Today at TCJ, we've got some deep dive theorizing, courtesy of R.C. Harvey. This time around, Harvey's Hare Tonic column is taking on one of comics great unanswered (and unanswerable) questions: "Who Invented Milton Caniff's Most Famous Character?" That character is, of course, The Dragon Lady, the pirate that launched tens and thousands of lazy, offensive stereotypes, whose name is mostly regarded now as insulting shorthand for whenever a man feels threatened by a woman. Where did she come from? Harvey's on the case.
Speaking of cases, the legal world has once again found its way to comics. Legal watch!
*Gerard Jones, who wrote a bunch of DC Comics back in the day, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for the possession of child pornography.
Found out today I’m (along with A LOT of other comics professionals)getting sued for “defamation of character” for publicly saying that as a comic professional I didn’t want known sexual predator Cody Pickrodt to be allowed at festivals and that I believed his victims...so yeah.
— Dread Singles Classique (@hottestsingles) August 15, 2018
*The above tweet seems to be, so far, the only public mention of a rumored defamation lawsuit brought by cartoonist Cody Pickrodt against multiple figures in the comics scene, including TCJ contributors, well known publishers, cartoonists and others, all of whom are allegedly being accused of defaming Mr. Pickrodt last year, when a swell of condemnations regarding the cartoonist began circulating on Twitter. The condemnations--some of which are still readable by simply searching for Pickrodt's name--are not at all dissimilar from the sort of language that surrounds multiple other cases of alleged sexual harassment, but if this lawsuit is real, that would be a bit of a twist. TCJ has reached out to multiple individuals reportedly involved in the above events, but as of yet, none have responded. More, as they say, to come.
(Except for the Gerard Jones thing, that one is a done deal.)
