#Comicsgate - The Culture Wars Hit The Funny Books!

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Zack pretty much broke up with EVS a while ago, EVS just never wanted to face that fact. Honestly I think EVS truly thought he and Zack were friends, even after all the shit Zack has done. I kinda feel bad for @FROG, because he went to bat for Zack a lot. Also, its an awful feeling to find out that person you truly thought was your friend, through think and thin, doesnt really give a shit about you and pretty much thinks you are a clown.

I doubt it. Even the idiots of CG have pretty much understood that Zack hasnt cared about CG for a while, has actually changed his position on a lot of CG principals and actually done a lot of shit the that the mainstream did that were reasons behind why CG started in the first place. I think this current break-up between EVS and Zack is just the final nail in the coffin on the Zack and CG relationship.

The fun part will be when be when we see what happens when EVS doesn’t promote Zack’s book anymore.
 
The fun part will be when be when we see what happens when EVS doesn’t promote Zack’s book anymore.
His campaigns will probably take a slight dip and the simple one will blame it on everything(no matter how convoluted) except his actions of insulting people who livestream(most of CG) and EVS and Co. not promoting his books anymore.
 
Zack pretty much broke up with EVS a while ago, EVS just never wanted to face that fact. Honestly I think EVS truly thought he and Zack were friends, even after all the shit Zack has done. I kinda feel bad for @FROG, because he went to bat for Zack a lot. Also, its an awful feeling to find out that person you truly thought was your friend, through think and thin, doesnt really give a shit about you and pretty much thinks you are a clown.

I doubt it. Even the idiots of CG have pretty much understood that Zack hasnt cared about CG for a while, has actually changed his position on a lot of CG principals and actually done a lot of shit the that the mainstream did that were reasons behind why CG started in the first place. I think this current break-up between EVS and Zack is just the final nail in the coffin on the Zack and CG relationship.
I used to think Zack wouldn't go so far as denouncing Ethan by name because it would probably fuck his business up, but now I'm not so sure. He's pretty much attacked or made fun of everything Ethan does to make a living but has yet to take that final step. Now that he's got his first six-figure campaign in two years and is taking a victory lap, who knows what kind of ridiculous shit will come out of his mouth? Of course he won't mention that it took releasing two new Jawbreakers books (one of which was nearly free) and his latest Narzack abortion in one campaign all at the same time to drag it over that $100k line. He thinks he's "back" and therefore everything he's said and done is right. He feels vindicated. There's no telling what the Simple One will say or do now.

The fun part will be when be when we see what happens when EVS doesn’t promote Zack’s book anymore.
I hope Ethan does exactly that. While I do admire the patience it must take to consider Zack a friend, there has to be a limit. I don't think Ethan should go out of his way to insult Zack or anything but he absolutely is under no obligation to keep supporting or helping a guy that wants nothing to do with him. Zack wants to be separate from CG and EVS so they should respect his wishes and leave him alone completely. EVS and everyone involved in CG livestreaming need to institute an embargo on promoting any of Zack's work, including talking to his artists about it. Zack won't promote them, so why would anyone in CG help him at all?
 
EVS and everyone involved in CG livestreaming need to institute an embargo on promoting any of Zack's work, including talking to his artists about it. Zack won't promote them, so why would anyone in CG help him at all?
EVS already said it last night - EVS can't stomach the idea that YBZ would fail, so when he perceived YBZ failing he stepped in to do advertising even without a quid pro quo.

I don't know what might happen into the future but at least frog now understands that YBZ has pulled a dirtworm/smiller, and completely rejects 2018 YBZ and everything 2018 YBZ believed in. I don't think EVS did anything so egregious that YBZ treatment of him makes any sense. Asked him to come on a livestream? Who cares?

YBZ thinks its torture to interact with creators and customers on livestreams, ergo even asking him to do it is asking him to be tortured and therefore worth blowing up whatever, or releasing 3 books for $105k - $35k a book his lowest showing yet (?) just to try to claim he still has it. YBZ doesn't still have it - he's totally lost the plot, and is now targetting EVS in videos for having the audacity to keep engaging with YBZ.

