Bill Maher invited hearty social media backlash over the weekend after he doubled down on previous comments made denouncing Stan Lee and comic book fan culture.
“To every person on social media who’s asked me since November, ‘Bill, what do you have to say about Stan Lee?’ – and to every paparazzi outside a restaurant who’s still shouting at me, ‘Bill, what about the Stan Lee thing?’ Okay. Your day has come,” said Maher on Real Time.
“You can, if you want, like the exact same things you liked when you were 10, but if you do, you need to grow up. That was the point of my blog. I’m not glad Stan Lee is dead, I’m sad you’re alive.”
Maher then launched an attack on actor/comedian/writer/comic book fan Kevin Smith, explaining that “if someone says you’re being childish and you react by throwing a tantrum, you’re not Iron Man — you’re Irony Man.” My shot wasn’t at Stan Lee. It was at, you know, grown men who still dress like kids.”
(These comments only serve to compound Maher’s continued and somewhat befuddling attack on comic books; After Marvel legend Stan Lee died last year, Maher published an essay titled ‘Adulting’ in which he wrote, “America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess.”)
The comedian’s comments were meant to incite, and incite they did. But a poignantly-written Twitter thread by writer Catherynne Valente broke down in no uncertain terms why Maher’s belief that comic book appreciation equals a refusal to grow up is both misguided and flat-out mistaken.
Last night, Bill Maher went on a rant about comic books & those who love them & the generation (it rhymes with Schmelennials!) that uses words like #adulting & doesn’t want to give up the things they loved as kids or grow up
Well my name is Miss Valente & I got something to say
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Valente first delivered some well-deserved burns, calling out Maher’s habits of smoking weed and having sex with young women and asking how that is “any more mature than reading comic books.”
First of all, Mister Bill Maher, I’m not sure how smugly bloviating, smoking pot, and screwing people way too young for you is any more mature than reading comic books but okay buddy.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
She brushes aside arguments about comic books not having literary/artistic merit by noting how every genre has its trash and its genius.
Secondly, I’m not even going to get into the literary merit of comic books. Some are great art. Some are ridiculous trash. Kind of like every other genre & medium out there. It’s not worth discussing as it’s obvious on the face of it that adding pictures does not subtract value.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Valente then goes into the crux of her argument: Why millennials “refuse” to grow up.
I want to say this.
Do you know why millennials “refuse to grow up”?
Because we finally figured out that the whole idea is bullshit designed to suppress human joy enough to keep them grinding for an uncaring company for 50 years in unhappy marriages until death is a mercy.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Mainly: we’re broke.
The reason my generation still plays in ball pits & reads comic books & plays dress up is that contemporary society has made most of the good parts of adult life financially unreachable: home, family, travel, even theater is $500 a ticket
All that’s left is the crushing despair!
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
We’ve figured out that if traditional goals aren’t reachable for our generation, we may as well do what makes us happy.
In the vacuum left by the loss of reachable life goals, we 80s kids kind of figured: fuck it.
Why the hell should we give up what is good & joyful & rich of the art & accoutrements of childhood in exchange for a yawning grey void? How was that ever considered a fair deal?
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
What Maher and his peers cannot understand is that even their generation returned to the beautiful well of childhood—to share it with their own children.
The problem is, many in my generation cannot afford to have kids, or must wait until very late.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Valente frames the notion of success as having the freedom to pursue your individual version of happiness.
You are not superior because you collect items from the Sharper Image catalogue rather than Comic Con. You have just allowed what others think of you to dictate a narrow range of joy you are allowed to experience.
Unless you really love $5000 massage chairs I guess.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Adulthood has always been a trick played on the whole of humanity. Convincing us to give up magic & beauty & fun for their own sake in exchange for our labor & loyalty to whatever boss is going around
Only recently has society become decentralized enough to re-examine the terms
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
When complaining that millennials refuse to grow up, it might behoove the media to stop referring to 35 year olds as though they’re hapless children who don’t know what’s good for them.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Our parents’ world doesn’t exist anymore. So we find happiness where we can, because “life is so heartbreakingly brief.”
Maybe, just maybe, consider the idea that the millennials got this one right.
It was always a bad deal that only benefitted the masters.
You get one life on this rock. Why in the hell would you give up something you love just because you got old enough to really appreciate it?
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Companies will give us nothing but a company store. Governments sell out to each other and burn the planet. Markets offer no safety. There is almost nothing left of our parents’ world.
So read a fucking comic book if you want to, life is so heartbreakingly brief.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Maybe, just maybe, consider the idea that the millennials got this one right.
It was always a bad deal that only benefitted the masters.
You get one life on this rock. Why in the hell would you give up something you love just because you got old enough to really appreciate it?
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Give us back the social contract, make the hallmarks of adulthood remotely reachable for us, and maybe we’ll consider putting down the comics.
Probably not, but we’ll have a house to read them in.
— Catherynne M. Valente (@catvalente) January 26, 2019
Valente’s thread resonated with many who turn to comics, games, and “childlike” hobbies for joy, leisure, and creative expression.
Thread. Also, why should (or would) the Millennials listen to anyone else about what being an adult is? They *are* adults and get to decide what it means to them. Given what older generations have decided to do to society/the planet as adults, I'm not sure they should criticize. https://t.co/bOymxQZkbQ
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) January 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/r_a_salvatore/status/1089590902241148928
In 13 Twitter posts, Catherynne Valente has shown more passion and made more sense than Bill Maher has in 63 years. Catherynne Valente is my new favorite person.
— BobaFatt (@LastAndOnlyDude) January 27, 2019
The biggest, most wondrous benefit of reaching this stage of life is no longer giving a single shit if the stuff I love is age appropriate. I'm having a unicorn rainbow 40th birthday party next month because why the hell not? Life's too damn short to short yourself on unicorns.
— Emily Guy Birken (@EmilyGuyBirken) January 26, 2019
I've never felt so seen. I work a full-time job and go to school full-time. And I barely make ends meet. But I save up to buy books and comic books and collect posters and action figures and quirky lanyards and pins….and I can escape drudgery for a few moments.
— Ellys Is Here (@ellysmelancholy) January 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/dimccorkle/status/1089378227930288128