My face became my mask - and I became just another actor.

November 29, 2017 7:16 AM

Marvel’s New Editor-in-Chief Admits Writing Under Japanese Pseudonym ‘Akira Yoshida’ [Vulture]

Cebulski had previously lied to Bleeding Cool journalist Rich Johnston, saying Yoshida was a real person; he created a fake backstory for an interview with comics site CBR; and executives at Marvel once met with someone they believed was Yoshida, but was in fact a Japanese translator who happened to be visiting the offices. Some people are... okay with this.

This isn't the first nor will ever be the last time that white people have pretended to be Asian. What does it matter, though?

Well, I suppose there's something to be said about how colorblindness still supports the institutions of white supremacy. A white person trading on the cultural capital that people of color have recently been afforded seems somewhat problematic, too. Apparently, that cultural capital is both tenuous and precious in its scarcity.

Some have said that 'true diversity is intersectional.' And, to complicate matters even more, that sometimes "this shift went to the other extreme of focusing on individual experience at the expense of simultaneously analyzing how structures condition experiences in both universal and particular ways."

So what can even be done in the face of yet another example of systemic oppression?

Do this.

Or this.

Or this.

Or this.

Or this.

But, uh, not any of these, please.

posted by runt (52 comments total)

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:36 AM on November 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

What the hell, comics.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:39 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Every new story about this just makes my jaw drop further. What in the hell is wrong with a company where this is treated as a minor oopsie?

(Even beyond the racism, think of it this way -- when Cebulski got the job, one of the things he and the company -- and even Marvel freelancers speaking on their own -- highlighted was his experience bringing new writers and artists into the fold. Now we find out that one of those "new writers" was him pretending to be a newbie, and one that was part of a "diversity" effort to boot? That should torpedo his qualifications all by itself.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:42 AM on November 29, 2017 [46 favorites]

The moral of this story: you have to be a white guy to make it as a Japanese writer -- or a Aboriginal one. So easy for the Establishment to embrace diversity that way when it rigs it to keep a status quo quietly.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 7:44 AM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

He needs to resign. Full stop.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 7:45 AM on November 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

..and yet ANOTHER of my nerdy passions is shown to be overrun by assholes.
Or worse yet, RUN by assholes.
I'm only reading one Marvel comic regularly at this time, but man, this really does poison the well.
He needs to resign or be shown the door.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 7:50 AM on November 29, 2017

Even beyond the racism, think of it this way -- when Cebulski got the job, one of the things he and the company -- and even Marvel freelancers speaking on their own -- highlighted was his experience bringing new writers and artists into the fold. Now we find out that one of those "new writers" was him pretending to be a newbie, and one that was part of a "diversity" effort to boot? That should torpedo his qualifications all by itself.

On top of all this, the Stuff Said story makes it pretty clear Cebulski was using the Yoshida pseudonym to plagiarize freelance pitches.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 8:01 AM on November 29, 2017 [26 favorites]

(Even beyond the racism, think of it this way -- when Cebulski got the job, one of the things he and the company -- and even Marvel freelancers speaking on their own -- highlighted was his experience bringing new writers and artists into the fold. Now we find out that one of those "new writers" was him pretending to be a newbie, and one that was part of a "diversity" effort to boot? That should torpedo his qualifications all by itself.

One of the more awful impacts of yellowface in Hollywood and elsewhere is it quite literally takes jobs away from minority professionals. In this case, comic writers and comic artists. By masquerading as a minority, he subverted the company's diversity program, and cost someone a job.

The Vulture article doesn't really go into the comics he authored, but one was the Elektra: The Hand series. There are five books in the series, and books 3-5 focus in part on a mixed race woman living in Japan who becomes a Hand trainee. (The character's name is Eliza Martinez, and she is half-Spanish, half-Japanese.) From book 3 onward, the series contains dialogue and circumstances which examine racism in Japan from her perspective, including Japanese prejudice against her for not being 'fully Japanese'.

This only one aspect of what he did, but it is really, really not okay. Cebulski is (obviously) not Japanese, and while Japanese racism towards foreigners and people of mixed heritage does exist, it's certainly not something that a white person of privilege should be writing commentary about as if he was from that country and had direct understanding of the culture.
posted by zarq at 8:03 AM on November 29, 2017 [12 favorites]

I was just thinking, "How can this get any worse?"

the Stuff Said story makes it pretty clear Cebulski was using the Yoshida pseudonym to plagiarize freelance pitches.

