Bill Maher Goes on a Rant Disrespecting Stan Lee and Comic Book Fans and Neil Gaiman Shuts Him Down
Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher) is a controversial grown up that likes to stir the pot every now and then with childish rants. In a recent post on his blog, Maher went off on a rant slamming Americans for “using their smarts on stupid stuff” like comic books and in the process made sure to disrespect the late Stan Lee, saying:
"The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning. 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."
His ridiculous rant then moved on to comic books, about which he says the industry is only finding success because "dumb people got to be professors" by writing papers about comic book characters. He says:
"But then twenty years or so ago, something happened – adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff. 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."
His rant concludes with the laughable suggestion that comic book fans are the reason that Donald Trump was elected President:
“I’m not saying we’ve necessarily gotten stupider. The average Joe is smarter in a lot of ways than he was in, say, the 1940s, when a big night out was a Three Stooges short and a Carmen Miranda musical. The problem is, we’re using our smarts on stupid stuff. I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important.”
Well, that might just be the silliest and most unnecessary rant of the year! As you might imagine, Maher is being slammed by fans on social media. Maybe Bill Maher should start reading comics again because he’s missing out on some great stories that also offer some insightful social commentary. He might actually learn a thing or two from comics!
Also, Maher didn’t seem to mind comic books when he appeared in Iron Man 3.
Not long after Maher’s statements were posted, author Neil Gaiman completely shut him down with the following tweet:
Maher’s just trolling, and lots of people are rising to the troll. (Julie Burchill did it better 30 years ago with her “There aren’t any adult comics because adults don’t read comics” line. ) More people cared about Stan Lee’s death than care about Bill Maher alive. https://t.co/yRzFCYQBzl
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) November 17, 2018
Slow clap escalates into thunderous applause…
What are your thoughts on what Maher had to say here?