Meanwhile YBZ doesn't livestream or engage with customers, doesn't go anywhere people might criticize him, releases topical political books, releases books with horseshit art, and is happy to tell customers to fuck off if they bother him, and denounces the very methods that allowed him to become successful in videos because he doesn't have the cojones to do it to his face. Whatever CG is, YBZ aint it.

He used to make funny comic review videos, at least. Now he doesn't even do that.
 
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EVS already said it last night - EVS can't stomach the idea that YBZ would fail, so when he perceived YBZ failing he stepped in to do advertising even without a quid pro quo.

I don't know what might happen into the future but at least frog now understands that YBZ has pulled a dirtworm/smiller, and completely rejects 2018 YBZ and everything 2018 YBZ believed in. I don't think EVS did anything so egregious that YBZ treatment of him makes any sense. Asked him to come on a livestream? Who cares?

YBZ thinks its torture to interact with creators and customers on livestreams, ergo even asking him to do it is asking him to be tortured and therefore worth blowing up whatever, or releasing 3 books for $105k - $35k a book his lowest showing yet (?) just to try to claim he still has it. YBZ doesn't still have it - he's totally lost the plot, and is now targetting EVS in videos for having the audacity to keep engaging with YBZ.

Meanwhile YBZ doesn't livestream or engage with customers, doesn't go anywhere people might criticize him, releases topical political books, releases books with horseshit art, and is happy to tell customers to fuck off if they bother him, and denounces the very methods that allowed him to become successful in videos because he doesn't have the cojones to do it to his face. Whatever CG is, YBZ aint it.

He used to make funny comic review videos, at least. Now he doesn't even do that.

After E-Fapping Zack’s video on that stream , he said if that were Smiller who said that then it would be on. Then he went from saying he would still help Zack to finally realizing that it’s better to let bygones be bygones and leave Zack to do his own thing.

I was surprised to him streaming again with Cecil a couple hours later because he seemed genuinely sad at the end of the Zack breakup stream.
 
Hey everyone *cough* it's ya boy Zack. So I was eating a burrito and diet coke for breakfast the other day, and I thought 'this is just like crowdfunding while having a Youtube channel' It just hit me, like a rock thrown at the back of my head by a fellow Marine. I was like, I didn't have to fight the Taliban for this burrito, you know. I just bought it for a dollar. It's like, capitalism and the social contract. You aren't buying a burrito per se, but it's really a burrito experience that you're buying, just like comics. You don't keep the burrito, it's not a possession in the traditional sense. People are hungriest in the morning, you know? So anyway, this is why I've decided to only launch my campaigns at breakfast time.
 

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EVS already said it last night - EVS can't stomach the idea that YBZ would fail, so when he perceived YBZ failing he stepped in to do advertising even without a quid pro quo.

I don't know what might happen into the future but at least frog now understands that YBZ has pulled a dirtworm/smiller, and completely rejects 2018 YBZ and everything 2018 YBZ believed in. I don't think EVS did anything so egregious that YBZ treatment of him makes any sense. Asked him to come on a livestream? Who cares?

YBZ thinks its torture to interact with creators and customers on livestreams, ergo even asking him to do it is asking him to be tortured and therefore worth blowing up whatever, or releasing 3 books for $105k - $35k a book his lowest showing yet (?) just to try to claim he still has it. YBZ doesn't still have it - he's totally lost the plot, and is now targetting EVS in videos for having the audacity to keep engaging with YBZ.

Meanwhile YBZ doesn't livestream or engage with customers, doesn't go anywhere people might criticize him, releases topical political books, releases books with horseshit art, and is happy to tell customers to fuck off if they bother him, and denounces the very methods that allowed him to become successful in videos because he doesn't have the cojones to do it to his face. Whatever CG is, YBZ aint it.

He used to make funny comic review videos, at least. Now he doesn't even do that.
Yeah, watching that video sucked.

We'll always have 2017-2018 Ya Boi but this guy isn't that guy. This guy is broken and fucked up.

Some observations.

