Writer Mark Millar has come to the defense of Frank Miller, whose blog post about the Occupy Wall Street movement got a huge reaction, including from some who vowed to stop buying his work (see “Occupy Movement Roils Comics”). Millar, whose politics are left of center, began a post on MillarWorld with “It’s strange to watch your favourite writer getting strips torn off him for a couple of days.”  He compared the situation to the period leading up to the Gulf War, when Millar’s comments opposing the war drew a petition urging Marvel to fire him. Marvel CEO Bill Jemas defended Millar’s right to say what he wanted without the risk of losing his job. 

Millar urged similar tolerance for Miller’s views and respect for his work. “I… would urge my fellow left-wing readers to boycott Miller no less than HP Lovecraft, Steve Ditko, David Mamet or any other writer who might not share my personal philosophy, but whose work I'm happy to have on my shelves,” he said.

Neil Gaiman expressed similar sentiments on his tumblr, where he said, “The art isn’t the artist, the poem isn’t the poet; trust the tale, not the teller,” a quote from a 2006 post on his blog, where he said, on the same topic, “If I were only allowed to read or enjoy art or listen to music made by people whose opinions and beliefs were the same as mine, I think the world would be a pretty dismal sort of a place.”