One week ago, DC Comics abruptly canceled its Red Hood comic, which had debuted that day on September 10. The first issue was pulled from the shelves of comic book shops, the second and third (and beyond) issues were canceled, and it even led to the cancellation of a planned Batman Day Sampler, which contained an excerpt from the issue. Well, as it turns out, there is likely a second comic that won’t see the light of day from Red Hood writer Gretchen Felker-Martin, as well. Specifically, a creator-owned horror comic.
The news comes from Felker-Martin’s BlueSky account, where she was banned last week, seemingly for posting about the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. While the reason for the cancellation of Red Hood was related, it seems there were multiple violations of DC’s social media policy leading up to the Kirk skeets — though Felker-Martin, in an interview with The Comics Journal, saw things a different way.
However, Felker-Martin is back on BlueSky and speaking out about the events of the past week.
“Hey all! I’d like to thank the world’s media institutions, and of course the Bluesky mods, for being totally normal and proportional about a barely famous trans woman cracking wise about a Nazi’s death,” Felker-Martin wrote. “The outpouring of support from readers & colleagues is overwhelming. I can’t imagine them coming together like this for a ‘problematic’ trans woman even five years ago. If you want to help me make up the lost income from comics work, you can subscribe to my Patreon.”
However, more to the point of our comic book website, Felker-Martin continued that, “So, the gig at DC is over. I imagine the original horror comic I had cooking with their creator-owned imprint is gone as well. This was a direct result of comics fans freaking out about decade-old online beef so wildly that Israeli Zionist propaganda outlets picked it up, which in turn led to the far right/ComicsGate piling on opportunistically, which led to my firing, which led to countless death threats and attempted doxxings. i got fed to nazis by skittish executives who cared more about bad faith grievance mongers than their own artists.”
While Felker-Martin doesn’t specify, given DC’s current publishing structure, it’s extremely likely she’s referring to DC’s revitalized Vertigo imprint, which is announcing its initial slate at a panel at New York Comic Con. Versus the mainline DC Comics or even the Black Label line, Vertigo is the creator-owned imprint, and traditionally — i.e., back when Vertigo was around the first time — was home to multiple lauded horror comic books. It’s entirely possible that (this is pure speculation) Felker-Martin’s Vertigo horror comic was part of the planned announcement in a month’s time on the back of the likely success of Red Hood.
And having a horror comic from Felker-Martin makes sense, too, because she works as a best-selling horror writer (and has two novels coming up over the next year); comics were a side gig.
As is, we’ll have to wait and see whether temperatures have calmed down enough for the title to continue, though given her interview in The Comics Journal, it doesn’t seem likely she would want to continue with DC, regardless. “I have no desire to be part of any organization that wants to pretend that people like Charlie Kirk are decent human beings who deserve respect,” Felker-Martin said in the piece.
And as for finishing off the BlueSky thread, she offered an even stronger take: “I regret nothing, I don’t apologize, kiss my ass… You cannot kill me in a way that matters.”
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.