Chuck Wendig Fired From Marvel’s ‘Star Wars’ Books

Best-selling author Chuck Wendig has been fired from Marvel’s Star Wars comics after editorial reportedly took issue with his social-media presence.

Wendig took to Twitter this afternoon to tell his followers that he had been contacted by his editor and that his name was being taken off of solicitations for the upcoming Star Wars: Shadow of Vader #4 and 5.

“Today I got the call. I’m fired. Because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark, the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part,” Wendig tweeted as part of a larger thread. “My understanding over this call was that this was a Marvel decision, not an LFL decision, but I can’t really confirm that. The editor said he had made the call. He seemed genuinely upset at my tweets and profanity, so maybe that’s accurate. And again, that’s his right to do so. If they honestly feel that my presence will damage the book, I don’t want that. I want the book to shine, and artists like Juanan Ramirez and Greg Smallwood to do their amazing thing. Artists like that are gods in my mind, so I’m happy to not distract from their literal magic. But it does set a troubling precedent. One we’ve seen already – James Gunn, Jessica White, and so on – of folks fired because they riled up the wasp’s nest of asterisk-gate.”

Wendig has been a target of right-wing anger since his novel, Star Wars: Aftermath, introduced the first LGBT characters into officially recognized Star Wars stories. Coordinated campaigns to drive down review scores, get him fired, and so on have been relatively commonplace since, and while Wendig said he has experienced support from Lucasfilm, Marvel apparently did not want the baggage.

Activists have been mobilizing on social media for some time, objecting to various practices within the mainstream comics industry, including the increased inclusion of diverse characters and stories in mainstream superhero books. These activists mostly argue that they want apolitical content, and that their concern is about quality and professional ethics. Radical elements within the community have mounted harassment and doxxing campaigns, tainting the whole conversation in the minds of many fans and professionals.

Several of these right-wing activists have routinely targeted Wendig, who frequently spends time on social media rebutting and arguing with his critics. Given that several of the fans and aspiring creators at the center of these online movements decry such pushback by creators as unprofessional, one could argue it is not surprising that these would be the “charges” presented against Wendig.

ComicBook.com reached out to Marvel for confirmation. The company confirmed that it had parted ways with Wendig, but had no additional comment.