Kevinbunny says:
o_O
Ok, we've apparently gone Disney Musical?
Anonymous says:
Ye Cods and Little Fishes! Is that a cute hyena? (Of all the most murtherous and nasty beasties ae?)
The Auld Grump
Dutch says:
I find this a touch disturbing. (The comic. The Amazon thing is more than a touch disturbing.)
Iavasechui says:
Well... that's can't be good.
Aldarad says:
Today they shutup gays, tomorrow they shutup me or you.
Bo Lindbergh says:
You might want to put this in its own chapter in the archive. Also, you might want to change "Empess" to something else....
Matt W says:
Thanks for the notice, irony-chan. I hadn't heard about this.
MalikTous says:
Thanks for the warning about hypocrisy at Amazon. Hope their sales drop nicely as a result... Stupid prudes, moronic mummery. So long as the activities involve consenting adults, it should be offered. Guess I'll use TLA Video, gay.com, and BooksAMillion if I want sexual fantasy novels online, and ignore Amazon on the whole subject, hetero and homo erotics.
Corvid says:
This is pure win. Also, thanks for the note--I didn't know, and might have accidentally supported their crazy.
Whisper says:
Seriously? Well I'm now officially buying from somewhere else instead of amazon *simmers* Though a quick search did show that either they don't bother about gay characters (unless they just haven't gotten to that point of pruning) or popular authors are exempt, since two of my favorite series with a gay main character are still on the first page of those authors' searches.
I had the -wierdest- tune in my head for those words when I was reading that. This is what comes of listening to bawdy Irish folk songs at 7am.
Artemis says:
First, I was excited about a new chapter. Yeah!
Second, Boo Amazon! Ha, my favorite Canddian, gay assistant producer is still listed on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=smoke+and+shadows&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=1145171381&ref=pd_sl_66psky3qlc_b
Mediatech says:
Uh-oh, vengeance driven singing hyena lady, the plot thickens....
Hroar says:
I like the hyeena.
Tho I am kinda concused about this particular strip. I must have missed someting in teh past.
DeadCat says:
Someone at Amazon needs a cultural whallopin'. With a recoiless hammer.
Bruce says:
You say "they recently decided"... Cites? A wise man once said "Never ascribe to malice what can best be explained by stupidity."
Could just mean that their search function is simply borken, or that they tried to make a "family friendly" filter (and botched it) to steer it away from bringing up PG - R - X - XXX results when a 10-year-old wanders through innocently.
If it is deliberate, I'm with you. But something like this calls for due diligence before panicking.
twitch124 says:
There's a pretty good chance that Amazon was targeted by a hacking group over the weekend that figured out how to abuse their automatic complaint handler and get books yanked. It's still a holiday weekend in Seattle for another hour and I'm willing to give Amazon the benefit of the doubt if it gets fixed and there's a statement today or tomorrow.
ShinyHappyGoth says:
Hroar - No, you haven't missed anything. New chapter, new character. You're meant to be a bit confused; we'll find out soon enough.
Aldagrim says:
On the comic, this is...interesting. New story arc?
Regarding Amazon, I'm pretty conservative in my views, so much that I generally try to keep my mouth shut in public, but this is too much. Censorship? Come on people!
ironychan says:
The earliest reference anyone can find to it dates from February, when an author asked why his book could no longer be found and was told it was 'policy'. The change appears to be based on categorization data.
Targaff says:
It's good to see the Internet rumour mill is still going strong.
Timotheus says:
This is spreading all over the web. Most reputable sites are admitting to not having full details but are also stating that Amazon is not helping their case by giving straight (Ha ha) answers. A quick search of book and author sites should provide all the background you might want. In general, Amazon is trying to do a little censorship without actually saying they're censoring anything.
Frith Ra says:
It's all over Live-Journal & Facebook. Since researching homosexuality is very low on my list of priorities I might have gone for years & never noticed this. Looking forward to see where this singing intro takes us - since vengeance doesn't really heal anything.
Candice says:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/apr/13/amazon-gay-writers
It's not that they're not *selling* books about Teh Ghey anymore, it's that they've stripped numerous books of their sales ranks (making books harder to find) using grossly inconsistent standards, and this affects gay-themed books to a disproportionate extent. Heather Has Two Mommies, for instance, no longer has a sales rank, nor does Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws (because it's by trans advocate Kate Bornstein).
