Card's on the table

So Dan Didio said that Orson Scott Card's Superman story is still going to be published, assuming they can find a conservative/desperate artist. Considering that we haven't seen much from Ethan Van Sciver there lately, and that it would basically mean a couple weeks off of "Injustice" for Mike S. Miller, that seems like an eventuality, and it makes sense that DC might release it to coincide with the movie adaptation of Card's Ender's Game in November.

Of course, it would have made sense for DC to release the Phantom Zone trade and coordinate the General Zod DLC for "Injustice: Gods Among Us" to come out in mid-June, and that didn't happen, so who knows.

It's infuriating how cynical a move this is by DC. They meddled and meddled and ultimately shelved Chris Roberson's story about Davood Nassur because they were afraid of controversy (judging by Roberson's plot summary, the controversy would be the Fox News/Tea Party conservative types howling about how DC's too friendly to Muslims), but now they're cozying up to an arch-homophobe whose blockbuster movie has a boycott and protest out months in advance. Then again, that same audience of asshats they were trying to placate by shelving the Superman story are the ones who would be cheering on their solidarity with science fiction's current bigot-in-chief, so maybe DC's just staking their claim as the preferred comic company of reactionary wingnuts.

And to wait until some unspecified time in the future, when the hoopla has died down over the initial story announcement, when shop owners and ComiXology subscribers are ordering and buying the book out of habit, to drop this bomb and hope the only people who notice are the ones who are excited to read Card's work, just seems crass and weaselly. I need to do another big pull list pruning soon, and this kind of stunt is making me feel morally obligated to mostly prune away DC titles.

Of course, it could be a big face-saving mood. By keeping the story consistently in the queue to be published, DC can avoid any bad blood with Card and his cadre of bigots--after all, it's not their fault the artist pulled out and they can't find a new one--and let the story fade into the misty depths of pop culture memory once "Ender's Game" flops its way out of theaters. Even that would be a cowardly cop-out, and I hope it results in DC getting some serious snubs from GLAAD Media Awards in the future. Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

Which brings me to point two: I've never read Ender's Game. There was a time when I really wanted to read it--one of my roommates in college was a huge fan of the series--and I've almost purchased the book on several occasions. That all tapered off when I learned of Card's politics, and Dave Lartigue's summaries have me largely convinced that it's a lot like Catcher in the Rye in that the time when the book might have spoken to me has long since past. But I'm morbidly curious, and itching to write about something other than comics for once, and I think I might have an interesting perspective as someone who likes YA sci-fi, loved "The Last Starfighter," and utterly frigging hates Orson Scott Card and his stupid face. So I've procured a copy of the book without enriching Card in any way, and I think I'm going to start a little series of posts, hopefully mostly short ones, outlining my thoughts as I experience a hateful bigot's nerd power fantasy sci-fi classic for the first time. My goal is to do this every Friday, starting next week, so be on the look out for Ender Bender, a title I shamelessly stole from the very same Dave Lartigue, starting next week.