When Terrible People are Wonderful Artists

My take on the horrific Neil Gaiman revelations.

By now, you probably know about the horrific allegations against the famous author, Neil Gaiman.

The investigative article in New York Magazine is a very good one, but I wasn’t able to read more than a few paragraphs because it’s so upsetting; I had to have someone describe it to me. Don’t read unless you’ve got a very strong stomach for descriptions of sexual abuse. And of course it’s worth mentioning that Gaiman has denied the allegations. But the report is awfully damning, and at this point I think it must be true. I hope it’s not, but I’m pretty sure it is.

I can’t imagine what the alleged victims suffered. I can’t begin to express my horror at what they went through.

I’m especially horrified because Gaiman’s work got me through some hard, hard times. One of my favorite works of his is the graphic novel “Calliope,” part of his Sandman series. And it’s shocking to think that Gaiman is more or less the main character of that story, the rapist, Richard Madoc.

Now, here’s something I want to say about artists.