Mark Millar coined the term cancel pigs last week to call out those who jump on the bandwagons to ruin the careers of comic professionals and retailers who say anything against the Marvel and DC Comics narrative. It’s odd how fast they operate, calling even left-wing socialists like Millar “alt-right” and trying to brand them “comicsgate,” which signals they’re a pariah. But it seems these attacks are beyond coordinated, which is why comics journalist Penny Parker has been going after the whisper network for years. People wonder whether the comic industry pays these cancel pigs for this work.
In 2017, corruption in the comic industry came to the forefront of pop culture, with several voices calling out the wrong products from Marvel and DC Comics, what appeared to be diversity hires based on nepotism, and creators getting blacklisted for their political support of Donald Trump.
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The industry corruption came to public attention in September of that year when PJ Media’s Megan Fox wrote an article regarding a group of industry insiders colluding to harass YouTuber Richard C. Meyer at New York Comic-Con, based on screenshots uncovered by journalist and comic creator, Jon Del Arroz. The article was promoted with the hashtag #ComicsGate to highlight the corruption, and the hashtag eventually became synonymous with rebellion against wokeness by independent creators and fans.
Penny Parker drew attention for her independent comics journalism by uncovering the toxicity in the industry during the #ComicsGate uprising, with a post on Twitter in 2019 naming members of a whisper network she claims are the sources of lies and fake news in comics. Her list included Rich Johnston, Alex de Campi, Kaitlyn Booth, Joe Glass, Caitlin Rosenberg, Graeme McMillan, Heidi McDonald, Asher Elben, Tess Fowler, Chris Arrant, Heather Antos and Stephanie Cooke. She wrote up evidence of this network for the pop culture news website Bleeding Fool in 2020 and 2021.
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During this time, several of those ostracized from the industry and fans of comics wondered why the attacks on creators like Ethan Van Sciver, Mike S. Miller, and others had so many people piling on so quickly on different Twitter posts. It seemed to be the only place these cancel pigs existed to cause trouble, and their work looked a little too coordinated to be natural.
One of the people Penny Parker and others noticed seemed to get a little too much high-level industry clout was Lauren “Renfamous” Cooper, a cosplayer who continually agitated right-wing creators ever since artist Mike S. Miller asked her if she was transgender in 2017. Comic professionals flocked to this person, who had her Twitter account grow at rates one doesn’t usually see from these types of posts, and people noticed she was getting retweeted and responded to by Marvel Comics Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada.
Rumors swirled that Renfamous had been hired by Marvel by a Crisis Public Relations firm to attack the budding independent rebellion in the comics industry. Penny Parker named a name of a firm in an X thread on Dec. 12, stating, “Lauren ‘Renfamous’ Cooper and others who orbit the comic industry have connections to FIREBELL It’s FUCKED UP how many ppl trying to infiltrate comics work for notorious corporate sabotage companies?! Their ACTUAL JOB is to lie and spread misinformation.
The point was followed up by Kneon from ClownfishTV, who amplified the message, saying, “Is this true? The biggest “Cancel Pigs” are connected to a PR crisis firm? Holyshit, THAT would explain so much if (IF!) it is. It WOULD explain why they’ve been going on and on for YEARS when they have NO personal stake in this nerd shit themselves.”
He reiterated, “I mean, HBO got busted in 4K making their interns go to war with Twitter users. So it’s plausible.” This statement refers to a PR crisis the film company had where an executive admitted to making sock puppet accounts to go after critics of their shows.
Whether the comic industry cancel pigs have a full PR firm hired by Marvel and DC Comics or not remains to be proven, though often where there’s this level of smoke, there’s fire.
What do you think about this cancel pigs revelation of the comic industry? Leave a comment and let us know.
You mean they paid them money to do what they were going to do anyway (screech endlessly on the internet)? What a waste. lol
It wouldn’t surprise me.
Remember JOURNOLIST?
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