Gerard Jones, a comics writer whose career includes writing Green Lantern and The Trouble with Girls, co-creating Prime for Malibu, has been arrested on suspicions of putting child pornography on YouTube, SFGate reports. Jones was arrested at a cafe after Christmas after police found more than 600 child pornography files on electronic media around his house. Charges include possession of child pornography and distributing child pornography. Jones pled not guilty at an arraignment yesterday.
The videos show sex acts between adults and children as young as 1 year old. Jones is also suspected of going to London to have sex with a minor, another report says.
Jones had no prior criminal record, according to his lawyer, and says all the claims are false.
In addition to his comics work, Jones also wrote Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, a definitive history of the early days of comics, and many other books on pop culture and comics.
Jones’s many acquaintances in comics are reacting with shock to the news tonight.
I am in complete and utter shock. I actually almost just threw up. I know Gerard Jones. We’re not close friends, but good acquaintances, and have been for almost 30 years. I was Gerard’s editor for a time in the late 1980s when he wrote for Viz. I promoted his books in my capacity at Viz as their Marketing Manager (dual roles). I brought The Trouble With Girls over to Innovation Comics when I wore several hats for them for a short time. I travelled with him when I was the Events Coordinator at DC Comics. I’ve sparred with him politically in person and on Facebook. Nearly 30 years… With nothing but the utmost respect and love for him. I championed him – and he was one of the people who championed me.
And I just cannot accept this – it is unacceptable if he did it, it is unacceptable if he is being framed. If it is true – it crushes me that he could do this. If it is false – it crushes me that he will be crushed by this. I am an innocent-until-proven-guilt person… but his lawyers odd comment in the article drawing a differentiation between what Gerard was accused of doing and the crimes of “violent sex offenders” is worrisome.
Let us keep in mind that in this day-and-age, spoofing one’s IP address, planting evidence on their devices, and posting material online in their name are all easy things to do for a person or criminal entity looking to frame somebody or cover their own tracks. We are warned all the time of viruses/trojans/worms that can turn our computers into unwitting accomplices to pretty much anything.
I pray that this is the case – that Gerard is being framed. But if he is not, then I pray for his victims, and for his soul.
This is so shocking if true. I really liked his work since The Trouble With Girls and his Wonder Man was hilarious. I hope they have it wrong, but rarely would police have this much evidence against someone and it turns out not to be true.
I am just at a loss for words. I do not want to believe this and want to believe he is being framed. I also want the truth and justice for the victims and their families. I’m deeply saddened by all of this, just….wow.
These ‘framed’ comments seem a bit left field – I guess they got an duplicate to travel to London to allegedly attack a child?
Just wow. Was very fond of his JLE run. What’s the world coming to?
We should not discount the possibility of a Pete Townshend-like incident happening to Gerard. He is currently hard at work on his next book – A Nation of Faith and Flesh. And while that is a historical book that looks at morality in the late 1820s, it could be possible that he somehow during his research accidentally accessed some sort of site that then caused a malicious cascade of images to be downloaded on his devices and even spoofed his IP address to upload illicit videos. As we know, this is something that evil internet operators do use to cover their own tracks, framing others and using their resources as remote servers.
Who among us has not typed in a search string only to be assaulted with horrific images of pornography despite the current software purporting to block such things?
I do hope that this is the case here. If not, they can throw away his cell key. But there is a BIG part of me that is believing the best about Gerard.
the pt defence was very iffy, certainly helps to have expensive lawyers and celebrity status.
If it wasn’t pt and just a ‘nobody’ I bet the verdict would be very different.
the report states the images were found on multiple devices so the accidental download theories seem unlikely.
This is from a review of his book, Killing Monsters. In this new light, horrifying.
From School Library Journal
Jones’s thesis is straightforward: the violence in popular culture is to be embraced rather than feared. In his estimation, it provides a vehicle for objectifying the volatile emotions that young people already experience, presents an opportunity to learn control and to experience power in a culture that perpetuates the helplessness of children and adolescents, and affords a sense of community for those whose limited social skills often result in alienation and loneliness. Adult objections to popular culture violence, the author says, result from failing to recognize that the constructs are fantasy and not asking children about the appeal of action figures, comic books, video games, and rap music. Rather than provide a sequence of logical arguments, Jones uses the 13 chapters to repeat variations on his themes. Employing both anecdotes from his own experience and those of other professionals, and drawing upon existing scientific research, he debunks the “prevailing wisdom” that directly correlates the viewing of violence with violent behavior. Although not an academic, the author has done his homework. He presents his case convincingly, and the concluding notes provide support. Killing Monsters belongs on public library parent shelves and in collections that support teacher training, library science, and the communication arts.
Sue Burgess, Framingham State College, MA
Jerry, computers don’t work in the way you’re saying. It would be very. very easy to determine if any of the content on the computer came from somewhere else and was pushed to Jones’s computer without him pulling it. Also, it would be very easy to determine if someone used his IP to upload a video. I could go much more in depth about this since network traffic is my field, but everything you’re suggesting is preposterous unless someone spent a LOT of money trying to frame him.
Quite frankly, he looks guilty as Hell. It’s a damn shame, but it is what it is.
I just read the KTVU story. He had multiple devices with child porn and they arrested him for producing it. It just gets worse the farther you go down that rabbit hole.
Out of respect for Gerard – innocent until proven guilty – his family, and the victims of whoever made those videos, I am closing comments on this thread .
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