1. Zack feels trapped by his life and circumstances, and instead of seeing all of this as an incredible blessing, he sees it as a prison he's built for himself.
2. He thinks everyone around him is crazy for enjoying what he sees as a trap and resents how they're encouraging him to stay put and decorate his cell.
3. This all comes from and adds to his severe anxiety.
4. He feels like he owes a debt to everyone for the lawsuit, which is partially why he's doing this JawBreakers loss leader book.
5. But if it were up to him, he'd never do another JawBreakers comic at all. That's 2018 Zack. Current Year Zack does one-and-dones and NarZack books.
6. He thinks CG is mad that he's had success on his own, through his own ideas, research and plans, and that we're jealously trying to reel him in. (This is common anti-CG rhetoric)
7. He's in denial about Doug Ernst and wants to protect him. Is angry that I found out about Comic Book Hut and made issue of it. It was better not to know in order to avoid "petty internet squabbles."

Richard thinks the reason I want him to do periodic livestreams or videos with me is to help him make money. And while that's part of it, the bigger reason is about the morale of ComicsGate and to create YouTube State of the Union events that raise the boats of all other creators. We're both at a pretty high level, and can't really help each other too much, but we're still supposed to be building an alternative and creating excitement for independent comics. He and I making a fun YouTube event once a month would generate tons of enthusiasm.

That might have been Zack in 2018. He definitely would have been a part of that then. But it isn't him now. He's going in a different direction that will eventually lead to his not making comics at all.

And that's his goal.

I'm cashing out of Ya Boi Zack and wish him the best.
 
1. Zack feels trapped by his life and circumstances, and instead of seeing all of this as an incredible blessing, he sees it as a prison he's built for himself.
2. He thinks everyone around him is crazy for enjoying what he sees as a trap and resents how they're encouraging him to stay put and decorate his cell.
If you could clarify, what do you mean by his "circumstances"? Is it the CG association he feels trapped by or is it the grind of making comics and fulfilling orders in general? Both? I always figured Zack was a guy who dreamed of making comics, it sucks he feels trapped by something he always dreamed of doing. That's just weird.

And why doesn't he just quit? Fulfilling his outstanding fulfillment obligations and walking away seems like it would do the trick for his anxiety. Has he told you he has a time frame for leaving comics?
 
If you could clarify, what do you mean by his "circumstances"? Is it the CG association he feels trapped by or is it the grind of making comics and fulfilling orders in general? Both? I always figured Zack was a guy who dreamed of making comics, it sucks he feels trapped by something he always dreamed of doing. That's just weird.

And why doesn't he just quit? Fulfilling his outstanding fulfillment obligations and walking away seems like it would do the trick for his anxiety. Has he told you he has a time frame for leaving comics?
By "his circumstances," I just mean the weight of having been a visible participant in the culture war. Blacklisted, canceled, demonized, etc. You hear him talk in videos about how the internet permits his own words to follow him around for the rest of his life, rather than just evaporating into the ether. Everything he's done and said can and will be held against him in his next attempt to get a normie IT job somewhere.

It's my belief that he wants to fade away and become forgotten, and then take all of his comics money that he's saving and investing and just walk the earth anonymously for the rest of his life.

To me, that sounds fucking horrible. But that's Zack. So imagine a guy who feels that way, who is motivated like that being asked to be PRESENT and account for himself somewhere. "Monthly livestreams? Fuck that. I'm trying to disappear." It's actually infuriating to him to be asked.

So he wants to pay his debt and go. What does he owe us for quitting the lawsuit? How can he do the math to make sure that he gives us just enough of what we want so that he's even, and he can leave? Obviously 499 isn't going to cut it.

More JAWBREAKERS, cheap. OK?
 
By "his circumstances," I just mean the weight of having been a visible participant in the culture war. Blacklisted, canceled, demonized, etc. You hear him talk in videos about how the internet permits his own words to follow him around for the rest of his life, rather than just evaporating into the ether. Everything he's done and said can and will be held against him in his next attempt to get a normie IT job somewhere.

It's my belief that he wants to fade away and become forgotten, and then take all of his comics money that he's saving and investing and just walk the earth anonymously for the rest of his life.

