Marvel Artist Snaps, Posts Call to Violence Against Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Comics legend Bill Sienkiewicz, who has created art for Marvel, DC Comics, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and countless other publications and art houses, appears to have snapped on social media. A recent Facebook post called for violence against Sarah Huckabee Sanders with original artwork depicting a barely recognizable Sanders on a shooting target.

His explanation makes it seem like he’s aware enough to know that what he’s doing is incredibly wrong. He equivocates:

Before I get ALL the “you hateful liberal” crap from the Right…

I’m NOT advocating for violence against women.
This isn’t about gender, it’s about calling out lying scumbags who deserve some serious scolding and corrective head spankings – for their crimes against decency, morality – if not against history.

I’m willing to bet the first swings at her smarmy lying mug would be from women, women who find her as insufferable and deplorable as any of her male counterparts.

And besides, editorial cartooning is still freedom of speech.

So there’s that.

Well yes, editorial cartooning is certainly a form of free speech, but Sienkiewicz is a Democrat. Democrats hate free speech to the point of wanting to literally burn down universities to stop it, claiming “hate speech” is an affront to democracy or something. What’s more hateful than putting Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ head on an actual target and telling people to punch her? It was only a matter of time until the “Punch a Nazi” movement moved on to normal people doing their jobs (since there are literally no Nazis to punch). What Sanders has done to make this person so unhinged is unknown. From where I’m sitting I see a mom like me who has an extremely tough job facing a press corps every day that would like nothing better than to make her fail. Yet she manages to corral them into submission on a regular basis. She’s kind of like a superhero that Sienkiewicz used to draw before he contracted Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Imagine the outrage if Dilbert creator Scott Adams posted a cartoon he drew of any Democrat woman’s head on a target just like this one and called for people to line up and start punching. I think we can safely assert that there would be mobs of people outside his publisher’s office screeching about misogyny and violence against women and demanding his head. The REEEEEEEEing would be deafening and the pussy hats plentiful. We know this, right?

So why is nothing done when a man with as much reach as Sienkiewicz publishes such invective? Perhaps the most disturbing part about this sick fantasy of his (besides the intentional addition of fat and obvious mocking of Sanders’ looks, which is completely sexist and juvenile) is this: “I’m willing to bet the first swings at her smarmy lying mug would be from women, women who find her as insufferable and deplorable as any of her male counterparts.” Here Sienkiewicz excuses his violent daydreams against a woman by insisting that other women would be doing some punching too, so if women commit violence against a woman it’s okay for men to join in, right?

There’s nothing about this that is okay and Marvel and the rest of Sienkiewicz’s employers ought to reconsider having someone like him out there whose unmonitored access to social media represent them. It’s not as if this couldn’t have been predicted, however. Sienkewicz is no stranger to controversy. Trump’s election seems to have broken him. It’s a shame to see such a talented artist go down this sad road. Here we can see how he draws people he respects and likes.

Then there’s the way he demonizes anyone he doesn’t like or respect.

The Village Voice cover

Is there any rational reason why Americans should be dragged down to this level of vitriolic hatred over an election that has been over for more than a year? When is the unhinged left going to get over it? And when is Marvel going to put out some corporate standards for social media? Sienkiewicz raised alarms a few months ago when he offered artwork in exchange for an assault on the president. He has since deleted this post pictured below, but it was reported here.

What kind of person offers a reward for assaulting the president of the United States? Several people reported him to Secret Service for the post. Why would Marvel continue to hire such a volatile individual with no appropriate sense of decency where women are concerned? Is Sienkiewicz exempt from the new rules about how men are supposed to treat women? Does Marvel think their employees don’t have to treat women well, or is it just Republican women they don’t care about? Maybe Sienkiewicz needs time off to get sensitivity training or counseling or a heavy prescription. Whatever it is he needs, I hope he gets it before he hurts someone for real.