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Culture war is as old as language, art, and belief. Ethan Van Sciver's Comicsgate is a loose network of YouTube Channels, comic book crowd funders, and their fans. Because it is a relatively small finite subset, and has some overlap with other pop culture segments, Comicsgate has some utility for examining aspects of contemporary culture war. Comicsgate its initial form was an organic reactionary movement, criticizing the insertion of progressive politics into stories from Marvel and DC Comics.
Ethan Van Sciver - formerly a comic book artist employed by Marvel and DC, took to YouTube recently to criticize the "Horseman" graphic novel published by Eric July's Rippaverse. The Horseman is a unique character, created in the archetype of a vigilante similar to Batman or the Punisher. An image of the the Rippavere cover as found on the Rippaverse website is pictured below. 
Van Sciver created a variant cover for one of Eric July's Isom graphic novels , and was an enthusiastic promoter ofJuly, until he was not. Incontinent YouTubers take up feuds periodically to create content for fickle audiences, and Van Sciver saw opportunity in joining in Dick Masterson's animosity for Eric July. Van Sciver apparently quickly recognized that by ridiculing Eric July he could coopt Masteron's audience for a consistent source of YouTube ad revenue and superchats. A superchat is a form of digital tip on Youtube. The normative convention is that the YouTuber will read the superchat live on a program, so a viewer is often purchasing immediate recognition or validation.
Over the past year Van Sciver appears to have produced hundreds of hours of content focused on Eric July. Ironically former members of his audience are complaining that Van Sciver has not delivered overdue crowdfunded comic books. In this screen shot take from comments on Van Sciver's "Reignbow the Brute" campaign page on Indiegogo - a backer asks "... shouldn't you be able to at least produce one comic a year???". A germane question from a backer who mistakenly presumed they were funding a comic book, as opposed to financing a lackadaisical lifestyle.
Van Sciver's criticism of the "Horseman" is remarkable not for it's novelty but in its lazy dissimulation. Van Sciver performatively lamented that the vigilante was "immoral".
The Horseman is observationally "Chuck Dixon's Horseman" as published in Eric July's Rippaverse. From the front matter of the Horseman (as sent to me by a happy reader) Dixon notes "We were greenlit and Joe [the artist] was soon beavering away over my script written in a fever that lasted two weeks because I was burning to this out of me, and again, zero interference from Eric. Nothing but encouragement and a mountain of faith at our backs as we indulged our comic book skills and instincts."
Performative mockery of Eric July on Youtube is a consistent source of revenue for Van Sciver. The caveat to this mockery, is that it is a commentary on Van Sciver's audience who seem unaware the joke or mockery is at their expense. Van Sciver is essentially creating a videographic record of his audience's gullibility and their susceptibility to exploitation.
Whether or not a reader enjoys Chuck Dixon's style is a matter of preference and arbitrary components. Van Sciver's notes on character and structure is a theatrical indictment of Dixon's craft. Van Sciver is insisting that his credulous audience accept a hyperbolic premise - that Dixon is incapable of or has failed to create a memorable vigilante character in the style of "Batman or the Punisher". Given Dixon's body of work, Van Sciver's Youtube rants can then be properly categorized as a type of of amateur community theater.
Astute readers may note that as of late Eric July (formerly a YouTuber) may be criticized for the quality of the comic books he publishes, while Ethan Van Sciver (formerly, and allegedly still a comic book artist) may be criticized for the quality of the YouTube he produces.
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