Bleah. Thanks for the heads-up, Irony!
Anonymous says:
It would seem that this isn't Amazon's doing, but is the result of a hack: http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html
Lol says:
Dont take things so seriously
Rowan says:
Doesn't seem to be a glitch or a hack to me.
here's a good post by an author who's book got taken off. Amazon seems to be trying to claim anything GBLT is "adult" (never mind the litporn that shows up...and more) http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html
and is this a new character or is the pretty perfect elf being used as a villain now?
webpage minor opps says:
The "Your comment is being held for approval by the moderator" alert is fused to the last persons post.
Grant C McCormick says:
Well, as of 2009-04-13 15:40 EDT, a search by me of 'homosexuality' through Amazon's own search feature, using FireFox 3.0.8, had four pages of hits. The first page starts off with the items you show, but has 16 items total, including Heather Has Two Mommies - The Tenth Anniversary Edition. No mention of any controversy on their page. However, twice I got a 'Server could not be found' message - sign of either really heavy use, or a DDoS attack.
Here in the lower 48, we don't have Chapters (though for a while in the 1990s and early 2000s, I kept up my Chapters card - I was visiting enough to warrant it). My S.O., Carolyn, works for a Barnes & Noble here in Louisville.
I love the mixed tropes of Snow White, singing about revenge, and having the bat and the hyena. Considering the nature of your rant, having the hyena was a particular hoot!
Thanks!
AutumnEstuary says:
I've heard the amazon thing was a massive troll: http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html ,as Anonymous says. ^^
Windrider says:
If it's true about Amazon, that's a really stupid move on their part. If not, then bigot hackers really have too much time on their hands.
As for the comic, did anyone else get Little Mermaid flashes for a moment there? And I agree, adorable hyena. :)
Anonymous says:
In the german amazon (www.amazon.de) homosexual books seems still available. In german and english language.
Kevinbunny says:
The little hyena is so cute!
Dutch says:
Have your very own Disney moment!
Syri says:
I can see this being a chart topper
CelineR says:
Oh my, my. If you are panicking over Amazon, then you must be permanently knocked out by things like the financial crisis, piracy, police brutality, you know, real problems. Come on, the to-do with Amazon doesn't even rate storm-in-a-teacup status. Why conjure up a conspiracy? It was, most likely, a mistake. And if it wasn't, well, it isn't as if some homosexuals and groups purportedly sympathising with them haven't been going around censoring anything they say offends gay people. Maybe only special groups are allowed to be offended? All animals are equal but some are more equal than others, perhaps?
Anyway, what does it have to do with one of my favourite comics, eh? I look forward to reading this five times a week, so I really don't like anything to come between it and my enjoyment. And I missed having Monday's episode of Knowledge is Power. Well, anyway, I like the sort of reverse Disney song. I can't wait to see to where this leads.
MalikTous says:
Looks like Bezos will no longer be grinning on the side of the Amazon box, the way they're going. Lots of us see that poorly worded mumbling as no better than that fake 'apology' from that Fonda woman for her treason against the nation in time of war.
CopperHamster says:
And T has an audiance...
Corvid says:
I think this is my new favorite musical. (And please don't eat me.)
Frith Ra says:
Is that Sue in the background? Looks like her hair. & the silhouette is in a dress.
Golux says:
Ouch! Hope I never cause her disappointment.
Milo says:
Second panel... ICK.
WuseMajor says:
Oh this will be fun. I've been curious about her ever since I saw the preview material you put up, but "Evil Disney Musical" is even better than I expected.
Mikel says:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/14/0057203
Slashdot covers a bit, and includes some blogs on the subject. Nothing definitive, but worth reading, especially the one where it debunks some of the claims.
Pippaf says:
Or maybe Amazon was trying it on and it backfired so badly that they are now back peddling so fast the fabric of causality is in danger?
Tin foil hat off now.
Never assume maliciousness what can accounted for by simple stupidity. M. Napoleon Bonaparte
Kirlily says:
She's one scary lady... that happens to dance around with hyenas and sing twisted disney song...
