A new allegation about a comic creator was laid out a few days ago. Cynthia Naugle took to her blog to discuss the abuse, both physical and mental, she experienced by a comic creator while they both worked at a comic book shop.

You can read about her experience and the allegations (warning it is traumatic). The creator is accused of sexual assault and emotional abuse while the two worked together.

She doesn’t name her abuser (and our debate on how to proceed to cover this due to that caused the delay in an article) but it’s easy to figure out exactly who she is referring to:

• He was a guest at Tuscon Comic Con 2018
• He’s from Tuscon
• He recently had a series launched at Vertigo

You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the individual is, Eric Esquivel, the writer of Border Town for Vertigo and series like Fantasmagoria and Gregory Graves for SBI Press.

Since Naugle has come forward, others have recounted their negative experiences including incidents at Heroescon and accusations of unsolicited text messages. Naugle’s own post hints at multiple others that she has spoken to.

We’ve reached out to DC and SBI for comment and will follow up with updates. Esquivel has not made a statement. He’s deleted his social media presence other than his Twitter account which is now private.

Update: Though no official statement has been made yet, an employee of SBI has said they will be parting ways with Esquivel saying the “behavior described is reprehensible.” The official statement by SBI.

Update: Ramon Villalobos and Tamra Bonvillain have announced they are leaving the comic.

Update: DC Comics has announced Border Town is cancelled and the released issues are now returnable.

Update: Esquivel has released a statement.