Hi, DC!

My name’s Michael Hartney. I’m as big a Superman fan as you’ll ever meet. I have bought Superman comics every Wednesday since I learned to read, which was nearly 30 years ago. Superman was the subject of my blog and my one-man show. My name is tattooed on my arm in Kryptonian, for Zod’s sake. Oh, and I’m super-gay.

I can’t and won’t support the hiring of Orson Scott Card on Adventures of Superman. There’s a difference between having conservative political beliefs and being an active force of bigotry and hatred. Card is the latter. So draw away, Ethan Van Sciver, you fabulous Republican! Fine with me! Orson Scott Card, however, is in an entirely different, unjust league.

If this was a holocaust denier or a white supremacist, there would be no question. Hiring that writer would be an embarrassment to your company. Well, Card is an embarrassment to your company, DC. This is the same. The LGBTQ community will no longer take this lying down. Our civil rights are no longer up for debate or discussion.

Ugh. And of all the characters Card could have been hired to write, you give him Superman? The character that taught me to lead by example? To do the right thing, even when it was hard? To keep going, even when it seemed hopeless? What an insult. Kids are killing themselves. They are killing themselves in a climate of intolerance and homophobia publicly fostered by people like Orson Scott Card. You don’t have to contribute to this. You shouldn’t. You mustn’t.

What can you do to keep my business, and the business of other LBGTQ readers (and their straight allies) who feel utterly betrayed by this thoughtless, illogical decision? Great question, DC. Yank the story. Don’t publish it. You don’t have to fire Card. Pay him, thank him for his time, and run something else. Say, by Phil Jimenez, or one of the other incredible LGBTQ talents you have in your stable that have been alienated by this colossal blunder. Then, publish an It Gets Better comic. With 100% of the proceeds going to the Trevor Project. Stories starring Batwoman, Bunker, Alan Scott, and straight heroes too. I’ll do you a favor: I’ll write the Superman story, free of charge. I’ve got more than thirty years of Superman research under my belt, so I think I know him pretty well.

I wish you did too.