“I can’t believe what happened here today, guys, legendary stuff… That is fighting cancel culture. Being where you’re told you’re not supposed to be.”
That was Godlike and Graveyard Shift creator Jon Malin’s comment live at the C2E2 convention in Chicago, Ill. on April 26 after being briefly detained by event security while livestreaming and then let go.
Jon Malin purchased a day pass to C2E2 in protest after having an exhibitor booth that was supposed to be shared with Shane Davis and Ethan Van Sciver canceled, having a separate three-day pass refunded and then being explicitly told via email he was not allowed to go the convention.
The former Marvel Comics artist resisted the cancelation and went to the convention anyway; event security found him and then, after consulting with the event management, judged he posed no threat to anyone at the convention and let him go, leaving him free to roam the event after all.
Jon Malin said he felt vindicated, telling his audience, “[W]e’re out here… this is the front line, guys, the world of commerce, business, this is where it matters — in the real world. This is where Shane Davis, Ethan Van Sciver and myself went to make a difference and I would say a small, small change happened here today. A small victory. It’s got to start somewhere.”
Jon Malin added, “Got to get the people in the right head space. If we’re not causing trouble, we’re not disobeying rules on your ground floor, if we’re not disturbing people or going out of our way to make them feel unsafe, we should be allowed to be here as anybody else is.”
Towards the end of the confrontation with security, Frank the security guard admitted to Jon Malin that “I don’t see any problems, any issues here” proving the Code of Conduct as enforced showed there was no violation at the event. Frank added, “You’re not causing any problems here, no harm, no foul. I don’t see anything that’s going on. If you want to enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself. If things change, you know, obviously, I don’t see you causing an issue or anything. If there’s any kind of disruption or something, then we’ll get with… I don’t get that impression, that’s exactly what I just said there, I appreciate you giving me a couple of minutes to try and sort it out… Enjoy the show.”
Earlier, the other security guard audibly stated “We were told to look for you and if you were on the premises to escort you out” and “we were told you violated the code of conduct…” and “we’re just following orders.” The outcome, where Frank stated “You’re not causing any problems here” appears to refute the original claims by C2E2 that there was a violation of the Code of Conduct when the arbiter of that ultimately stated categorically that wasn’t true.
Also attending the convention in defiance of the cancelation was Shane Davis, who also purchased a pass to the convention and was able to go inside as his Mange Davis persona in character and livestreaming.
Shane Davis, later interviewing Jon Malin at the convention, and who was not detained by security, agreed that Jon Malin’s bid to livestream his way into the convention was a big part of the successful protest, saying, “Yeah, probably, the video tape was a big part of you staying in the con.”
Shane Davis noted that he had walked to where the Nine Lives Comics table was set to be, saying, “I walked by where the booth would’ve been… there’s nothing there. Like, it’s just an empty space. There’s like a sign for a Mickey Mouse watch, that’s it.”
The original cancelation of the exhibitor booth of Shane Davis and Nine Lives Comics was based on “offensive verbal comments” supposedly in violation of the C2E2 code of conduct.
Davis, Malin and Van Sciver had crowdfunded the tabling fees for the C2E2 event in part via the profits from a successful Indiegogo campaign entitled, “CG TRIPLE THREAT VARIANTS! THE BIGGEST CHARACTERS IN INDIE COMICS JOIN FORCES! CYBERFROG! GODLIKE! INGLORIOUS REX!” that raised more than $54,000.
Speaking on a March 30 YouTube livestream hosted by Jon Malin, Shane Davis, whose table for Nine Lives Comics at the world-class convention was canceled, stated, “In the letter, again, they don’t really emphasize who’s been harassed. They actually just say harassment and then try to put in parentheses race, gender, whatever…”
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Quoting from the letter that was received by Shane Davis, Jon Malin outlined the section of the letter that was being cited: “I’m just going to tell people the line in that they actually wrote…: ‘The conduct of Mr. [Van] Sciver and Mr. Malin including but not limited to… ‘offensive verbal comments’ in relation to ‘race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender presentation and sexual orientation’ are indeed in violation of the code of conduct.’”
Jon Malin added, “Also, they state the code of conduct is not just for their show it’s for your entire life. It’s all the time between the shows at any time something bad happens to you, you say something out of line that is not politically in line with what they believe politically, they can throw you out.”
Shane Davis, Jon Malin, and Ethan Van Sciver were even profiled on C2E2’s website for exhibitors before being removed.
But, now in what he told Shane Davis was “a small victory for Comicsgate,” Jon Malin stood up and did was sorely needed — he said no.
As a free speech and press advocate for almost two decades, I must say what Jon Malin did was incredibly courageous. Jon Malin is right.
I believe what happened to him, Shane Davis, Ethan Van Sciver, and Anna That Star Wars Girl, who had her press pass to C2E2 canceled, are civil rights violations, even if public accommodations in states like Illinois have not yet caught up with the times to prohibit viewpoint discrimination.
Like Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat in Montogomery, Ala., in 1955, Jon Malin’s refusal to be barred from C2E2 is exactly how you fight back against cancel culture. Independent creators and journalists should thank him and Shane Davis for their heroic acts of passive resistance, which will make it less likely that there will be more cancelations in the future.
Thank you, Jon and Shane.
Robert Romano is a contributor to the Fandom Pulse and the Editor-in-Chief of Comicsgate.org.
What do you think about former Marvel Comics artist Jon Malin standing up to cancel culture at C2E2? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Jon Malin is the chubby hero we all needed
He’s an idiot not a hero. They refunded the money for the booth and he was filming despite seeing a sign saying no filming. These guys just want attention it was obvious since Richard was threatened at NYCC. Malin, Shane, and EVS are clowns they defend Mark Brooks and Vito the pedo now. Don’t forget they cancelled Mike, then Vox, JDA for a while, and now Rippa.
So what the video shows is Jon was not disruptive and no one felt threatened. Reedpop has some explaining to do, or at this point they might as well be transparent and admit they are thought police and hypocrites.
He wasn’t supposed to film they had a sign and he continued
He violated the no filming thing