...and there's my answer.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:03 AM on November 29, 2017 [19 favorites]

Jeez louise, I actually bought the first issue of his Kitty Pryde miniseries (Kitty Pryde: Shadow & Flame) back when I was still buying comics on a monthly basis. I remember being curious to see what kind of spin an (ostensibly) Japanese-American writer would put on Kitty's history of interaction with (and appropriation of) Japanese culture, going back to the classic Kitty & Wolverine storyline from the '80s. I was disappointed with that first issue, and now I think I know why.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:09 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

The Hollywood Reporter:

As Yoshida, Cebulski regularly wrote stories for Marvel that featured Japan as a setting or a cultural influence, albeit in a limited manner; the Elektra: The Hand series focused on the origins of the ninja clan that resurrected Elektra, while Wolverine: Soultaker also featured ninjas as one of its primary threats and X-Men: Kitty Pryde — Shadows & Flame saw the character travel to Japan to take on… a ninja clan. Amusingly (or, perhaps, appallingly, in retrospect), Yoshida's writing also features a number of mistakes no Japanese writer would make, including in Elektra: The Hand, declaring that Japan is made up of five main islands, instead of the actual number (four).

posted by zarq at 8:10 AM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Christ, what an asshole.

I mean, that's about all there is to say, I think. Other than demanding that Marvel immediately fire him if he doesn't step down of his own accord first. And then hire an actual non-white person to replace him as E-I-C.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:16 AM on November 29, 2017

On top of all this, the Stuff Said story makes it pretty clear Cebulski was using the Yoshida pseudonym to plagiarize freelance pitches.

Of course. If you cannot truly make it on talent, you have to do other things to stomp over people, and those are the people who get promotions because they free up the time to schmooze, promote themselves, and devise campaigns to get what they want.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 8:24 AM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

At first I saw truncated headlines on my phone, telling me something bad had happened with this guy, but not what. Then I saw the full story and I confess my first reaction was relief that he hadn't molested anyone.

That we know of. Yet.

But this is still super, incredibly gross.

Comics needs to establish a rule that you're only allowed to write ninjas if you're Larry Hama or you have his express approval.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:29 AM on November 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Tom Spurgeon points out that, beyond the horrific cultural issues, the comic in question is "execrable", and he wonders how the fuck Cebulski landed the EIC job if he turns in such poor-quality, unprofessional work.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:29 AM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

"Amusingly (or, perhaps, appallingly, in retrospect), Yoshida's writing also features a number of mistakes no Japanese writer would make, including in Elektra: The Hand, declaring that Japan is made up of five main islands, instead of the actual number (four)."

In the Marvel comics universe Japan has a fifth island where it keeps all it's white people who are pretending to be Japanese. I mean, obviously.
posted by Catblack at 8:31 AM on November 29, 2017 [27 favorites]

Comics needs to establish a rule that you're only allowed to write ninjas if you're Larry Hama or you have his express approval.

Which can be revoked at any time, such that 1980s Frank Miller gets a seal of approval but the 2000s version is in violation.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:35 AM on November 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

he wonders how the fuck Cebulski landed the EIC job

The whole departure of Alonso and ascent of Cebulski is a bit of a mystery. There's something going on at Marvel at the moment and it can't be good. It appears that the "fuck diversity!" folks, lead by David Gabriel, have won and you have to wonder about what other shit is being protected by the circling of wagons. All it takes is one bad actor for a Galactus sized Mickey Mouse foot to come down from the heavens and smush the company as we know it into powder.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:40 AM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish: What in the hell is wrong with a company where this is treated as a minor oopsie?

Have you seen the rest of 2017? Sadly, the threshold for "this is outrageous" has been drastically shifted, so it's pretty easy to say "It's not like he said/did [that thing that was just being covered by major media]! What's the big deal?"
posted by filthy light thief at 8:41 AM on November 29, 2017

‘He’s culturally sensitive’: Marvel’s Sana Amanat defends editor-in-chief C B Cebulski. Ms. Amanat is the co-creator of Marvel’s first major Muslim superhero Ms Marvel (Kamala Khan). She is Pakistani-American.

“That man has lived in Japan, speaks Japanese, and has lived all over the world. He very much associates with Japanese culture. And I think that him writing, for whatever time it was, was him trying to be a writer more than anything else.”

--

Amanat added: “I think we have to be very sensitive about cultural appropriation and whitewashing. But I do think, fundamentally, that if there’s an opportunity to create more awareness about a particular type of character, whether it’s an Asian character or a black character, that should be our primary goal – telling as authentic, as honest, as fun, as real a story as possible about that character. Because that’s what’s really going to build more awareness about a particular cultural group.

