Source Point Press relationship with Frank Gogol ignites controversy

Source Point Press has issued a statement via social media regarding their future planned work with writer Frank Gogol. The publisher, who has released a number of series written by Gogol including Dead End Kids and, most recently, Unborn, says they will be “placing all future projects with Frank on hiatus,” as well as cancelling his sponsored convention appearances for the foreseeable future.

However, the statement comes just as the comics community on social media is calling Source Point’s relationship with controversial creators into question, including their use of a series written by Gogol as the art for NYCC’s Pro badges, and an appearance by Dirk Manning at the Source Point Press booth just last weekend at the Baltimore Comic Con.

Source Point released their full statement in a Twitter thread, in response to Gogol’s announcement of a lawsuit filed against Malissa White over allegations she made against him earlier this year:

In regards to the allegations made earlier this summer against one of the writers we publish, we apologize for our limited commentary and leaving any room for doubt as to where Source Point Press stands against harassment in our industry. Things moved swiftly into legal proceedings, and at no point has it been our place to air the legal circumstances of others. While transparency is important to us as a company, it was also important to us to respect the privacy of every party involved.

For now, we’re placing all future projects from Frank on hiatus, and Frank will not be attending any conventions as part of Source Point Press’s booths while legal proceedings are ongoing.

Source Point Press believes deeply in making both our company and our industry a safe, celebratory, and diverse space, and we know action is the key to change. Going forward, we’re setting up a quarterly budget devoted entirely to supporting projects by marginalized creators outside of Source Point Press, and we’re in the process of forming a paid committee of marginalized industry members to help us react appropriately and take proactive efforts to move the industry in a direction we believe in.

Back in August, Malissa White alleged that Gogol had used a racial slur toward her at NYCC in 2018. White posted about her experience with Gogol on social media, saying that she had been introduced to Gogol that year at BarCon by a mutual friend. White described Gogol talking over her and giving her “disgusted looks” even before he allegedly got drunk and his behavior worsened to include making a racist remark about how Black people look. Gogol has vehemently denied the allegations, or even having met White beyond one encounter in 2017, and last week announced his intention to file a defamation suit against White.

Source Point’s statement doesn’t indicate that they are cutting ties with Gogol completely; merely that they’re placing his future projects on hiatus until his lawsuit against White is done. Answering questions on Twitter, Source Point has indicated they will still be releasing the final two issues of Unborn, as well as a previously-solicited collection of the series.

The statement from Source Point is already under fire on Twitter after as recently as Friday the publisher’s Twitter account ‘liked’ Gogol’s initial tweet announcing the suit against White. The ‘like’ has since been removed, and Source Point has said the tweet reaction was “unintentional.”

Rumblings around Source Point’s relationship with Gogol in light of the allegations against him picked up steam a few weeks ago at New York Comic Con, a show with badge designs promoting different projects both current and upcoming from the publisher. While this is usually a fairly innocuous thing, this year’s 4-Day Pro badge design was in support of the Gogol-written Unborn, the first two issues of which the publisher has already released. Unborn was announced by Source Point Press back in July, but the badge designs for NYCC were unveiled on August 24th, nearly three weeks after White shared her experience with Gogol on social media.

In addition to work for Source Point Press, Gogol has also worked on BOOM! Studios’ line of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comics. Following White coming forward with her story, BOOM! quietly removed Gogol from the December-debuting Power Rangers Universe limited series, replacing him with writer Nicole Andelfinger, though his name still appeared listed for the first issue of the series in Previews.

Gogol isn’t the only creator accused of inappropriate behavior who Source Point Press has continued to work with and promote. The publisher currently has multiple books written by Dirk Manning due out later this year. Manning was the subject of allegations made last year by multiple women, who accused Manning of a pattern of harassment and sexual misconduct. The Premium Exhibitor and Thursday badges for this year’s NYCC both promoted Source Point Press projects written by Manning and he was a guest of their Baltimore Comic Con booth over the weekend.