Last month, I think I saw the comics community at its ugliest. Gossip columnist Rich Johnston exposed a plagiarist and pretender named Rob Granito, who for years has been copying other artists’ work and selling it as his own, as well as claiming false, easily disproved credits. That was not the ugly part. In fact, it was a public service. Artists deserve to have the integrity of their work, and consumers deserve to get what they think they’re paying for. What was ugly were some of the responses to the exposé.
There was a well-considered, honest response from Joe Peacock, a writer and comics fan who once considered Granito a friend. And there were people who helped find the “sources” for Granito’s copied work. Mark Waid and Ethan van Sciver confronted Granito at MegaCon -- firmly but civilly. Others informed convention organizers about him, seeking to have him barred from profiting further from his fraud. These are the responses you would expect from responsible professionals and loyal fans.
But then there were the pitchforks and torches. What is one of comics’ great assets -- the sense of unity and community -- can also become the single-mindedness of a mob. I will not call out individuals, but it is enough to say that Granito was targeted with hateful invective and violent threats. I think people have an absolute right to be angry, but after a while, the wronged began to seem more like bullies.
Granito took to commenting on blogs to defend himself, posing as various non-existent editors and art directors, his distinctive misspellings and grammatical errors easily identifying him. Obviously, he is a man with problems, who apparently felt so little guilt about his fraud that he kept at it for years. Perhaps he has learning difficulties, if his writing and seeming lack of comprehension of just how wrong what he did is are any indication. His agent/wife has recently sent out a press release to announce that journalists can interview him for a fee -- an affront to appropriateness that is tone-deaf at best, sociopathic at worst.
In a way, I’m almost relieved at this cluelessness. When the fervor against Granito was at its most fevered, I had the horrible thought that I would check my newsfeed the next morning and find that he had done himself harm. Instead, the outrage has dissipated, and for most of us in comics, it’s almost as if nothing happened at all. The community rose up against an offender, issued a virtual stoning, and then returned to the business of comics-making and comics-commentating.
Good for us, Team Comics. We’ve sacrificed our victim and staved off famine for another growing season. Let’s hope it will be fruitful.