“Of course we want cultural authenticity and make sure we’re casting those people behind the scenes, but the primary goal is getting those kinds of characters out there."

posted by zarq at 8:42 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't see Alonso's departure as that much of a mystery -- Marvel's push for an ever-more-event-heavy structure has produced diminishing returns and you could easily make the case that it's time for a change at the top. Cebulski, who'd been off building the Marvel brand in Asia (in hindsight: ummmmmmm) might seem like a good choice if you're looking for somebody know knows Marvel but was outside the chain of command that brought the company to this point.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:46 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was thinking things were looking up. Hmm.

Hope Amanat comes out if this okay, she's always seemed like good people.
posted by Artw at 8:47 AM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Have you seen the rest of 2017? Sadly, the threshold for "this is outrageous" has been drastically shifted, so it's pretty easy to say "It's not like he said/did [that thing that was just being covered by major media]! What's the big deal?

I'm not surprised that they're comfortable with the racism, it's the editorial malpractice that I'd think would have them rethinking his promotion.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:48 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

For stuff like this I wonder if being a white person in a disguise gives you a leg up over people of color because you're writing what white people want and expect to hear? Like apparently Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor, two of the most popular stories from the Arabian Nights, are probably European inventions and I've wondered if their popularity in Western societies is because they provide what people are hoping to hear which might not be the same as what you get from authentic voices.

In this case, I wonder if Cebulski's simulacrum of Japanese experience is more comfortable and satisfying to white gatekeepers because it reinforces what they expect a Japanese perspective to look like and even what they think a Japanese perspective SHOULD be. I think this kind of thing, white people taking people of color's opportunities to express themselves, is even worse because I think it's possible that it is more likely to be lauded as "authentic" because it feels authentic to white people.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:51 AM on November 29, 2017 [29 favorites]

In the Marvel comics universe Japan has a fifth island where it keeps all it's white people who are pretending to be Japanese. I mean, obviously.

Your no-prize is in the mail!
posted by nickmark at 8:54 AM on November 29, 2017 [12 favorites]

@Graemem: Just amazing, in retrospect. https://web.archive.org/web/20050211193520/https://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15849
posted by Artw at 9:03 AM on November 29, 2017

In the Marvel comics universe Japan has a fifth island where it keeps all it's white people who are pretending to be Japanese. I mean, obviously.

And home to the hidden fortress of the Weeabushido Masters.
posted by FatherDagon at 9:24 AM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

I wonder if Cebulski's simulacrum of Japanese experience is more comfortable and satisfying to white gatekeepers because it reinforces what they expect a Japanese perspective to look like and even what they think a Japanese perspective SHOULD be.

Quite likely. There's no nostalgia at Marvel quite as deep and abiding as that for the days when comic circulation figures were high enough that books were cancelled for selling in numbers that would make it a runaway hit these days. And that's when Chris Claremont retconned Wolverine to have an extensive part of his past in Japan, dating a Japanese woman and tangling with ninjas and the Silver Samurai and the like. (It's noteworthy that "Yoshida" is the surname of Sunfire, a Japanese mutant; Sunfire is the cousin of Mariko Yashida, Wolverine's one-time fiancee.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:31 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

‘He’s culturally sensitive’: Marvel’s Sana Amanat defends editor-in-chief C B Cebulski.

Even if you think the Japanese name angle is fine because either Cebulski is "culturally sensitive" or REEEE SJW BULLSHIT...

Cebulski lied to and defrauded his employer. He allowed* his employer to hire him under false pretenses against company policy and went through all sorts of elaborate ruses (including concocting a fake backstory in interviews) to cover that up.

How the fuck was he not fired immediately when Marvel learned he had deceived them and was cashing an extra set of checks he obtained through fraud?

Can you imagine if you worked for a company and were up for the top position, and during the vetting process it came out that you had fooled the company into hiring yourself as a consultant under a fake name? You'd be lucky not to have a criminal case brought against you.

Why on Earth is Marvel sticking with this guy? Do they think it would look bad to drop him so soon? Because not dropping him is making this PR nightmare a million times worse.

*I'm a little unclear: Was he editing "Yoshida"? Did he provide himself assignments? Did he approve his own pitches? Still shitty either way.
posted by Sangermaine at 9:49 AM on November 29, 2017 [20 favorites]

@Graemem: Just amazing, in retrospect. https://web.archive.org/web/20050211193520/https://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15849

NRAMA: Why do you think stories of the samarai and ninja are so compelling today, particularly in the West?

