So it turns out that comics writer and anti-war activist Micah Wright has been lying for years about his status as a former Army Ranger. The closest he ever got to being a Ranger was ROTC.
I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that I don’t agree with the man’s politics, but that’s not why I’m posting about this–this just offers more proof, if any was needed, that people whose behavior is bad or unstable online are likely to behave badly or be unstable in real life, too. Wright, you’ll recall, is a perpetual source of feud fodder, taking Marvel to task for not treating him like a star and accepting his Epic pitch out of hand, ripping DC a new one for cancelling his StormWatch: Team Achilles book, treating his political opponents like Nazis, and aiming both barrels at fans who read traditional supercomics, manga, or basically anything that wasn’t StormWatch: Team Achilles. Given all that, I’m not the least bit surprised that his C.V. is just so much B.S. I’ve seen this sort of thing before from messboard trolls and flame-warriors, and I’m sure I’ll see it again.
I hope Wright can get his act together, I really do. By most accounts the man has talent. But he’s already burned so many bridges that alienating his most devoted fans and defenders, as his lies about his past have now done, might be enough to knock the wind out of his sails for good. It’s certainly enough to destroy his credibility on any number of issues, and I’d imagine it’d make any future attempts to write a title that’s part of “the literature of ethics” very difficult indeed. (Deservedly so, by the way–let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is a very, very sleazy thing to have done. It’s Jayson Blair territory, with the added disgrace of trying to suck prestige off of people who are putting their lives on the line, if not losing them, every day.) My real point here is that people should remember that when they see someone acting needlessly belligerent or bizarre online, chances are good that there’s something wrong on the homefront too. Next time you’re tempted to engage one of these characters, think twice, not just for your own benefit, but for their’s as well.