mystifying oracle
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Pants On Fire
Wow, I was actually about to post about how I changed my brake pads today, and then I messed up and went online to see if there was any comics news.
So Micah Wright has fessed up that he wasn't an Army Ranger, and more importantly, the Washington Post has said so. I can't imagine the shitstorm Micah is spinning around in right now. I'm taken aback myself, even though I was pretty sure it wasn't true. I'd known former Rangers had posted in his forum and challenged him, and there was never a very convincing rebuttal. My thinking was that Micah was in some regular infantry unit and had fudged the truth to sound more like an asskicker, reimagining the experience as a special-ops type who jumped out of airplanes. In fact, the closest he got to the military was being in ROTC in college, which mostly requires you to go raise and take down the flags on campus.
I'm bummed-- Micah wrote a really nice blurb that I used on the back of my book, which he called "funny, fast-paced, and exciting." (Now he was telling the God's Honest there) He's also a really nice guy, so I don't want to pile up on him, he's getting plenty of that now. He's already lost his next poster book deal, and he's probably going to lose lots of comics work. Which is a shame because he's a very good writer. While very apologetic, he's still trying to spin it and find a way to make lemonade, and that's a mistake. You can't call it a hoax, that's not the same thing, and it's done in a different spirit. You also can't try to turn it into an indictment of professional journalism, that almost hints at noble purpose and certainly switches the blame. All you can do is keep apologizing and eat enough crow until there's a consensus that you've done enough.
I've gotten less judgy with age I guess, but I just can't bring myself to get all righteous about it. I understand why people are mad, especially in a time when our Rangers are getting killed. But we can be mad or just disappointed without being an angry mob. Really, the best thing Micah could probably do is weather the storm until it finally subsides, and then write a soul-baring account of the whole experience. I'd read that.
So Micah Wright has fessed up that he wasn't an Army Ranger, and more importantly, the Washington Post has said so. I can't imagine the shitstorm Micah is spinning around in right now. I'm taken aback myself, even though I was pretty sure it wasn't true. I'd known former Rangers had posted in his forum and challenged him, and there was never a very convincing rebuttal. My thinking was that Micah was in some regular infantry unit and had fudged the truth to sound more like an asskicker, reimagining the experience as a special-ops type who jumped out of airplanes. In fact, the closest he got to the military was being in ROTC in college, which mostly requires you to go raise and take down the flags on campus.
I'm bummed-- Micah wrote a really nice blurb that I used on the back of my book, which he called "funny, fast-paced, and exciting." (Now he was telling the God's Honest there) He's also a really nice guy, so I don't want to pile up on him, he's getting plenty of that now. He's already lost his next poster book deal, and he's probably going to lose lots of comics work. Which is a shame because he's a very good writer. While very apologetic, he's still trying to spin it and find a way to make lemonade, and that's a mistake. You can't call it a hoax, that's not the same thing, and it's done in a different spirit. You also can't try to turn it into an indictment of professional journalism, that almost hints at noble purpose and certainly switches the blame. All you can do is keep apologizing and eat enough crow until there's a consensus that you've done enough.
I've gotten less judgy with age I guess, but I just can't bring myself to get all righteous about it. I understand why people are mad, especially in a time when our Rangers are getting killed. But we can be mad or just disappointed without being an angry mob. Really, the best thing Micah could probably do is weather the storm until it finally subsides, and then write a soul-baring account of the whole experience. I'd read that.