AY: I just had a similar conversation with one of my editors actually. People always ask Japanese writers and artists why Catholic and Christian religious symbolism is so prevalent in many Japanese manga and anime series, like Trigun or Helsing or Chrono Crusade. They seem to think that the creators are trying to make some kind of statement about Western religion in contrast to Buddhism and Shinto. Sorry, but it is usually nothing that deep. The answers are much more simple... 1.) Crosses and religious symbolism look cool and provide great imagery, 2.) Japanese people don't really understand Western religion so the creators can take a few more liberties in telling stories about these practices, and 3.) there is an air of mystery surrounding Western religion and its history of violence that makes for great stories. I think these same three points hold true for the Western fascination with Japanese history and culture. It's cool, it's mysterious and it makes for exciting, violent comics and games.

Sooooo culturally sensitive.
posted by XMLicious at 10:07 AM on November 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

In this case, I wonder if Cebulski's simulacrum of Japanese experience is more comfortable and satisfying to white gatekeepers because it reinforces what they expect a Japanese perspective to look like and even what they think a Japanese perspective SHOULD be. I think this kind of thing, white people taking people of color's opportunities to express themselves, is even worse because I think it's possible that it is more likely to be lauded as "authentic" because it feels authentic to white people.

I think this is demonstrably true.

Editors Rejected Leonard Chang's Novel Because His Characters Didn't Act "Asian Enough"

From one of the rejection letters he received:

"The characters, especially the main character, just do not seem Asian enough. They act like everyone else. They don’t eat Korean food, they don’t speak Korean, and you have to think about ways to make these characters more ’ethnic,’ more different. We get too much of the minutiae of [the characters’] lives and none of the details that separate Koreans and Korean-Americans from the rest of us. For example, in the scene when she looks into the mirror, you don’t show how she sees her slanted eyes, or how she thinks of her Asianness."

posted by straight at 10:14 AM on November 29, 2017 [26 favorites]

And that's when Chris Claremont retconned Wolverine to have an extensive part of his past in Japan, dating a Japanese woman and tangling with ninjas and the Silver Samurai and the like.

And to those of us with even a little Japanese knowledge, the gaffes in it were hilariously bad. Like "Wolverine-chan"... Addressing Wolverine with the honorific used for a little girl.

I'm not surprised that people who venerate that badly - researched work would love a fake Japanese guy who validates their orientalisms.
posted by happyroach at 10:31 AM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

I mean, it's difficult to convince people to read your manuscript without a famous name on it. So that's what you do, pass it off under another's name. It only makes sense. Especially considering that copying a manuscript by hand takes a long time and basically only other clerics can read it to begin with. In medieval Europe. Not in 2017.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 10:54 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

An op-ed at Bleeding Cool on the controversy.
posted by koavf at 11:08 AM on November 29, 2017

I should have known better than to click, but click I did.

I’ve been given the impression that Marvel has penalised C.B. Cebulski for this ethical breach, and the punishment is substantial. That has been dealt with. He has been held to account by his bosses.

He was put in charge of the brand for East Asia and then made editor in chief of the whole company. If that's what a substantial punishment looks like, I'd hate to see what they consider a reward!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:27 AM on November 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

I met CB a bunch of years ago at a con in the NYC area, AnimeNext.

He was there pushing Kia Asamiya, when Asamiya was doing art for X-Men. And CB was intensely creepy, like pick your obsessive tsundere creepy about being by him.

The panel was tense, and CB seemed a little irritated at the Silent Möbius and Steam Detective fans who were looking to meet and get stuff signed by Kia Asamiya (who was really very nice and very happy to meet with people) and not paying much attention to him at all. In retrospect, knowing this, it now makes a lot of sense.
posted by mephron at 11:32 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Larry Hama was brought up earlier; his reaction to this is interesting. He doesn't seem too bothered.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 11:52 AM on November 29, 2017

That Facebook link doesn't work without logging in, tpk. Can you include what he said?
posted by tavella at 12:31 PM on November 29, 2017

That Facebook link doesn't work without logging in, tpk. Can you include what he said?

He leads off with "I wasn't bothered by this in the least. I wonder if any other Japanese or Japanese/American creators were offended.." In comments, he basically says "show me the Japanese artists who were actually blocked out" and in the subsequent comment thread says that everyone should be able to write any ethnicity; later also says that multi-role pseudonyming is a long practice in Big 2 comics.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 12:37 PM on November 29, 2017

"@Graemem: Just amazing, in retrospect. https://web.archive.org/web/20050211193520/https://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15849"

AY: My version of The Hand is greatly influenced by my love of Japanese history, Kurosawa movies and samurai manga, like Lone Wolf and Cub, Blade of the Immortal and even Naruto

The absence of the ultra-mega-popular-for-decades Musashi novels by Eiji Yoshikawa (or for that matter, their movies, or its manga adaptation Vagabond) marks him as a fake.

