Rich Johnston’s Very Own Fanboy Rampage !!UPDATED!!

Noted Shit-Stirrer Gets Stirred

It’s not much of an update. Rich has now started commenting on this, which is hella meta. I can’t really start another Fanboy Rampage can I? Weird. For the second time in a couple of days we are through the looking-glass… 

The writer ponders his next masterpiece

♦ On Bleeding Cool Fanboy Rampage is a regular feature, taken from a blog by Graeme McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. Allegedly. How entertaining it is then to become the focus of the rage of Rich (Rich Johnston, figurehead of Bleeding Cool) and his acolytes when pointing out “issues” with what I called the “Actual ‘Stupidest Post Ever’ on Bleeding Cool” Now I was initially annoyed that some of my favourite comic creators had been consigned to the dustbin of history by the least well-informed writer ever – and remember folks, this is on Bleeding Cool, so he had a LOT of competition.  So I wrote my piece, imagining that no one would read it, as frankly the last time I tried some analysis on here I got about three readers.  Mostly what I do hereabouts is review European comics, because no one else wants to, and I love them. To my surprise, the piece gathered momentum, and apparently, there was congratulatory tweets and social media stuff about it – I don’t know, because I’m not on social media in any meaningful way. But certainly the post was getting many, many views.

So then we started getting comments, first intimating that there was some instance of rebuffed sexual advances between myself and Mr Johnston, then suggesting I was “pathetic” for spending time pointing out the fact that Rich’s article (in my view) traduced the careers of a large number of respected creators, from Jerry Robinson and Neal Adams to Gil Kane and Gene Colan (and all points in between).

Then Rich joined in.

Folks, it turns out you shouldn’t mock the stream of malapropisms, spoonerisms, and misspellings on BC, because a) Rich doesn’t really understand how English works, and b) being criticised annoys him greatly. Not greatly enough to apologise for the rubbish he posted, but enough to have his very own Fanboy Rampage right here. So, for all of you who missed it, here it is. Before you read it, your reference will be complete if you go here, but you can check that out later if you want to get to the hilarity. For me, it’s back to reviewing Lucky Luke! Although I will update this if Rich is kind enough to post again.

• Peter MannAugust 7, 2016, 4:30 pm

  Rich: I have nothing against BC – it is what it is. But when BC wanders out of its niche it’s not just embarrassing, it’s insulting. To have someone give a blanket dismissal of (for example) Gene Colan’s work – and that’s not the exception in this atrocious piece of writing, it’s the rule. There’s a good chance Miller has picked up more for his version of Batman than Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger (to list two examples). All of them took the time to do better than “good enough.” We live in a world where, increasingly, “good enough” is a standard to be aspired to, rather than the rock bottom we should expect – look at the comments above yours. It’s all “bants” right? I have zero problems with a critical article: I just expect it to be well researched and well argued. If that’s beyond the editorial remit of BC, and “there’ll be another one along in a minute” fine: then just don’t run them. Run the collection of click bait, rumours and inspired guesswork that is your metier. Just don’t let know-nothings diss the work of honourable men and women who created what he loves and did so with no rights to their creations, no health care, no insurance, and mostly no reputation outside of the world of comic fans.
  • 

    Richard JohnstonAugust 7, 2016, 4:50 pm

    If you value critical arguments that are well researched, then you failed in this from the beginning. “Bleeding Cool is an unsavoury stew of stuff that ranges from the fully made up (most of Rich’s” theories” about comics), through inspired guesswork, to the occasional news item that is, well, news”

    For a start nothing is every fully made up, aside from April Fool’s articles.

    Speculation, is occasional, however. But any speculation is labelled as such and our working out laid out for people to form their own judgments from the available material.

    Bleeding Cool does however run scoop after scoop ahead of better funded, better resourced, better connected sites who work their relationships under a PR miasma.

    And the “occasional “news” item” is wrong – quote marks aside, the majority of articles on Bleeding Cool are news items.

    You have here an issue with one article by a first time writer, and I don’t necessarily disagree with your critcism. However, I think that your reaction is egregious, like an overeaction of an immune system, disproportionate to the offending article.

    Basically, you’re lupus.
  • 

    Peter MannAugust 7, 2016, 5:13 pm

    Well, excuuuse me. Nothing is “fully made up aside from April Fool’s articles.” Can you see what’s wrong with that sentence, and why it validates what I said? Probably not. Rich, you make stuff up. You may think it’s “real”, but what happens in your mind isn’t reality, you’re often wrong, and that’s kind of the definition of making things up. Your “Scoops” on the funnybook business and your “PR miasma” frankly concern me less than zero, argue it out with the other sites. I notice that your first post detailed the successes your staff have with mainstream comics companies, so evidently they don’t hate you that much. I’d guess they see you as a useful idiot for “leaks” etc. And how about the “PR Miasma” from the premier supplier of torture porn and tit ‘n’ ass comics, your publisher, Avatar? Last time you ran a critical article on them was? If your site sucked up to Avatar creators any more you’d be in someone’s small intestine. If you want a detailed critical piece on BC I’ll give you one though. And I’ll take the time to do my research.

