It was announced recently that he would be writing a the new Adventures of Superman series at DC. Card is no stranger to comics, having written Ultimate Iron-Man over at Marvel.
People are calling for his job at DC. Articles written at such places like Wired.com are tearing him apart. Others are calling for a boycott of of his work, including the currently in production movie of his novel Ender's Game.
What is his crime? What causes this outrage?
The answer is that he is a faithful Mormon.
It has now apparently become a fire-able offense to some people to believe the Mormon faith and act upon it.
Of course his detractors would not frame the issue this way. They would say that they are protesting a bigot. His bigotry consists of believing that marriage is between a man and a woman and he has given money to support this belief.
And of course this makes him a bigot. And it makes at least half the country bigots. And it makes Pope Francis a bigot. It makes President Obama before 2012 a bigot. It makes all of the saints of the Church bigots. And it makes me a bigot.
Look, I have no dog in this particular fight. I am not that familiar with Card's work. I read his Ultimate Iron Man and was unimpressed. If people don't want to buy his book, fine. If people want to boycott his book because they think that he violates the rules of the modern thought police, fine But they are pressuring DC to fire him for not other reason than his thoughts. It has nothing to do with the quality of his work. As far as I can tell from my research, none of his comic book work pushes an anti-gay agenda.
But he does not think the way the politically correct group thinks, and for that he must be punished. He does not deserve a job because he holds to a religious belief held by orthodox Christian, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, etc.
When I wrote last summer about making Alan Scott a gay super hero, I said that I really didn't care as long as the stories were good. James Robinson, the writer who made that decision, has a radically different belief regarding sexual morality and human nature. Fine. I don't want him to be fired over it. Alan Moore is one of the most respected writers in the field. His interest in the occult is at odds with my Christian faith. But not only do I not call for his firing, but I recognize his genius. Moore once wrote an epic piece of pornography called Lost Girls. My description of the work as pornographic is actually Moore's own. He wanted to make pornography respectable literature. I found the topic offensive. So I chose to exert control over my dollars and not buy it. I hoped that it would be a bomb because of its morally repugnant subject matter, but I did not desire Moore to be fired from his publisher. I believe in freedom of expression and free speech.
I do not understand why Card is not given the same courtesy. Can he not express himself in stories and let them speak for him?
If he wrote an anti-gay story into Superman, I could understand. Of course, this begs the question: what is an anti-gay story? If a character is against "gay marriage" and is portrayed in a positive light, is that anti-gay? If that is the case, then that explains why there are no pop culture heroes who support marriage as defined.
The artist Card was working with for Adventures of Superman has quit. It is now a question whether or not his full series will go forward.
Let this be a lesson to anyone who dares to think for themselves or hold ideas contrary to the purveyors of pop culture or to those who believe that morality comes from God: you are not allowed to earn a living.
So, if you plan to work in the comic book industry, be ready to answer this question:
"Are you now or have you ever been a supporter of traditional marriage?"
Does that sound like truth, justice, and the American way?
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