Posted in: Comics | Tagged: brain bendis, Comics, entertainment, spastic, spaz, x-men

The X-Men And The S-Word

Brian Bendis, on the news that his final issue of Uncanny X-Men would be delayed five months until October, told his readers.

One Bleeding Cool reader, Nathan Adler, wrote

Brian Michael Bendis addressed the issue on Tumblr as follows: "It is not shipping in October because I am a massive spastic f**k up,"

As someone living with disability, this language is extremely inappropriate and offensive.

Bendis has worked for Marvel for years and he represents their name and brand. The UK and Australia is a massive market for Marvel. Marvel comics are not printed in the US alone.

More importantly he's the head X writer – a franchise that deals with subjects like discrimination and the power of words – so a line was crossed.

I realise it's difficult for people in the US to understand how offensive that term is, but Bendis has work with plenty of UK writers and artists over the years and he's a well traveled and educated individual.

Once again a lack of Marvel media training showing again which can now be solved with a statement and an apology.

(This comment should be getting as much attention as Wolverine #131!)

The word "spastic", a recognised term of abuse in the UK but less known in the US. Weird Al Yankovic fell foul of this last year.

And Hasbro were forced to remove and rename one of their Transformers which they named Spastic, and celebrities such as Tiger Woods and Kayne West and have also fallen foul.

Though remember, this is the X-Men. Which used to be more comfortable that you might have expected with another word, when Chris Claremont was writing and Kitty Pryde got into it…

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!