Dark Horse Comics has dropped Neil Gaiman in response to allegations of sexual abuse against the writer and will no longer publish any of his past, present, or future work, the publisher announced on social media Saturday.
“Dark Horse takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works,” the company explained on X. “Confirming that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have been cancelled.”
At least nine women have accused Gaiman of a range of sexual abuse. Things began in July when two women spoke to Tortoise as part of a four-part investigation into Gaiman’s actions. Gaiman has denied the allegations against him.
Both women said in “Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman” that they were in consensual relationships with Gaiman when the assault occurred. Scarlett, who is 23, claimed Gaiman sexually assaulted her in 2022 soon after he hired her as a nanny for his child. She accused Gaiman of having engaged in “rough and degrading penetrative sexual acts with her” and supplied Tortoise with “contemporaneous messages, notes” that “support her allegations.”
Gaiman insists the relationship was consensual and lasted three weeks, and didn’t advance beyond heavy petting. He has firmly denied all accusations of abusive behavior.
The second woman, identified only by the initial K., said she met Gaiman at a book signing in 2003 when she was 18. She said the pair began a relationship when she was 20 and Gaiman was 40 and that the author sometimes subjected her to painful sex “she neither wanted nor enjoyed.”
Gaiman has denied this entirely and calls these accusations “disturbing.”
Five women in total accused Gaiman of sexual abuse in “Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman.”
In January four more women shared their experiences with Gaiman with New York Magazine. The magazine also spoke to two women — Scarlett Pavlovich and Caroline Wallner — who participated in the Tortoise investigation. Pavlovich has accused Gaiman of having sex with her while his young child was in the room and forcing her to have oral sex so violently that she vomited.
Wallner has accused Gaiman of establishing a transactional sexual relationship with her, and said that Gaiman allowed her to continue to live on his property with her young daughters as long as she provided sexual acts in return.
Another woman, Katherine Kendall, described herself as a former fan of the author. Gaiman eventually paid Kendall $60,000 for therapy.
The sexual assault allegations surrounding Gaiman have already impacted his work in Hollywood. Production on Prime Video’s “Good Omens” Season 3 was paused before the season was turned into a 90-minute series finale. Disney has also paused its work on an adaptation of “The Graveyard Book.”
