From one of my favorite writers.
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In case you haven’t been paying attention, BuzzFeed last week posted an in-depth story detailing sexual-harassment allegations against Eddie Berganza, a long-time DC editor, by multiple women in the industry. Here’s the link in case you still haven’t read it.
Stories about Berganza have been circulating for years, thanks mostly to Bleeding Cool, which is mentioned in the BuzzFeed piece.
Over the weekend, there was an avalanche of reaction on social media, as you might imagine, but one of the most eloquent, concise comments came from one of my favorite writers, Jeff Lemire, who posted this on Twitter last night:
I love DC Comics and their characters and love working with them. But Eddie Berganza should have been fired a long time ago. I believe and support all of the women who spoke out. But more of us should have supported them before this weekend.
— Jeff Lemire (@JeffLemire) November 13, 2017
He’s absolutely right, on every front. Regular readers here know just how much I love DC Comics and what its characters have meant to me since I was a young boy. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest stand for something powerful, yet simple: Do the right thing.
As of now, DC has suspended Berganza. But now they must follow through and do the right thing.
Berganza must go.
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UPDATED: DC has fired Berganza. Click here.
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November 13, 2017
If Geoff Johns, Dan Didio, Jim Lee and Diane Nelson knew about Berganza and did nothing, or worse, protected him, they all should be fired from DC/Warner Bros.
September 9, 2019
Johns actually has an excuse. Berganza was one of the guys who invited him to tour the office and let him pitch ideas. So he may have not been wanting to face the fact that his buddy and the guy who helped him was a disgusting shitbag
November 13, 2017
Surprise that there is sexual harassment in the comics industry is like in CASABLANCA when Claude Rains suddenly feigns shock that there is gambling going on at the casino just as a clerk hands him his winnings. Forgive me for not being shocked that this type of thing happens. Walk into any show or comic shop and you have female characters with impossible proportions wearing wash cloths for costumes and we’re surprised that women are objectified? The people who buy those books are just as complicit as the people who put them out.
The fact that DC Comics allowed this predator to keep working as long as he did is shameful, but its worse that industry pro’s knew about this and never did anything. I sincerely hope the women involved get lawyers and go after Warner Bros where it hurts.
Worse still, do you think this is the only instance? This is the tip of the iceberg. Check out Power Girl or Lady Death’s costume and tell me that sexual harassment doesn’t go on from the publishers all the way down to shop owners and to fandom. We can all pretend we don’t see it but when I’m at Chicago Comic Con and they have a booth setup from a local strip club you know something is wrong with the mentality of this hobby.
I applaud Gal Gadot’s refusal to make another Wonder Woman film unless Brett Ratner is ousted from it, but what about working with Ben Affleck? We have video of him grabbing a woman on camera– you think that was just a “rare” instance? He’s this generations Batman? He was just mugging it up for the show? C’mon and wake up. This behavior has existed in Hollywood for decades and comics are nothing if not the wanna be little brother of Hollywood.
The industry is made up by fanboys who were never able to get a woman’s attention, then they are put in a position of power and now they have them at their chubby little fingers. We need to clean house and in doing so some big name creators and editors are going to come crashing down. This behavior is rampant and it needs to stop. These are our wives, our daughters, our sisters, our mothers and we let this happen by keeping silent.
I’m hearing Berganza is fired, but more needs to be done by ALL the companies.
November 13, 2017
Breakdown the patriarchy. It has served no one well. Many men a system make, many men a system can break. As said Gal Gadot line in the sand is fantastic. Thanks Dan.