Marvel continues to be the only comics publisher listed as a supporter of the nasty piece of legislation known as SOPA, co-authored by the biggest names in music and film and being rammed through by a remarkably zealous congress. It's been very well documented how the bill can't serve its intended purpose of obstructing online piracy, though it will, as written, create a chilling effect on the internet, remove due process and empower nongovenermental agencies and corporations with unreasonable power, and set the stage for all manner of censorship that have nothing to do with copyright whatsoever.

It is an ugly little thing, the bastard child of a greedy and out-of-touch entertainment industry and admittedly - proudly, even - ignorant congress acting at the behest of lobbyists and cronies. As outraged citizens begin to take action, in the face of complete silence on the issue in the mainstream media and the threat of losing their vehicle of expression - the free internet - should SOPA pass, the list of supporters is becoming a list of targets, GoDaddy, the internet domain registrar, was the first, and to date, hardest hit. They went from supporting the bill to not supporting the bill, to being against it, in a matter of days.

Poor GoDaddy. As the anti-SOPA movement tries to agree on who to go after next, people continue taking swipes at the internet giant despite the fact that its the sole corporation to acquiesce to demands that it change its stance. It's time to move on!

Marvel's support of SOPA is particularly unforgivable given how active its staff and freelancers are in the realm of social media - they promote themselves on Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter and Google Plus while pushing for a world in which user driven communities would be all but outlawed. And their silence on the matter, their refusal to comment and their shuttering of Marvel.com forum threads on the matter, is a grim portent of things to come. SOPA, after all, gives Marvel the right to shut down ANY site that discusses matters they don't want discussed, extending their reach far from Marvel.com and all the way to your domain registrar who had best shut you down once given notice if they want immunity from eventual prosecution.

Yes, SOPA is that insane.

Marvel needs to get off that list.

Thwipster, together with Graphic Policy, have launched Dear Marvel, where you can read more about it and sign a petition. In the meantime, they  won't be ordering from Marvel for the immediate future.

Quick Update: People are wondering why we’re asking people to boycott Marvel while we continue to sell Marvel products ourselves. Well, it’s because we’re not asking people to boycott. Boycotting is something we feel that’s a personal decision and we’re not asking anyone to do that.

On that note, because we so strongly oppose SOPA, we’re stopping any further ordering of Marvel products. Please keep in mind you’ll still see us selling a few Marvel products as we pre-order months in advance and need to sell the things coming in otherwise we’ll wind up penniless.

It's nice to see the comics community and fandom take action on this very important issue. It's our moment to stand for something, and Marvel's chance to do the right thing and be heroes. Continued support of SOPA and refusal to so much as discuss it is revolting and frankly I expect better. But until Marvel steps up to the plate, it's nice to see Thwipster and Graphic Policy are pushing forward, and you can let your voice be heard at Dear Marvel.