    Richard JohnstonAugust 7, 2016, 5:45 pm

    >Well, excuuuse me. Nothing is “fully made up aside from April Fool’s articles.” Can you see what’s wrong with that sentence, and why it validates what I said?

    No, I am specifically using the territory and language of your argument. Nothing, aside from April Fool’s Day articles, is made up. If there is speculation, it is labelled as such.

    Being wrong isn’t at all the same as making things up. Given half an hour I’m sure I could find plenty of items at Tripwire that are wrong, without being made up. Actually,. let’s try 30 seconds.

    http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/cut-to-the-quick-marvel-announces-new-blade-series/

    There you go. Announcing Blade coming out last October. It didn’t. Now you didn’t make that up. But you were wrong.

    >I notice that your first post detailed the successes your staff have with mainstream comics companies, so evidently they don’t hate you that much. I’d guess they see you as a useful idiot for “leaks” etc.

    Or they just recognise the skills of the writers. But Bleeding Cool is banned from press events by Marvel, DC and Image on a regular basis. And unlike Tripwire, we don’t get boxes of review copies of DC hardcovers which we then sell unread at comic marts 😎

    >And how about the “PR Miasma” from the premier supplier of torture porn and tit ‘n’ ass comics, your publisher, Avatar? Last time you ran a critical article on them was?

    Probably the Gendercrunching column. But premier publisher of tits and ass Avatar Press? I don’t think you’re aware of what Avatar Press publish. Providence? Uber? War Stories? Modded? Codename Pru? Extinction Parade? Crossed and Crossed +100 could be defined as torture porn, but their remit seems wider, certainly as far as writers Garth Ennis, Alan Moore and Si Spurrier are concerned. And they are hardly erotic in their treatment of nudity.

    >If your site sucked up to Avatar creators any more you’d be in someone’s small intestine.

    How does Tripwire treat Alan Moore, Kevin ONeill, Garth Ennis, Si Spurrier, Kieron Gillen etc? Is it sucking up when they are really good comic book creators?

    >If you want a detailed critical piece on BC I’ll give you one though. And I’ll take the time to do my research.

    Mote and beam, sir, mote and beam

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      Peter MannAugust 7, 2016, 6:41 pm

      If “April fools day articles” are made up then what I said stands, doesn’t it? You run stuff that’s made up. Can’t you read? I’m sure there is stuff on Tripwire than’s wrong. That’s just whataboutery, and seeks to absolve you from running your appalling article – just as by changing the byline from “Posted by Rich Johnston” to “Posted by Bleeding Cool Staff Writer” on the second day of having it up you seek to absolve yourself from editorial responsibility. !!UPDATE!! Rich has now changed this back again. This in no way should be taken as a sign of shiftiness or dishonesty. 
      Are you seriously positing that people hire staff from BC because they “just recognise the skills of the writers”? Your writers, you included are pretty dire at the best of times. At the worst of times, they are incomprehensible. The quality of writing on your site is an industry-wide joke.
      I am indeed aware of the full “range” of Avatar, and I know that you are contractually obliged to regard it as great art, but mostly it’s arse. Does Tripwire criticize it? Let’s see, oh, here you go:http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/feature/i-skull-crossed-100-sexing-brown/. Critical enough for you? There’d be more if we got review copies.
      I love that you use the fact the editor of this site has to sell any review copies he does not keep to make ends meet as a criticism. More playing the man not the argument. You seem to get enough dumb shit to spend considerable time filming yourself with it. Yes this site gets things wrong – so do all websites, newspapers, magazines etc. It’s part of the problem of journalism. Even the New Yorker has failed. Everything can’t be checked. That doesn’t mean nothing should be, which seems to be your modus operandi. If you had any conscience you’d take your crap down, or defend it. That you do neither is very revealing.

And there  it ends, for now. Will Rich ever yank his POS article? Frankly, who cares. As long as people support Rich’s version of “journalism”, he’ll be out there, misspelling “fire” as “fore”, forgetting to punctuate, being a useful idiot for comic book companies with a reboot to sell. That 1 minute 59 seconds people spend on the site reading 2. something articles will go on. And Rich will be able to plug the violence and rape-based wonder that is Crossed.  I heard there is a “minimum rape count” for Crossed. Or did I just make that up?