Nerditorial: In Defense of Frank Miller...

I am deeply involved in the Occupy Movement, and I am at the Occupy Bellingham Encampment (the S.S. Noisy Waters) nearly every day.

Well, Frank Miller is apparently no fan of the movement. (Link HERE.)

Frank Miller was never one to mince words, and he makes no exception now...

Wake up, pond scum.

Damn.

And when he is talking about pond scum... apparently he is talking about people like me.

My response to those who are upset about this... try not to faint.

And for the masses of folks who have no idea who Frank Miller is...

He is one of the people most responsible for comic books being referred to now as graphic novels. His work as a writer and illustrator provoked a paradigm shift in the comic book industry similar to the paradigm shift that Orson Wells provoked in the film industry with Citizen Kane.

In the world of geekdom and fanboy culture, Frank Miller is a modern day folk hero. To the rest of the world, he is the guy who is responsible for the movie 300. (You know... SPAHHHHHHHTAHHHHHHHH!!!!!)

And it is powerfully disillusioning when a folk hero disappoints you. Or, in this case, craps all over your work.

Too bad.

And if you take a look at the reaction to his blog post, the reaction is predictable. A lot of comments are from anonymous trolls trashing his body of creative work.

Well, I'm a fan of his work. His writing, his artwork. I never signed up to join a cult. I just enjoy his work. His personal opinions are none of my business. And I will see the next film he creates. Because I have reason to believe it will be to my liking.

I like the creative work of a lot of people with whom I strenuously disagree in other walks of life. If I allowed my political differences with artists prevent me from enjoying their work I could never enjoy an action movie, for example. And lets take this beyond 300 for a moment.

I don't agree with the politics of either Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. At all. I also didn't agree with the views of the late great Dennis Hopper. But if I allowed that to distract me when they were working, I'd never be able to enjoy a movie.

We expect too much from our celebrities (and I realize that using the word celebrity to describe Frank Miller is using the term in a very loose sense, but bear with me...) and I for one will not indulge in it now.

Frank Miller is entitled to be wrong. And is entitled to be a butt face about this, or anything else he wants to be a butt face about. A writer (particularly a writer) is entitled to write something that is unpopular. Particularly when that writing is of a personal nature and is written for free and is written sincerely.

I ain't mad at you, Frank Miller.

Nonetheless, you are a butt face.