C.B. Cebulski did a stint writing under the pseudonym “Akira Yoshida”. And he doesn’t seem to understand what’s the big deal.

Seems Disney and her multi-faceted franchises have been making the news for the wrong reasons.

This time, the new Marvel Editor-In-Chief – CB Cebulski – has been found out to be writing for the comics industry under the pseudonym “Akira Yoshida” 13 year ago. He himself admitted as much. So for anyone who thought advancements were made for an inclusive collective of talent in comics when they saw the name ‘Yoshida’, then you were wholly wrong. Turns out you can’t judge a book by its cover.

CB Cebulski, using the name Akira Yoshida, has had an illustrious career writing for the likes of Dreamwave, Dark Horse and Marvel. And Cebulski was suspected to be the name behind Akira Yoshida since as far back as 2006, something he has categorically denied. Like in this Brian Cronin interview he responds when confronted with the Akira pseudonym:

False… Ive had lunch with the guy – very nice guy. He’s a very cool guy. When we had lunch he showed me pictures of his immense Godzilla memorabilia collection – I was jealous! Well, there’s ONE conspiracy theory down the drains!

Jesus. H. Christ. In retrospect, this is about as dumb as any individual could get. He eventually came clean about the use of the name as he admitted it internally with his promotion as EIC of Marvel.

“I stopped writing under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida after about a year. It wasn’t transparent, but it taught me a lot about writing, communication and pressure. I was young and naive and had a lot to learn back then. But this is all old news that has been dealt with, and now as Marvel’s new EIC, I’m turning a new page and am excited to start sharing all my Marvel experieinces with up and coming talent around the globe.

Here’s an idea. Get some of your buddies, give them ethnic-sounding names and tick all the right PC boxes. Honestly, his statement was not an apology. And dismissing it as ‘old news’ shows even less remorse. The fact that authentic international voices were being sought out by Marvel only to be abused by Cebulski is fraud to the umpteenth degree.

We pretty much have Rich Johnston of Bleedingcool.com and the recent Image Comics Brand Manager David Brothers calling Cebulski out in a tweet about his early 2000’s appropriation of Japanese-y books under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida.

What a way to start your first day as Marvel’s EIC. Clap. Clap.