G__ D___ Graphic Novels THEY can.
Ya know, like Dave Sim did with Cerebus...
Next Time: AMOC might just have our Special Friend of the Year (and the year's barely a week old...)
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Okay, one last thing. Like pretty much every time I write about the 'gate, I revised and wrote and revised and wrote AND REVISED AND REWROTE this over and over again in my head. I got two pages of notes of things I wanted to add.
But really, what's the point. I faxed up a slightly shorter version of this to Dave, and it was 20 pages long. So, this is it.
I WOULD like to add two things:
- To all the regulars who visit over and over again: Thank you for reading my crap. Also, Thanks to Tim W. for creating A Moment of Cerebus in the first place. And thanks to everybody who has contributed over the years. And to anybody who's visiting my little slice of the interwebs for the first time, Welcome! And thanks for stopping by. Usually I just ramble about a little grey aardvark. If you stop back again, it'll be a lot less...this.
- If you've read this whole thing, and you think this controversy is a "non-troversy," would you please do me a favor and call Dave at (519) 576-0610 and leave the following message: "Hi Dave, this is" then your first and last name, "and I don't think you are a bad guy." It'll go right to his answering machine, so just leave that message. Thanks in advance!
Matt Dow
Interim Editor, A Moment of Cerebus
Thus Article The Trial of Dave Sim
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Seriously?
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Don't be dicks...
Matt Dow
Interim Editor
A Moment of Cerebus