Following a series of sexual misconduct allegations against prominent men in the gaming industry this week, writer and editor Laura Hudson came forward on Twitter with similar accusations against writer Brian Wood, who is currently writing several series for Dark Horse Comics.
Hudson alleges that when she once met Wood at a bar, he grabbed her and forced her into a kiss. She says that she went to the bathroom and looked him up on Wikipedia to see if he was married (he was); she alleges that after the bar, Wood texted her “for weeks” and repeatedly asked her to have sex, which she refused.
https://twitter.com/laura_hudson/status/1167326761656311808?s=20
As noted by Hudson in her thread, she is not the first to accuse Wood of sexual misconduct; in 2013, artist Tess Fowler alleged that Wood had sexually harassed her at a convention years before. At the time, Wood admitted to having “made a pass” at Fowler, but denied any accusations or harassment or abuse. He claimed that Fowler’s memory of the incident was incorrect, and insisted on a wider industry conversation about men in positions of power wielding that power to abuse young women.
I think the larger issues of abuse in the comics industry are genuine and I share everyone’s concerns. As a father to a young daughter showing an interest in making her own comics, I do really care about this stuff. So I don’t want our difference of accounts to take attention away from that industry-wide discussion that needs to happen.
In her Twitter thread, Hudson apologizes to Fowler for not speaking out sooner. (Fowler also replied, thanking Hudson.) Hudson alleges that the day Fowler posted her accusations, Wood emailed Hudson to talk about his niece and how much she loves rock climbing (Hudson also enjoys the sport). She claims the email came out of the blue and she believes it was motivated by Wood trying to keep her from posting her own accusations.
https://twitter.com/laura_hudson/status/1167328912776421376?s=20
Shortly after Fowler went public with her accusations in 2013, Anne Scherbina, who worked in a comic shop in the ’90s and at DC Comics between 2000 and 2002, also accused Wood of “making a pass” at her and then threatening her career when she said no. Scherbina alleged that Wood retaliated by posting a blind item to a column indicating that she provided sexual favors in the DC stockroom.
Hudson’s accusations on Twitter prompted Brooklyn comic shop Anyone Comics to state that they will no longer be ordering Wood’s titles; as mentioned above, Wood currently writes several series for Dark Horse Comics. In the last six years since Fowler and Scherbina made their accusations, Wood has also worked for BOOM! Studios, Image Comics, and Marvel Comics.
When reached for comment by The Beat, Dark Horse Comics provided the following statement: “Effective immediately, Dark Horse will not pursue any new projects with Brian Wood. Dark Horse has cancelled the upcoming series Aliens Colonial Marines: Rising Threat.”
Damn that’s really disappointing. Still think he’s a great writer and i will most likely buy his books but he seems to be a shitty human being.
@Fred – why not use your local library to read his books? That way you wouldn’t be financially rewarding someone you describe as a shitty human being.
Known sexual predator turns out to be a sexual predator – no comic company who hires him could have seen this coming!
No one probably needs this now but just in case, my original blog post about my experience with Wood got moved and is now at https://luthorville.tumblr.com/Nottheotherwoman
Of course free speech loving Comicsbeat purges any comments that don’t fit the narrative.
Oh, and Bettie Page comics, too. That’s a really progressive depiction of women.
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