10 Biggest Comics Controversies Of 2017

It's been hectic year for comics hot topics...

Rorschach Doomsday Clock
DC Comics

Like many entertainment industries, the comics one is not without its internal conflicts and slap-fights. Sometimes, these stories of harassment, bickering and worse, make it outside for the whole world to gawk over.

2017 saw a fair few of these, and in fact some of the biggest and most heated discussions around comics in some time, as with social media these controversies burst out into the public discussion much more frequently.

That is saying nothing of controversial comics and content in the medium itself, of which there are a few notable entries of course, from some of comics' biggest publishers.

Maybe you missed some (in which case, how)? Maybe you want a refresher? Or a chance to say 's**t, that was this year too?!'

Well, here are some of the most heated and controversial moments to rock comics in 2017.

10. G.I. Joe #7

Rorschach Doomsday Clock
IDW

A minor furore was kicked up by a certain segment of fans over a homoerotic variant cover to this issue.

G.I.Joe #7 from IDW Publishing featured a variant cover from Wuvable Oaf's Ed Luce, which included the Dreadnoks in a somewhat compromising position. The cover art is homoerotic, which is something both nice to see in a traditionally masculine property and amusing for a property which, strictly speaking, has had more than a bit of queer fun poked at the concept over the years.

The cover was fun and different, but as you sadly may imagine, caused a stir among a certain segment of comics and G.I. Joe fandom, and saw many using it to add onto the already swirling criticisms of series writer Aubrey Sitterson.

Much of this was co-opted by a distinct group of anti-diversity fans who model a lot of their tactics after GamerGate. Unfortunately, their continual harassment may have won them a victory in the end, as Sitterson departed the project but a few short months ago.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a comic book writer out of South Wales, writing LGBTQ+ superhero series The Pride and also co-writing Welsh horror comedy series, Stiffs. He's also a comics reporter and reviewer who works with Bleeding Cool and now WhatCulture too. So he makes comics and talks about comics, but there's more to him too. Somewhere.