Overall, Quesada’s appearance was painful to watch. Rather than the more spontaneous exchanges we usually see between Colbert and his guests, this was hammy playacting that made comics seem uncool.

The presidential campaign bumper stickers were a good idea, though (except finishing with Colbert/Quesada rather than Colbert/Hulk). Leaving the original Cap shield with Colbert was a good call as well.

Also, to give credit where credit is due… Quesada looks better than he has in years. He’s lost a lot of weight.

Nonsense. My solidarity is to my family, not some Communist agenda that keeps me from doing my job.

When did it become okay for workers to be forced into unions and guilds? Why can’t I work in this field (and many others) without being forced into this group whose goals and ideals I do not agree with?

Last week, I noted pundit Rachel Maddow talking about how she was now getting invites from shows who have never invited her to be a guest before, due to the number of regular guests who won’t cross that picket line. (With her producer adding that Mario Batali had a similar experience with the Tonight Show,)

Something else occurred to me in light of the fact that one of Quesada’s co-creations — Painkiller Jane — had a brief life as a TV series. It turns out he didn’t write any of the episodes (at least according to the episode guides I checked out). The IMDB lists him as a writer on the series, but with the caveat of “comic book series.”

However, Quesada’s friend and PJ co-creator Jimmy Palmiotti did write an episode. That might have required WGA membership.

I also surfed through the WGA West website. There is a member search function. Among those listed as a member… one Brian M. Bendis, one of Marvel’s most valued writers. As others have noted, there’s a slew of writers who came from the world of TV and movies to pen scripts for Marvel as well.

This argument is laughable. Emotional blackmail? Try emotionally dishonest. It should make you uncomfortable to cross or even contemplate crossing a picket line of striking workers. That is what the line is for. Even when a picket line is not actively blocking the passage of people or goods, it is serving a symbolic purpose. Crossing the line sends the message that you do not care about the workers involved in the labour dispute and are willing to do business with the employer regardless. Thatcher and her descendants, including New Labour, have indeed done a good job ideologically if younger people in the UK see picketing strikers as a quaint anachronism. As writers, Quesada and Colbert are both scabbing –not just crossing a picket line to do business but also providing creative content for a struck show. Implying that it’s just business as usual while the writers are just being petty, engaging in dirty mindgames that hurt your feelings, is a little bit disingenuous.

This may be a cultural thing, as Thatcher more or less annihilated some of these practices during her war with the unions when I was a kid, which causes me to see some of these statements about the importance of picket lines as strangely old-fashioned and hard-left. But ultimately, what bothers me is the tone of bullying and emotional blackmail with which the subject often seems to be discussed. It makes me very uncomfortable and does nothing to endear the writers to me – even though I actually agree with them as to the merits of the dispute.

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson wonders if Joe Quesada feels bad about crossing the picket line to appear on the Colbert Report. Or does [...]