Bill Maher Disrespects Stan Lee And Questions Importance Of Comic Books
Television personality Bill Maher is in trouble across social media after the controversial figure wrote a blog post in which he questioned the legitimacy of comics, as a medium, dropping Stan Lee’s name and disrespecting him in the process.
The post slams Americans for “using their smarts on stupid stuff”, pointing out that fans were overreacting in the moments after Lee’s passing.
“The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning,” Maher wrote. “Deep, deep morning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess. Someone on Reddit posted, ‘I’m so incredibly grateful I lived in a world that included Stan Lee.'”
“Personally, I’m grateful I lived in a world that included oxygen and trees, but to each his own. Now, I have nothing against comic books – I read them now and then when I was a kid and I was all out of Hardy Boys. But the assumption everyone had back then, both the adults and the kids, was that comics were for kids, and when you grew up you moved on to big-boy books without the pictures.”
In his typical fashion, he continued his tirade against comics, saying that the industry is only successful because “dumb people became professors” as they wrote thesis and papers about these comic book characters.
“But then twenty years or so ago, something happened – adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff,” Maher ranted. “And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges – which means we need more professors than we have smart people – some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer.”
“And now when adults are forced to do grown-up things like buy auto insurance, they call it ‘adulting,’ and act like it’s some giant struggle.”
This ended with him ranting that Donald Trump would only be voted as a President at a place where comic books are important. While his rant seems to focus on the last twenty years, it fails to take any fact of themes or the content included comic books since the introduction of the modern-day comic.
Earlier, Lee revealed that he sees comics as a platform to combat bigotry and racism, as comics are meant for people of all colour, shapes and sizes. Here’s what he revealed in an interview last year:
“That man next to you, he’s your brother,” Lee said. “That woman over there, she’s your sister. And that kid walking by, hey, who knows — he may have the proportionate strength of a spider. We’re all part of one big family, the human family, and we all come together in the body of Marvel. And you, you’re part of that family. You’re part of the Marvel Universe that moves ever upward and onward to greater glory. In other words: excelsior!”