The Auld Grump says:
Singing Villains - Always A Bad Sign. I can almost hear the Disney band in the background. :P - The Auld Grump
Left Blank says:
I've interviewed for different position at Amazon and the 'glitch' story is most likely to be true.
Why? Each of Amazon's 'Stores' (Books, Music, etc.) gets it's start in the US and then it's 'pushed' to different locales around the world. (So not all of Amazon's locales have all the stores available in the US.) I interviewed for a 'pusher' position so 'moving' the functionality of a store to a new locale would have been my job.
However, you've not only got to move the store's functionality to a new locale, you've also got to edit the store's data to fit the new locale as well. For example, selling Nazi related items is forbidden in Germany, so those items would have been edited out for the Amazon Germany stores.
So what happened was that someone was trying to edit the data for the Amazon French store and:
1. They were editing the _global_ data list.
2. They were using some really dumb 'search-and-replace' methods to find the items that needed updated categories.
3. It appears that Amazon has some leftover 'kill/ignore' code in their stores that wasn't really used before now.
Dutch says:
You killed my father. Prepare to die.
DR says:
Hmmm. Another member of Sues' family, or just another nut job?
Frith Ra says:
Okay, not Sue.
Pom Rania says:
Hey, that lady in the second panel looks like Ed Elric! Except not short. *ducks*
Anonymous says:
“Revenge is sweet and not fattening”
- Alfred Hitchcock
aeonic entity says:
ahhh the most evil thing known to man.
The Disney Princess Singalong.
Nerrin says:
Oh geez it's a good thing I wasn't drinking or eating anything when I read this. That punchline is seriously the funniest thing I've read in a while. I love it!
Dutch says:
Bad imitation is the best way to embarrass the original.
hswoolve says:
"imitation ... "
my brain hurts now, I think you sprained it.
Stefan says:
Ah! My favourite kind of necromancer! ;)
Mediatech says:
Abominable mockeries of life? Now are we talking undead, hideous mutant clones, Frankenstinian constructs, bio-technic mind slaves, alien body snatchers, door-to-door evangelists, or lawyers? ....
MikeKozar says:
@Stefan: There is a surprising lack of gloom in the local Necromancers.
I do like the spiderweb shawl. I imagine it's the character giving a deliberate nod to classical necromantic tradition. Given the musical scene, I imagine she doesn't see herself as a traditionalist. She honestly doesn't get that her 'pretty woodland creature audience' is made up of carrion-eaters, plague bearers, venomous predators and the just plain creepy. She sincerely thinks they're adorable, which makes her more then a little bit traditional.
Of course, these guys *are* friendly and adorable, although Irony has lamented her inability to draw ugly things in the past.
Frith Ra says:
I'm beginning to see where she fits into the story. & the "Not Sue" lady works for the sword collector. So, is Emmy going to change her, I wonder?
Milo says:
It's important to remember that something can be adorably cute AND fully capable of ripping you apart. In fact, that's how I like it. Why settle for just one or the other when you can have both? Remember, the most loved pets on our planet aren't all that distantly related to the most feared predators on our planet...
MikeKozar says:
@Milo: It's true. My goldfish *loves* Jaws.
Rockphed says:
Does this girl in the last panel look like a freckleless Sue because Irony draws all her faces alike or for a more sinister reason...
Dutch says:
I don't know if I should know who she is, but Flower girl freaks me out.
Aldarad says:
Miss Vengeance hasnt been named yet has she?
Anyway Im stealing her for my RPG-sessions.
Another brilliant villain!
Zodo says:
I'm really beginning to like that bird.
Iavasechui says:
Heh the not so evil one should prove hilarious ^_~
Jens says:
I know it's been said before, but damn if that ain't the cutest evil talking bird I've seen in a comic!
Milo says:
I'm not finding this girl very similar to Sue. She is FAR more girly.
Mediatech says:
Evil minions never get enough respect.
Frith Ra says:
More cute animals, & this one talks -- & spies on people. Want!
Smells Like White Spirit says:
Is that a melanistic cockatoo?
Tamfang says:
Hroar: concused? Is it so stuning as that?
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