Prior to the holiday season ramping up, comedian and talk show host Bill Maher penned an op-ed that lashed out at fans of comic books and superhero movies. Immediately in the wake of Stan Lee’s death, the blog post certainly set the entertainment world aflame for a few days.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Then last night, Maher took to his weekly HBO show — Real Time with Bill Maher — to double-down on his November blog post. The host dedicated the last six minutes of his show to a rant where he continued lashing out at fans and collectors alike.
“You can, if you want, like the exact same things you liked when you were ten but if you do, you need to grow up,” Maher said in the rant, amongst other things. “That was the point of my blog. I’m not glad Stan Lee is dead, I’m sad you’re alive. By the way, if someone says you’re being childish and you react by throwing a tantrum, you’re not Iron Man — you’re Irony Man. Let me tell you, people were pissed about this post, I wasn’t even aware I ruffled so many capes until I saw that forty thousand Twitter followers unfollowed me like that [snaps].”
Needless to say, comics Twitter was quick to take to the microblogging platform to share their opinions on the situation. Keep to scrolling to see the reactions of several industry professionals!
Bill Sienkiewicz
‘Not the hill to die on, but I need to comment anyway’ Dept.
— Bill Sienkiewicz (@sinKEVitch) January 26, 2019
@billmaher #newrules is still missing the point about comics & graphic novels. They’re NOT all JUST about superheroes, not all about radioactive… https://t.co/ghf0dPalWY
Eric Powell
So glad we have intellectual giants such as @billmaher to tell us comics aren’t legitimate literature. Since I am one of those ignorant dim witted comic readers lacking the cognitive capacity to form a intelligent creative response, I’ll just say… suckle my taint, Maher. pic.twitter.com/B0arBil9vX
— Eric Powell (@goonguy) January 26, 2019
Tom Brennan
It’s weird that the thing that set Bill Maher off about comics was that people were sad when a 95 year old World War Two vet died, right?
— Temerarious Tom Brennan (@Brennanator) January 26, 2019
BJ Mendelson
Bill Maher: Pot is great. Let’s smoke up!
— B.J. Mendelson (@BJMendelson) January 26, 2019
Also Bill Maher: Comic books are for kids and you shouldn’t like them as an adult.
Ron Marz
Oh. stop paying attention to Bill Maher. I did a long time ago.
— Ron Marz (@ronmarz) January 26, 2019
Rainbow Rowell
It’s like Bill Maher walked by a Harvey Comics spinner in 1963 and then willfully stopped absorbing any new information.
— Rainbow Rowell (@rainbowrowell) January 27, 2019
Jason Starr
As ignorant as @billmaher is about the writing in comics, he’s even more obtuse about the incredible art in comics (evidenced by the worldwide museum exhibits dedicated to comics art)
— Jason Starr (@JasonStarrBooks) January 28, 2019
Peter David
Well, I screwed up. I recommend everyone watch @billmaher and he chooses tonight to go off on an ignorant rant about comics fans. My apologies to all.
— Peter David (@PeterDavid_PAD) January 26, 2019
Delilah S. Dawson
As I stood in Target looking at reissued My Little Ponies and trying to remember if we already have the Transformers Combiner that’s on sale, I felt a momentary sadness for Bill Maher and all the sad bastards who were taught that comics, toys, and games were only for children.
— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) January 28, 2019
