Don’t You Believe It
I am a fan of writer and illustrator Colleen Doran. I also happen to believe her to be a very nice person, based on our online exchanges. Unfortunately, at one time I also believed something else about her that was told to me in passing by someone who probably heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else, etc. etc. I haven’t thought much about it since having heard it a couple of years ago, because it involved her personal life and that is of limited interest to me at most. After all, I don’t know her. The reason it resurfaced in my mind today is because I’ve learned that IT
ISN’T TRUE.
I’m not going to repeat the lie for fear of spreading it further. Instead, you can check out Colleen’s own blog if you really want to know more.
All I intend to say is this: all of us should remember that just because someone says something doesn’t make it true. The problem with gossip is that it gets filtered through dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people, so by the time it gets to you it may be so far
removed from its source that there’s no way to assess its validity. That’s why people who normally have a fidelity to the truth will sometimes unwittingly repeat B.S. that has as its ultimate source some rampaging moron with nothing better to do than spread slander.
Or worse yet, why otherwise intelligent people like me will unwittingly believe it.
Yeah. I’m sayin’. Be skeptical. Be very skeptical.
Oh, and Colleen’s personal life should be her own goddamn business anyway.
December 29th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I’ve always been leery of fan “facts” about the personal lives of celebrities in any field. Comic book fans seem to come up with the best ones though. I still remember the rumor from the 80s, likely started as a joke to begin with, that Terry Austin was serving divorce papers on his wife. The wife in question was Chris Claremont and it was over her (Claremont’s) having an affair with that man amongst men, Jo Duffy (At least, I think it was Duffy). Like I said, I’m sure that it was started as a joke, but I knew really smart people who weren’t really heavy into the fan press stuff who would repeat it as fact.
Still, the entire “troll spreading lies and gossip” thing should tick anybody off. It’s one thing to repeat false “facts” because of ignorance. It’s quite another to attack others with deliberate lies and slander. Having read the linked sites (Colleen’s, Gail’s and the that of fellow you wish not to be named), I can see several things here.
1 – Colleen has a pretty legitimate gripe with this blogger and she should have at least scared him witless with the beginnings of the lawsuit she was discussing.
2 – He Who Won’t Be Named really seems to have gone off the deep end. I guess it’s a good thing that his work starting boring me to tears in the early to mid 90s. I never had to decide whether or not the artist was intruding too much of his worldview into too much of his art in ways that might have bothered me.
3 – I’m still not sure that Talon is a more annoying or obnoxious troll then our least favorite blogger. Colleen should count herself lucky on that score at least. All she has to deal with is lies and stupidity. Five or six threads with “HIM” and her head might explode.
4 – (In ref to Colleen’s comments to you.) So, Bill… Why did you have sex with that man?
December 29th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Because when D*** held him in his arms he felt very safe.
Colleen is a very nice person. She was briefly in X-APA, while I was and I know that Tom & Mary Bierbaum, two of the really nice folks in comics, spoke highly of her. She has also had to put up with massive amounts of crap. You’d like to think that it’s onlythe lonely virginal fanboys who react like a Tex Avery cartoon wolf at the sight of a female woman who is both talented and attractive (and she is both) but the sad truth is that some of these fanboys become professionals and can get into a position to do real harm.
As for D***…he’s talented and seems to be off his rocker. Not an unusual combination and he seems mostly harmless, hardly worth the vitriol he seems to inspire.
December 29th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Jerry and Bill — I revile you both.
December 29th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
And despite your accusations, it is YOU who both suck!
December 29th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
So, now Friend Myers has started an internet rumor about Messrs. Chandler and Mulligan. Will the pain never END?
By the way, in case I don’t have time to do the cards, Happy New Year, Hosers.
December 29th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Colin Doran’s a woman??!!
December 30th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Curses! The secret’s out!
December 30th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Bill Mulligan: “As for D***…he’s talented and seems to be off his rocker. Not an unusual combination and he seems mostly harmless, hardly worth the vitriol he seems to inspire.”
Actually, his behavior has caused a lot of grief for a lot of people, some of which has been documented, some not. I’d rather not tell tales out of school, but D***’s attempt to goad Jeff Smith into a boxing match to settle their differences is a matter of public record. And that’s merely one example.
December 30th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
A boxing match? Are you sure you’re not talkng about Uwe Boll?
December 31st, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Yeah but was anyone really grief striken by D***’s challenge? It made him look silly…I don’t think Jeff Smith felt the need to change the locks or anything.
Comics has a long tradition of talented kooks. As wacky as DS seems to be, he is unlikely to inspire anything more annoying than the occasional internet troll. Of course, unlike Colleen, I’m unlikely to actually run into any of these dopes in person, so…
(Speaking of talented wierdos, if I’m understanding him correctly, Neil Adams seems to believe in some science ideas that make creationism look like Einstein. Check it out.)
December 31st, 2007 at 8:28 pm
“Of course, unlike Colleen, I’m unlikely to actually run into any of these dopes in person, so…”
Yeah, that’s a less then happy thought. As much as I might make fun of the odd troll, the really stupid ones can still make cons and whatnot hell for some creators. I remember reading Harlan Ellison’s Xenogenisis and thinking that there was no way that “fans” who were that stupid could really be out there in any great numbers. Then I finally started going to larger cons and got to see some of them in action. Made me feel bad even for the real @$$&*!# creators out there.
January 1st, 2008 at 9:59 am
Bill Mulligan: “Yeah but was anyone really grief striken by D***’s challenge? It made him look silly…I don’t think Jeff Smith felt the need to change the locks or anything.”
First, I’m going to stop being cutesy and acknowledge that D*** is in fact Dave Sim, veteran comic-book writer, illustrator, and self-publisher.
And yes, Sim’s challenge resulted in a lot of grief. The dispute began when Sim related a conversation with Smith and his wife, Vijaya Iyer, in an essay entitled “Reads” which was serialized in Sim’s self-published comic, “Cerebus.” Smith publicly disputed Sim’s account, which he felt portrayed him and wife negatively and omitted certain facts; for example, Smith claims the conversation ended when he threatened to punch Sim if he didn’t stop being so offensive. Sim claimed this was a lie, and that he would have fought Smith right then and there had such a threat been issued. Feeling that his manhood had been impugned, Sim publicly challenged Smith to a boxing match to resolve their differences. This ended Smith’s friendship with Sim, and also ended Sim’s professional with Diana Schutz, who had been proofreading for Sim. I don’t know whether Sim ever reconciled with Smith or Schutz.
Sim has also acknowledged that his “absolutist” position about the superiority of self-publishing over working for a publisher led many people to financial ruin. Sim admitted exaggerating the pitfalls of working for a publisher and glossing over the difficulties of self-publishing because he was countering “propaganda and disinformation” from the “other side” of the debate. He says he “enjoyed” the “wildfire” that spread through the industry as a result of his efforts, despite the fact that “real human suffering” resulted.
These are but two examples that demonstrate Sim is more than a “harmless kook.”
There is also no comparison between any of the trolls over at PeterDavid.net and the one who has been slandering Colleen Doran. The troll who has been harrassing her once posted a threat to cut out another woman’s tongue. He later claims he was joking. I’m not laughing.
Colleen has closed the thread in her blog related to this topic and may be taking legal action against the man who has slandered her. I am going to follow suit and close this thread as well in order to avoid complicating things for Doran, as well as to avoid even the outside possibility of any legal complications for my favorite person: me.