To me, that sounds fucking horrible. But that's Zack. So imagine a guy who feels that way, who is motivated like that being asked to be PRESENT and account for himself somewhere. "Monthly livestreams? Fuck that. I'm trying to disappear." It's actually infuriating to him to be asked.

So he wants to pay his debt and go. What does he owe us for quitting the lawsuit? How can he do the math to make sure that he gives us just enough of what we want so that he's even, and he can leave? Obviously 499 isn't going to cut it.

More JAWBREAKERS, cheap. OK?

It's infuriating that we lifted up Jawbreakers so he could fight the culture war, and yet he acts like the culture war is beneath him and it's about Jawbreakers.
 
By "his circumstances," I just mean the weight of having been a visible participant in the culture war. Blacklisted, canceled, demonized, etc. You hear him talk in videos about how the internet permits his own words to follow him around for the rest of his life, rather than just evaporating into the ether. Everything he's done and said can and will be held against him in his next attempt to get a normie IT job somewhere.

It's my belief that he wants to fade away and become forgotten, and then take all of his comics money that he's saving and investing and just walk the earth anonymously for the rest of his life.

To me, that sounds fucking horrible. But that's Zack. So imagine a guy who feels that way, who is motivated like that being asked to be PRESENT and account for himself somewhere. "Monthly livestreams? Fuck that. I'm trying to disappear." It's actually infuriating to him to be asked.
Ok, I see what you mean.

I've said before that Zack will never be able to go back to any semblance of a life he had before making himself, as you put it, a visible participant in the culture war (and by most accounts it doesn't seem like his life was all that great before he started ripping up comics on YouTube). He's publicly said and done some embarrassing shit, but that's part of the human condition isn't it?

The part I find most puzzling is that Zack all of a sudden gives a fuck about the consequences of this stuff. I've rhetorically asked why he doesn't just lean into this shit since he'll never live down the dumb stuff and just make millions of dollars writing Jawbreakers twice a year while doing his comic sperg schtick on YouTube. It seems like the choice between that and becoming what he's become would be pretty easy. As I said once on this topic, he's already paid for dinner so he may as well eat it.

So he wants to pay his debt and go. What does he owe us for quitting the lawsuit? How can he do the math to make sure that he gives us just enough of what we want so that he's even, and he can leave? Obviously 499 isn't going to cut it.


More JAWBREAKERS, cheap. OK?
He seems fixated on this idea of a "debt" from quitting the lawsuit. Do you think (as many of us here do) that this was the breaking point for him personally and professionally? It certainly seems like everything he's been doing can be traced back to that.

I get that he feels he owes something to his audience for dropping the suit after getting a lot of money donated by that audience. That's completely understandable from his perspective. But I think if there's a debt owed to the audience it would be better settled by continuing to do what he was doing and what he built his audience on. Even after dropping the suit, his audience would have stuck around if he'd just leveled with everyone and kept doing his Zack thing. Instead, he did a 180 on everything he used to rail against, stretched himself too thin with unfulfilled campaigns and acted like a dick when his audience complained about late books.

Hindsight being 20/20, he never should have sued Waid in the first place. The crowdfunding success of Jawbreakers to the tune of $400k deflated any argument he may have had about Waid ruining his ability to publish the book and make money. If he'd let Waid's bullshit slide, he could have just sat on his pile of money and still be legally able to make fun of Mark Waid while proving he could succeed on his own.

Suing Mark Waid was ultimately his decision, as was streaming the "Dark Roast", choosing to go on Jim Jefferies' show instead of Rogan, and all the other retarded shit he's been canceled, demonized, and blacklisted for. It seems like instead of internalizing the blame, processing it and continuing on with what started out as a pretty lucrative career, he's turned on people who wanted to help him (as well as a fair number of his backers) and made things more difficult for himself for no real reason.
 
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Ok, I see what you mean.

I've said before that Zack will never be able to go back to any semblance of a life he had before making himself, as you put it, a visible participant in the culture war (and by most accounts it doesn't seem like his life was all that great before he started ripping up comics on YouTube). He's publicly said and done some embarrassing shit, but that's part of the human condition isn't it?

