A new low for Rich Johnston/Bleeding Cool...

[KSChris]

I don't even know what to say to this. Sorry if it has been discussed in another thread.. I didn't see it.

But jesus.



The article in question has since been removed, but here's a description of events... LIGHT spoilers for ASM #700 included, but nothing that isn't well known by now:

Spoiler:

On Sunday night, Bleeding Cool ran a post that was simply titled, “Um…” which was basically just a copy/paste of a nine year old kid’s letter that originally appeared in Captain America #10, which ran eight months ago. The letter reads as follows (I didn’t include the kid’s last name because, well, he’s a nine year old kid)…

Hi. My name is KJ. I am 9 years old and I love Marvel comics! I am in the hospital right now because I have leukemia. Marvel comics have helped pass the time on some very long days. My favorite character is Captain America and my favorite comic is the Defenders. Just as sure as Spidey beats Doc Ock, I am going to beat leukemia! Thank you very much.

-KJ,
Hasbro Childrens Hospital
Providence, RI

Rich Johnston, the guy who runs Bleeding Cool and who authored the post, added that it was an “unfortunate juxtaposition.” At first glance, many of you, or maybe even most of you, don’t see what the big deal is. Okay, so allow me to translate what is meant to be a very geeky, inside joke/reference. In his letter, KJ mentions that he’ll beat Leukemia, “just as sure as Spidey beats Dock Ock.” Well, it’s no secret that Amazing Spider-Man #700 comes out on Wednesday

Spoilers:

and in that issue, without giving away too much, Spidey doesn’t exactly beat Doc Ock. So the gist of this post is basically, “Hahaha. Bad comparison, kid!” I will say that, despite what Rich Johnston says, I do think this feels pretty dirty. Johnston says it’s an “unfortunate juxtaposition”. Is it? KJ’s letter ran ten months – forty weeks – ago. It wasn’t as if Marvel was running this the same week that they were shipping Amazing Spider-Man 700. No, Bleeding Cool is the one that did that. They created this juxtaposition. Additionally, the post leaves me with the mental picture of a bunch of comic geeks standing around snickering as this kid – who’s fighting cancer – is talking about his favorite comic book characters.

I don't usually make a big deal about Rich's BC shenanigans, because I figure his usual antics of spoiling things is his M.O. and you shouldn't be visiting his site if you know he has a history of doing stuff like that. But this is in terrible taste, and I don't really know what the hell he was thinking.

[Ashwin Pande]

Ugh. What an asshole.

[Pat Shatner]

Ugh.

[Marcdachamp]

I'm not clicking the spoiler. Will it ruin something from ASM #700?

[Ryudo]

Something something not a real reporter.

[Kedd]

I'm not clicking the spoiler. Will it ruin something from ASM #700?

Probably.

[KSChris]

I'm not clicking the spoiler. Will it ruin something from ASM #700?

It might. Best to not click until Wednesday if you don't know yet. Doesn't go into detail, but the point of the whole thing does rely on knowing the basics of how #700 ends.

The bottom line, though.. is that Rich exploited a 9 year old kid with cancer to make a dig at Dan Slott.

[Marcdachamp]

It might. Best to not click until Wednesday if you don't know yet. Doesn't go into detail, but the point of the whole thing does rely on knowing the basics of how #700 ends.

The bottom line, though.. is that Rich exploited a 9 year old kid with cancer to make a dig at Dan Slott.

Yeesh. Yeah, I'll be waiting until I finish #700, then.

[PhilipClark]

The problem with Rich is that he can't ever find a way to not make himself the story. It's not true journalism in any sense of the world.

[atxbomber]

That's pretty lousy, even for Johnston and Bleeding Cool. What a shitty person.