After allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent comic book writer and artist Cameron Stewart surfaced online earlier in the week, an upcoming DC project has decided to drop him, according to Bleeding Cool, a news later confirmed by CBR. The creative team for the Image Comics series ‘Ice Cream Man’ also reportedly announced it will pull Stewart’s planned variant cover for this August’s issue #20.
The writer-artist was accused of grooming minor girls, most of them comic book writer-artist hopefuls themselves. The allegations first surfaced on Twitter, with artist Aviva Mai sharing her story of going on a date with Stewart when she was 16 and he was in his 30s. “Hey. That post about being groomed as a teenager? I’m talking about Cameron Stewart. The comic book artist. We met when I was 16 and he was in his 30s. Maybe 32? It was 2009,” she wrote.
“Took me a long time to realise what had actually happened, what he was doing, and that we were never actually friends,” she added.
Following Mai’s revelations, several other women have come forward with similar stories regarding Stewart.
Cartoonist and writer Kate Leth tweeted, “I just want to back Aviva up by saying ‘this happened to me, too.’ I still have the drawing of Death he drew me on a piece of hotel stationary. I was 19. He was 32.”
Con organiser Andrea Demonakos also tweeted about the nature of Stewart’s behaviour as something that was “widely known” in the Toronto comics scene. “I’ve been friends with folks in the Toronto comics community for a decade. It was widely known that Cameron Stewart was a predator, and he’d been basically chased out of town after pissing off too many people. I’ve warned women away from him multiple times,” she wrote.
The news also led to a wider discussion about comic book professionals and their behaviour around young fans, especially at comic book conventions.
Artist Jen Bartel wrote an angry thread on Twitter, where she said, “One thing I’d like to see moving forward is for established pros to stop viewing comic conventions as an opportunity to meet girls. If you’re invited as a guest, you’re there in a professional capacity. If you can’t behave accordingly, let that comped travel go to someone better.”
“I have seen way too many established professionals get utterly wasted and *sloppy* at events (or sometimes just, hotel bars) where it is likely they will be interacting with fans, younger creators, and industry newcomers. Why are you like this??? Don’t do this at these events,” she went on.
Post the allegations, Stewart has disappeared from social media setting his various accounts to private, and has yet to comment on the situation.
Stewart is best-known as the co-writer of Batgirl along with Brenden Fletcher, and has also worked on major titles such as Detective Comics, Hellblazer, Catwoman and more.