The part I find most puzzling is that Zack all of a sudden gives a fuck about the consequences of this stuff. I've rhetorically asked why he doesn't just lean into this shit since he'll never live down the dumb stuff and just make millions of dollars writing Jawbreakers twice a year while doing his comic sperg schtick on YouTube. It seems like the choice between that and becoming what he's become would be pretty easy. As I said once on this topic, he's already paid for dinner so he may as well eat it.
Whenever I think I understand Zack and what his thought process might be, he completely changes it.

Sometimes I think he honestly regrets the things he said about Mags and Heather Antos, and that explains his scrubbing his channel content. But then just this past month, he's made half a dozen more scathing video about each, so I guess I don't understand. His recent Vita Ayala content borders on him at his peak.

Are these videos moments of doubt on his part? ("I NEED to do this kind of content to please my base.") Or are they sincere? Don't know.

Obviously, I agree with you about your dinner metaphor. The only way forward is pedal to the metal and to enjoy being The Voice to counter the radical left in comics. It's quite a privilege, and he could be enjoying the fun and the money that comes with it. But something won't let him.
He seems fixated on this idea of a "debt" from quitting the lawsuit. Do you think (as many of us here do) that this was the breaking point for him personally and professionally? It certainly seems like everything he's been doing can be traced back to that.

I get that he feels he owes something to his audience for dropping the suit after getting a lot of money donated by that audience. That's completely understandable from his perspective. But I think if there's a debt owed to the audience it would be better settled by continuing to do what he was doing and what he built his audience on. Even after dropping the suit, his audience would have stuck around if he'd just leveled with everyone and kept doing his Zack thing. Instead, he did a 180 on everything he used to rail against, stretched himself too thin with unfulfilled campaigns and acted like a dick when his audience complained about late books.

Hindsight being 20/20, he never should have sued Waid in the first place. The crowdfunding success of Jawbreakers to the tune of $400k deflated any argument he may have had about Waid ruining his ability to publish the book and make money. If he'd let Waid's bullshit slide, he could have just sat on his pile of money and still be legally able to make fun of Mark Waid while proving he could succeed on his own.

Suing Mark Waid was ultimately his decision, as was streaming the "Dark Roast", choosing to go on Jim Jefferies' show instead of Rogan, and all the other retarded shit he's been canceled, demonized, and blacklisted for. It seems like instead of internalizing the blame, processing it and continuing on with what started out as a pretty lucrative career, he's turned on people who wanted to help him (as well as a fair number of his backers) and made things more difficult for himself for no real reason.
None of us went through that lawsuit with him, and so we can't really know how bad it was for someone like him, who already has anxiety problems. When I found out that there was going to be a mutual "walking away" solution, I got a really bad sinking feeling. I told him we'd raise more money if he needed it, whatever. But he was at peace with his choice and he never told me his reasons outside of a general "life's too short" sentiment.

When you say it'd be better settled by continuing to do what he was doing, he agrees, and he says, "But for how much longer?" It feels like a prison sentence to this guy.

Think of how weird all of this is. He noticed the comic book industry was rotting, and his friends were making money doing YouTube videos about it. He started doing his own for the cash, and rapidly became the most popular voice, and the guy that turned over the first rock in the ComicsGate culture war. They actually wanted him dead. And for what? The comics biz can't be saved. He's never going to get to write Spider-Man, and his name is mud.

He just wanted to pay a few bills with comic review videos.

The good thing is making his own comics. The bad thing is literally everything else.

If I could go back in time, I'd definitely change a few things. War Campaign wouldn't exist, because I'd have ignored Tim Lim's gay night letter about his indie pals. A few other minor changes, but I'd mostly do the exact same things.

I'd bet if you asked Zack, he'd tell you he wouldn't have gotten involved at all.
 
I don't know what might happen into the future but at least frog now understands that YBZ has pulled a dirtworm/smiller, and completely rejects 2018 YBZ and everything 2018 YBZ believed in. I don't think EVS did anything so egregious that YBZ treatment of him makes any sense. Asked him to come on a livestream? Who cares?
Sometimes there are people in our lives that we don't really give a shit about, but they keep coming back. You try to be subtle and drop hints that you don't really wanna be friends with them, but they don't get it, they keep coming back. And well, at some point your patience runs out and you say fuck off retard.

