Comic book artist Tony Harris, known for work on Ex Machina and Iron Man, has ignited controversy with a tirade against 'Con-Hot' female cosplayers, calling them fakers.
Harris took to Facebook in a rant that has the internet geek community reeling.
So Tony Harris doesn't want my business. Or maybe, because I'm not quite pretty enough? Or only if I don't cosplay? Whatever, no business.
— Ruth (@cthulhuchick) November 13, 2012
I've never read Ex Machina, but was planning to someday. Now I won't because Tony Harris is a misogynist! #FakeGeekBoy
— Logan Bonner (@loganbonner) November 14, 2012
I'm coming out of convention retirement, putting on my Emma Frost costume, & I'm going to stand in front of Tony Harris's table and grind it
— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) November 14, 2012
So what did he say? Here's the full rant:
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.
This attitude is unfortunately something that some men (and probably some women too) hold towards women who happen to be attractive that are heavily into fandom. Somehow Harris thinks he has everything sussed out, but he just comes off as shallow and a douche. Women have more to them than their image, and that's something that really needs addressing in our community and I think this combined with other recent events has brought that to the forefront.
- Scott Malthouse
Follow @scottmalt on twitter
Apart from the blatantly obvious, I have two massive problems with this dude. Number one, I've been into comic books since I was a kid, like 5 years old reading the Beano, up to my current 34 years of age, still loving what some great creators are putting out. And you know what, I have never had a problem talking to girls. I popped my cherry at a quite reasonable age considering I'm a wee bit fugly. And the same can be said of almost every one of the geeks, fanboys and gamers I hang around with. So don't paint us in a way that just reinforces a tragically misogynistic world view.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, check your grammar sunshine. I know you're a comic book artist, and not a writer, but reading the above makes it pretty damned clear why that is.
On the other hand, maybe we should be grateful for meltdowns like this. How else would we get awesome quotes like that one from Bendis? I'm going to be bursting out in random snickerings all day because of that.
ReplyDeleteYes, I loved his quote. What an image
DeleteEvil cosplay chicks just want my attention? I...I feel so used.
ReplyDeleteDon't we all? *sigh*
DeleteWow, just, wow. Way to go Tony Harris, make yourself look like a total dick for no good reason and make the comic book crown look bad as well. Nice own goal there.
ReplyDeleteYep, he's a piece of work
DeleteGo frustrated comic nerds!
ReplyDeleteYou can get those "conhot" women if you try. ESPECIALLY the ones that are just there for attention!
Artist who rants against freedom of expression? Makes me sad. Freedom is fragile, it doesn't need the hate.
ReplyDeleteand
Typing "yer" when you use "estimation" a couple of sentences later? Pose much?
~V~
To play Devil's Advocate;
ReplyDeleteI can see where he's coming from. The message is lost because of his anger induced phrasing and horrible choice of words.
He's angry at the girls that prey on nerdy guys. The kind of girls that think they're "all that" and want to be "gazed upon with awe" by a bunch of men. I dated a girl that fit every description of what he's going on his tirade about. She was skinny. She looked innocent and sweet. She liked Halo. But she spent more time teasing and cheating on me than anything else.
Think about it. You know that you've met at least one girl that's "into the hobby" for the attention of guys. Or you know OF a girl that fits the description. I read an article earlier this year,"10 of 8" where some journalist said the same thing. Much more eloquently but again, he used too broad a brush to paint his villainesses.
Amongst my friends, we know of girls that go to cons, dressed kind of revealing with the sole purpose of getting laid. They KNOW they'll find a guy up there. And my friends KNOW they'll find a girl up there. And I've seen these girls before and after and I admit, they did look much more attractive in their costume. Probably my dick thinking for me but I am a guy after all. They weren't ugly before, but in my (short) experience, they were the exception that proved the rule.
I went to GamesDay Baltimore once and avoided a whole section of the BUILDING because of 1 guy that probably hadn't heard of soap. And because of people like him, we get the stereotype that 40k'ers smell. Probably because people couldn't believe that 1 guy caused the smell!
Course, he probably is still shallow. Deep down, he probably got burned by just the sort of girl he's attacking. He probably isn't as adjusted as we are. I assume that the average internet/gamer/geek nowadays is someone that grew up with a deep love of the hobby that had to hide it to keep from getting picked on; meaning they had to adjust. I'm probably wrong. But I know that's what I had to do, as a geeky Arkansan.
Holy shit I want to go to games day! Shower for the shower gods! Skulls for the skull throne!
DeleteI think he finally realized that that special Power Girl just isn't that into him.
ReplyDelete"Amongst my friends, we know of girls that go to cons, dressed kind of revealing with the sole purpose of getting laid. They KNOW they'll find a guy up there. And my friends KNOW they'll find a girl up there. And I've seen these girls before and after and I admit, they did look much more attractive in their costume. Probably my dick thinking for me but I am a guy after all. They weren't ugly before, but in my (short) experience, they were the exception that proved the rule."
ReplyDeleteIf a woman or a man wants to go to a con for that purpose, what's wrong with it?