A little piece of comics news you may have missed this weekend.
In the wake of the assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords, Travis Corcoran posted some reprehensible thoughts on his personal blog: “1 down, 534 to go.”
In fairness, he provides an “explanation” for these comments right here. If you don’t have the time or inclination to read a very long and very desperate attempt to justify some incredibly childish ideas, here’s a summary: It is his very sincere belief that the fact he has to pay taxes is so evil that the murder of any politician (or their staff!) who is in some way a part of that taxation system is not merely justified, but to be applauded.*
Of course, Representative Giffords did not die, but at the time of Mr. Corcoran’s initial posting it was reported that she was dead. In any case, wow, what an asshole!
What does this have to do with you? Potentially quite a lot!
See, Mr. Corcoran runs Heavy Ink, an online comic book retailer that I have personally vouched for from its earliest days. Many of you used this service based on my endorsement.
For their first year or more, every time a new issue or trade paperback collection of Atomic Robo came out, it set new records for their sales. More copies of Atomic Robo were sold through Heavy Ink than any other online retailer, possibly more than all the others combined. Additionally, Heavy Ink was one of the oldest and most reliable advertisers within the pages of Atomic Robo. Hell, my parents use Heavy Ink.
But not any more. We are cutting all ties.
Your dollars were a huge part of what helped Heavy Ink climb out of the early months all small business endure and that statistically few survive. Now, I’m not calling for a boycott. But I am putting the facts out there so you can make an informed decision about where your dollars go and whom they support.
You can purchase comics from a number of online retailers that are not run by amoral monsters who think murder is a just form of political expression. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have a great comic shop in your town, visit them! It’s an investment in your community and you get to be entertained while doing it.
*It has been pointed out that my summation of Mr. Corcoran’s defense is inaccurate. This is true insofar as my summation is based on the content of a number of Mr. Corcoran’s posts, comments, and replies and not merely the material linked.
Fun fact: He is a self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist. “Anarco-” short for I don’t want to pay taxes. “Capitalist” short for if only I didn’t have to pay among the lowest taxation rates in the First World I would totally be the millionaire I deserve to be.
I may be paraphrasing for comedic effect at this point.
Anyway, a more accurate summation of the linked material would have been, “a really half-hearted but wordy defense,” etc.
My apologies.
