Bleeding Cool is an Internet news site, focusing on comics, television, film, board games, and video games. Owned by
Avatar Press
Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. Avatar Press is most notable for publishing Bad girl art, bad girl comics, such as ''Faust (Avatar Press), Fau ...
, it was launched by
Rich Johnston
Richard Johnston is a British comics creator, columnist, and founder of the comics news site ''Bleeding Cool''.
''The Comics Journal'' described Johnston as having claimed to be "the oldest extant comics news reporter on the Internet." His pas ...
on March 27, 2009. Avatar Press also publishes an associated magazine, ''Bleeding Cool''.
Content
Among Bleeding Cool's features are a power list detailing the most influential people in the comics industry.
In 2012, Bleeding Cool covered sexual harassment accusations leveled against
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
editor
Eddie Berganza
Eddie Berganza (born circa 1965) is an American comics writer and editor, known for his editorial tenure at DC Comics from the early 1990s to the late 2010s, rising at one point to the position of Executive Editor. He was demoted, then terminate ...
, beginning with an incident at
WonderCon
WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and WonderCon Los Angel ...
in
Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...
. Though that initial article was a
blind item that did not name the victim or accused, four years later, Bleeding Cool named Berganza when it accused him of sexual harassment, and detailed how he had risen in the ranks at DC even after the accusations became known to his employers. This was followed by a November 2017
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
report on accusations leveled against Berganza by several women that led to his termination from DC.
In November 2017, Bleeding Cool broke the story that writer/editor
C.B. Cebulski, who had recently been promoted to Editor-in-Chief of
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
, had written a number of Japanese-themed stories for Marvel in 2003 and 2004 under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida, which led to accusations of
cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
,
yellowfacing, and "Orientalist profiteering".
[Elbein, Asher (December 17, 2017)]
"The Secret Identity of Marvel Comics' Editor"
''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''.[Andrews, Travis M. (December 19, 2017)]
"The curious tale of the Marvel comics editor who pretended to be a Japanese writer"
''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.
Contributors
The site has published regular work by writers including:
*
Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...
*
Si Spurrier
Simon "Si" Spurrier (born 2 May 1981) is a British comics writer and novelist, who has previously worked as a cook, a bookseller, and an art director for the BBC.
Getting his start in comics with the British small press, he went on to write ...
*
Alex de Campi
Alex de Campi is a British-American music video director, comics writer and columnist.
Career
Comics
Alex de Campi wrote 2005's mini-series ''Smoke'' (published by IDW Publishing, art by Igor Kordey), which was nominated for the Eisner Award ...
*
Dennis O'Neil
Dennis Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retir ...
*
Michael Davis
* Jude Terror
* Patrick Dane
* Dan Wickline
* Adi Tantimedh
* Brendon Connelly
* Kaitlyn Booth
* Jeremy Konrad
* Mary Anne Butler
* Bill Watters
* Ray Flook
* Madeline Ricchiuto
* Gavin Sheehan
* Lauren Michele
* Val Hochberg – creator of ''
Mystery Babylon
Babylon the Great, commonly known as the Whore of Babylon, refers to both a symbolic female figure and place of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is stated in Revelation 17 (verse 5) as "Mystery, Babylon the Gr ...
''
* Hannah Means-Shannon – now editor at Heavy Metal Magazine
* Chris D'Lando – now C2E2 Administrator
*
Donny Cates
Donny Cates (born September 14, 1984) is an American comic book writer, artist, and podcaster, known for his work on titles like ''Venom'', ''Thanos'', ''Doctor Strange'', ''Thor,'' and ''Hulk.''
Early life
Donny Cates was born in Dallas, Texa ...
– now writer of ''
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
'', ''
Redneck
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
'', ''God Country'', ''
Thanos
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant w ...
'', ''
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...
'', and ''
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
''.
* Andrew Wheeler – now Editor-in-Chief of
Comics Alliance
ComicsAlliance was an American website dedicated to covering the comic book industry as well as comic-related media, and is owned by Townsquare Media. The site has been nominated for multiple awards including a 2015 Eisner Award win in the catego ...
* Joel Ronson – the son of
Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...
* Derek Des Anges – movie reviewer
* Rod Lamberti – comic store owner
Awards and accolades
Bleeding Cool was nominated for the "Favourite Comics Related Website"
Eagle Award in 2010 and 2011 and won in 2012. It was named as one of ''
PC Magazine
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...
''
's top blogs of 2010 and Technorati gave it a perfect 1000 score for influence in the comics category in 2011. Johnston was awarded the
Shel Dorf Award for Best Comics Blogger for his work on Bleeding Cool in 2012. He was also nominated in 2011 and 2013.
[Herndon, Dave (November 2, 2013)]
"DEARBORN: 2013 Shel Dorf awards handed out at FanFare"
'' The News-Herald'' (Southgate, Michigan
Southgate is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 30,047 at the 2020 census. Southgate was incorporated as a city in October 1958, which was one of the last remaining portions of the now-defunct Ecorse Town ...
).
References
External links
*
{{Comics information sources
American entertainment news websites
Websites about comics
Internet forums
Internet properties established in 2009