For that matter, Stan Sakai has done a crapton of samurai comics without falling on the lazy <zuko>HONORRRRR</zuko> thing. He's a great guy. Go read Usagi Yojimbo.
posted by sukeban at 12:59 PM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

It basically a list of everything that influenced Frank Miller before Daredevil. Frank Miller at least came up with something his own based on that though.
posted by Artw at 1:00 PM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Every time I think that nothing will surprise me - indeed cause my mouth to gape with the wtf of it all - 2017 surprises me in unpleasant and novel ways.

How does Cebulski still have a job in comics at all - let alone Editor In Chief of Marvel ?

Why do POC currently working in the industry keep saying this is not a big deal?

I just .. what? how?

He flat out lied to his employer, stole other peoples ideas and presumably fraudulently collected two salaries!

White Privilege sure is a powerful all encompassing, and seemingly unstoppable drug.

2017: Consequences for actions are meaningless if you're a White Guy.
posted by Faintdreams at 1:08 PM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Why do POC currently working in the industry keep saying this is not a big deal?

That's the one I have the least problem understanding. It's because they want to keep their jobs, and this asshole is still the E-I-C of fucking Marvel for the foreseeable future.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:27 PM on November 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

Well, I am willing to assume good faith on their part: they could just as easily say nothing. I think they are smart enough to speak for themselves. Simply put, someone who is Japanese or an American with Japanese ancestry may just have a different perspective than you do. Or similarly, a Pakistani-American editor on *Ms. Marvel*, etc.
posted by koavf at 1:31 PM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Simply put, someone who is Japanese or an American with Japanese ancestry may just have a different perspective than you do.

On the other hand, in the words of Zora Neale Hurston, "All my skinfolk ain't kinfolk."
posted by mhum at 2:13 PM on November 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

Why do POC currently working in the industry keep saying this is not a big deal?

That's the one I have the least problem understanding. It's because they want to keep their jobs, and this asshole is still the E-I-C of fucking Marvel for the foreseeable future.


I disagree with Amanat, but I would suggest that the expressed views of non-white people (or indeed any people) should not be dismissed as inauthentic simply because they aren't saying what one feels they should be saying.
posted by tavegyl at 6:16 PM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

In comments, he basically says "show me the Japanese artists who were actually blocked out"

From Geek.com:

Yesterday after the story broke a creator of color who asked to remain anonymous reached out to me. In talking about one of the books “Akira Yoshida” wrote they told me, “I actually pitched for that miniseries…smh.” This creator was not some kid off the street, but a comics veteran with many writing credits under their belt from multiple publishers including Marvel. “Just the fact that the game was rigged like that is irksome.”

posted by Lexica at 7:15 PM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Awful and innapropriate that the guy who is now her boss should be putting her In this position.
posted by Artw at 7:16 PM on November 29, 2017

From author and Marvel's current Black Bolt writer Saladin Ahmed:

please stop insisting that the few people of color in a given industry owe the world a weigh-in every time something fucked up happens in that industry— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) November 29, 2017

it’s fucking exhausting and in some cases actually gets in the way of us doing the work— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) November 29, 2017

posted by nicebookrack at 8:08 PM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I disagree with Amanat, but I would suggest that the expressed views of non-white people (or indeed any people) should not be dismissed as inauthentic simply because they aren't saying what one feels they should be saying.

Sure, but I think we can give some serious side-eye to people saying, "Look, some of the POC who work for that guy who is their boss say they're fine with that racist thing he did, so who are you to call it racist?"
posted by straight at 1:12 AM on November 30, 2017 [3 favorites]

I don't really want to re-visit that Bleeding Cool op-ed but I would like to call out the underlying thinking expressed in its last two lines:

For us punters, the only thing that matters is whether the comics being published are any good and worth reading.

As for the rest, why should we care?

This basically sounds to me like: "Why should we care about structural racism in the comics industry if what they're producing is personally appealing to me?" I find this kind of thinking comes up over and over again, just replace "the comics industry" with "SF/F writing", "videogames", "Hollywood", etc... To its (modest) credit, this particular op-ed doesn't take the all-too-common next step of inferring that if structural racism were actually addressed in comics (or whatever industry), that the works they would produce would necessarily be inferior.
posted by mhum at 9:12 AM on November 30, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Atlantic: The Secret Identity of Marvel Comics’ Editor
posted by Artw at 9:56 AM on December 17, 2017