Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Batman artist Tony S Daniel has taken his blog down, after incurring the wrath of his publishers, DC comics.
Oops.
Dude posted the above pic of a proposed costume for The New Batman, complaining that DC had rejected it:
“They didn’t want the all black, which I understand. But I thought it would be a cool change, and he’d still be recognizable as Batman. Looks a little (or a lot) like the movie version.”
Oh well. But it wasn’t the complaining that caused the upset – it was the picture, for scribbled at the side is the text:
“Pitch black cape can envelope Dick & hide him completely.”
Dick, as in Grayson, the OG Robin. Whoo! Big surprise!
However, after this got reported by comics blog Robot 6, causing something of a frenzy in the Bat-fan community, Daniel took his blog down entirely, and left the following message on, um, a messageboard:
A note to the good guys and the bad guys,
No trouble from DC, so I can stop that before it gets any legs right there. But the good folks at CBR have helped me come to the conclusion that I should keep more to myself. Thank them for my permanent radio silence from here on out.
For the record – Jason, Tim and Dick each had their own suit designed by me for BFTC. That’s what was shown, and before I could correct it and put the right images up, people ran with it and made it into something it wasn’t.
I would hope that the good folks didn’t mean to be malicious in posting something I almost immediately took down because I realized it was the wrong image. So for my own good I’m going silent. No more blogs. No more correspondence.
Over and out. For good.
Thanks to everyone who’s visited my blog and supported me. Almost half a million since it began. Maybe when I’m old, drunk and senile I’ll do something again.Tony S Daniel
Which is kind of sad (and a little lame). Daniel should not have been surprised that, having posted something, it got noticed. And he’s shown a propensity for paper-skinned over-reaction before – a reader of his website was allegedly banned for posting the following comment, regarding his writing on the new Batman mini-series, Battle For The Cowl:
Re: BFTC #1
The issue was good. Damien was our of character. Not the type to cry for “mooommmmmy” or ask dick “are you okay!?!?”
The writer, one Rob, claims, “Tony called me a troll and banned me from his blog! I said the issue was good! Maybe I am just a bitter fanboy…. but Tony really strikes me as a complete tool who can take no criticism (even in a positive review) and accepts no accountability for his mistakes.”
I’ve said it before – blogs from creators can be awesome things, but not everyone’s built for it. If you can’t communicate effectively, take criticism, or have difficulty with any aspect of the intimate nature of web based interaction, stay the hell away. Mystique is an underrated concept these days anyway. I mean, could you see Alan Moore blogging, and posting on messageboards?
RIP Tony Daniel, The Blogger. More time for making stuff, eh?
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