He should walk down to the printer/fullfillment center and finish the job he was paid for.

The continued romanticization of Zack is beyond gay.
This is what I mean, Frog is borderline gay for Zack.
 
Meyer feels any obligation to anyone or anything other than himself as an unbearable imposition, but placed himself in the middle of a movement/group/community founded on people throwing their time, money and in some cases even careers on the pyre out of supporting others out of 'solidarity'. When he was the primary beneficiary of the solidarity, CG was a force against cancel culture. When it came time for him to lift a finger to help someone in kind, CG magically ceased to be a group. All this fanfiction about "severe social anxiety", just like last week's "he can only form friends with his fellow squadmates" or "he just wants to disappear" is just today's cope about the incredibly obvious. Does he refuse to promote or discuss anyone else's work because of social anxiety too?

It's the inherent contradiction of Simple Zack's years of espousing a personal and business philosophy that all interactions should be transactional like "the comic industry is like a hot dog stand", "community shouldn't exist in comics, only 'the industry" and "if it doesn't have a number describing what I'm getting out of it I'm not doing it", while in reality ekeing out an existence holding out an empty sack appealing to likeminded people, creators and communities to lend him the money to hire a writer, an artist, a fulfillment agency, a defamation lawyer, etc. so he can have a business despite not being competitive with the mainstream on nearly every level, that leads to this sense of "debt". It's his inability to extricate himself from this contradiction that leads him to feelings of being "trapped". The only way out for him is to either have the actual, real functional business he talks about how everyone else should have or just fuck off already.

He doesn't want to "fade into obscurity and go back to a normie IT job" by the way. He could get a "normie IT job" as a third party IT contractor in McAllen, Texas doing what he was doing any time he wants. What Meyer actually wants is for the SJWs in comics to forgive him, without him having to apologize, and acknowledge him as a real big boy publisher who is allowed sell to the direct market and Bookline, and all his complaints amount to a 50 year old having a big crying jag because it's super unfair these people don't go out of their way to help out the singular guy who built his business off of shitting on them and inspired countless others to do the same. "I'm trapped!" the transaction-based guru cries out, "These SJWs should give me everything I want because it's the right thing of them to do!"

 
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All this fanfiction about "severe social anxiety", just like last week's "he can only form friends with his fellow squadmates" or "he just wants to disappear" is just today's cope about the incredibly obvious. Does he refuse to promote or discuss anyone else's work because of social anxiety too?

I'd cut EVS some slack here. It can't be easy to admit that the fellow he considered an ally and a friend was actually a user that views CG as a one-directional relationship. Ascribing romantic angst worthy of Hemingway hero to Zack is one way to ease the parting of ways.

Personally, I never see Zack as anything but a hopelessly average person thrust into the limelight because his detractors made him into a martyr. If left to his own devices, he'd have fizzled out on his own fast enough. What is happening now is inevitable, just prolonged due to people still clinging on to the belief that there is still a leader in Zack, buried in there somewhere.
 
The much anticipated and highly hyped(with zero pics or story info) Rippaverse is set to launch on Monday July 11, 2022!
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I have to say that my emotional reaction to this is annoyance. I still don't even know the genre of what he's offering. I've heard the Rippaverse name often enough to associate it with something - but that something is a total void. It's a frustration that I'm being told that I should think the Rippaverse is awesome, while being given absolutely no reason why. I don't feel anticipation, because I've lived a long enough life that I've dealt with salesmen, and I recognize that one of the major red flags is when a salesman is really big on hype but very lacking on details of the product. The way this has been marketed to this point screams 'scam.'

Now it's totally possible that the Rippaverse books will be awesome and from what he's said, the books are supposed to be finished and ready to ship at launch so there should 100% be a product. Maybe the only part of the comics-making process that Rippa doesn't have mastered is the early stage marketing. But I know what I feel when I hear 'Rippaverse,' and I know it's not what Mr. July wants me to be feeling.
 
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