Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, cosplay, tony harris

"Hey! Quasi-Pretty-NOT-Hot-Girl, You Are More Pathetic Than The REAL Nerds" – Tony Harris (UPDATE)

READ! RT?facebook.com/tony.harris.31…

— Tony Harris (@TONYFINGHARRIS) November 13, 2012

On Twitter, Tony Harris asked people to retweet his Facebook post below. Well, this is a kind of a retweet. I guess.

This weekend, Jennifer de Guzman and Dirk Manning had at it over a Ted meme he posted that referred to "faux nerd" women as whores. Something, I'd like to point out, that Tony Harris doesn't say. But he did go a bit out there. He wrote;

I cant remember if Ive said this before, but Im gonna say it anyway. I dont give a crap.I appreciate a pretty Gal as much as the next Hetero Male. Sometimes I even go in for some racy type stuff ( keeping the comments PG for my Ladies sake) but dammit, dammit, dammit I am so sick and tired of the whole COSPLAY-Chiks. I know a few who are actually pretty cool-and BIG Shocker, love and read Comics.So as in all things, they are the exception to the rule. Heres the statement I wanna make, based on THE RULE: "Hey! Quasi-Pretty-NOT-Hot-Girl, you are more pathetic than the REAL Nerds, who YOU secretly think are REALLY PATHETIC. But we are onto you. Some of us are aware that you are ever so average on an everyday basis. But you have a couple of things going your way. You are willing to become almost completely Naked in public, and yer either skinny( Well, some or most of you, THINK you are ) or you have Big Boobies. Notice I didnt say GREAT Boobies? You are what I refer to as "CON-HOT". Well not by my estimation, but according to a LOT of average Comic Book Fans who either RARELY speak to, or NEVER speak to girls. Some Virgins, ALL unconfident when it comes to girls, and the ONE thing they all have in common? The are being preyed on by YOU. You have this really awful need for attention, for people to tell you your pretty, or Hot, and the thought of guys pleasuring themselves to the memory of you hanging on them with your glossy open lips, promising them the Moon and the Stars of pleasure, just makes your head vibrate. After many years of watching this shit go down every 3 seconds around or in front of my booth or table at ANY given Con in the country, I put this together. Well not just me. We are LEGION. And here it is, THE REASON WHY ALL THAT, sickens us: BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT COMICS, BEYOND WHATEVER GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH YOU DID TO GET REF ON THE MOST MAINSTREAM CHARACTER WITH THE MOST REVEALING COSTUME EVER. And also, if ANY of these guys that you hang on tried to talk to you out of that Con? You wouldnt give them the fucking time of day. Shut up you damned liar, no you would not. Lying, Liar Face. Yer not Comics. Your just the thing that all the Comic Book, AND mainstream press flock to at Cons. And the real reason for the Con, and the damned costumes yer parading around in? That would be Comic Book Artists, and Comic Book Writers who make all that shit up.

You know, guys dress up for cosplay as well, right? There have been lots of comments, mainly supportive, causing Tony to post;

I really hope I get some input from some of those Gals. Or the Kinda sleezy weirdodos. Nice to hear from the Choir, though

But only one female cosplayer posted, Jill Pantozzi;

Wow, way to lump some of the bad seeds into one bit group. A lot of us who cosplay do know what the hell comics are all about. I've been a huge fan of yours for years but this is ridiculous.

She also tweeted;

Wow, I'm never buying anything Tony Harris does again.. Disgusting. tmblr.co/Z1dZTxXC7RGi

— Jill Pantozzi (@TheNerdyBird) November 13, 2012

Here's the thing though. I don't think I'd have used the language Tony Harris did, but I used to share his opinion, though targeted at male as well as female cosplayers. And none of this "preying upon people" nonsense. But MCM London Expo changed me as I met cosplayers for extended periods of time and got to know them better. Some knew the original comics, some didn't – but those who didn't wanted to find out more. And they were in awe that I actually knew the people behind the originals. And then it hit me. Even if they didn't care, it didn't matter. They were responding to the culture that the comics industry created, even if they had no interest in the comics themselves. And so what? Why should we be imposing some kind of ThoughtCrime on cosplayers, when we could just celebrate the fact that aspects from the comics industry were spreading through mainstream culture in uncontrollable, unexpected ways – rather than being simply ignored. People like Tony Harris and many creators before him had changed culture to reflect their art. And obviously, while it would be nice for more people to read the original comics, was that more likely or less likely to happen by alienating or acting snobby towards them? We should celebrate the way comics has spread amongst the populace, rather than condemn it for spreading in the "wrong" way. And yes, the female-specific focus of the original post was a little odd.

So there's that. Hmm. I think I'll try and post that on Tony's Facebook post as well. Belt and braces.

UPDATE: Not on Tony's friends list and he's blocked me on Twitter. Thankfully Jorge Burgos has posted a link on the page…

Tony Harris' JSA LIBERTY FILES: THE WHISTLING SKULL is on sale December 19th.

UPDATE: Tony Harris has added;

So heres my follow up commentary. Tried to "engage" my detractors on Twitter. Big mistake. Not gonna backpeddle. Not one step. I tried to be clear at the beginning by saying I know there are legit Cosplayers who know the material and love it. So if you wanna gloss over that and accuse my statements as being all inclusive of Cosplay, then blow me. See, this is why I posted this HERE, on MY page. You dont like it? Leave. Dont threaten to stop buying my work, because Im sure most of you who threw that gauntlet down, never did to begin with. Good riddance. Hey all you self righteous fuck-faces out there who are spewing even MORE hatred at me, than you accused me of spewing. pfffft. Really, thats how you come at me? Once you have moved on to hate on someone else….Good Riddance. But the one thing I HAVE to address is the use of the word MISOGYNY. So I am a Misogynist? Why? Because I frown upon Posers who are sad, needy fakers who use up all my air at Cons? Sorry, while you Cos"Play" Im actually at work. Thats my office. Fuck you. I actually dont hate women, I dont fear them either. Nor do I mistrust them. I do not portray or Objectify half naked women in my work. I never have. I have always been VERY vocal about my dislike of that practice, and that my view is and has been that T&A in comics is a Pox. If you wanna come at me with accusations of Misogyny and sexism, youll be wrong. I think there are several Hundred "PRos" I could rattle off that are doing a fine job of perpetuating that crap without ANY help from me. Its not helping to further our industry. Hey haters, Im not sad, lonely, stupid, uneducated, gay, nor do I wear Assess for a Hat. Im not a Sexist, and have been very vocal about the fact that its a GOOD thing to see so many female fans at shows, and I treat them with the same kindness and respect as I do ANY male fan I meet. I guess the one mistake I made in my original post was that I excluded Men. Let me rectify that…… SOME of you MEN, are as bad as SOME of the Women Cosplayers, I talked about earlier. There. Oh and to all of you guys who are my friends, and pros who I work with, dont go and try and defend me or anything I wrote. Youll just get shit on. Thanks though. And lastly, Bleeding Cool, and Rich Johnston are Shithead, scumbags, and this isnt the first time his camp has come after me. Fuck you Rich.

Firstly I didn't know I had a camp. But Tony, I was not coming after you. You asked for your post to be distributed further which I did, especially in light of other prominent commentary on this issue of late. I disagreed with your central point, and I tried to address why, but that wasn't me coming after you, and I don't believe I have done previously either.

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