Dan Dreier wrote to ask…
I am an avid reader of your blog and find it both entertaining and informative. You have — and share — many of the same ideals and beliefs that rattle around my own brain container. That being said, I have a question for you. Given the current state of "wokeness" (that I understand to mean one who is unaware becomes aware), have you ever written something that you regret writing? Any storylines, characters, etc., that you are currently uncomfortable with but at the time it/they were acceptable and even sought after?
Hmm. I rarely go back and re-read my old work, in part because when I do, I see all sorts of things I would change now from a creative standpoint. Along the lines of what you're asking about, I'm sure there are lots of things I would now phrase more artfully or perhaps be more or less subtle. And maybe there's something I would change completely but nothing in particular comes to mind except…
Well, in the first issue of Groo the Wanderer back in the Pacific Comics days, there was a quick joke about rape that I think I subconsciously kinda lifted from the movie, Blazing Saddles. I don't recall anyone ever complaining about it or even mentioning it but when it came time to reprint that issue, I did go back through the issue to see if there were any spelling mistakes or anything like that. I saw the line and it struck me as wrong in a couple of ways. Sergio agreed so I personally relettered it into something else. I also don't recall anyone ever mentioning to me that it was changed.
I'm not saying it never happened. I suspect it did because my attitudes about relationships changed a little in the seventies and a lot in the eighties. Maybe one of these days, I'll get up the courage to go back and read more of my old work and I'm sure I'll find some examples. There are advantages to publishers not wanting to reprint a lot of your past efforts.
