Wright and wrong

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, May 03, 2004
Source: The Washington Post, Comic Book Resources

Comic book writer Micah Wright is at the center of a scandal that exposes his claims of being an Army Ranger -- and of having served in the invasion of Panama in 1989 -- as lies. Wright, who has been outspoken against the Iraq war, has been claiming for two years to have served as a Ranger and had even written stories about his alleged missions, was outed as a result of investigations spearheaded by real ex-Ranger officers and The Washington Post. The Post published a follow-up article yesterday detailing how their requests for proof of Wright's military record came up empty.

Wright admitted that he had made up his Army service record on his website, claiming that he had a change of heart and wanted to come clean a week before the Post ran their expose. "I started this ball in motion last week when I decided that this entire thing was over," Wright said in a posting on his message forum. "I called my publisher and informed them of the truth, and they called the Washington Post and informed them." Wright ran his public apology on his website this past weekend.

However, according to the writer of the Post article, Wright is also incorrect about this chain of events. "The story that Micah Wright is peddling (that he outed himself) is another outright lie," said Richard Leiby to Comic Book Resources on the matter. "After receiving the final, conclusive FOIA response in mid-April that proved Wright did not serve in the Army, I called Seven Stories to alert its publisher that I intended to write a story.

"Seven Stories' publisher and editor called Wright and made one final demand for documentation of service, based on my request. He had none. The publisher called me either that day or the next to say that Wright had confessed. This occurred in the middle of last week. I held off publishing the story until I could put it in my Sunday column for maximum circulation (1.3 million readers in print) and so I could include a comment from Wright, whom I spoke with Friday evening. He actually ended up thanking me for continuing my efforts to expose him. He said he was grateful to finally be caught."

There are also claims now that Wright has re-edited his original public statement about the matter on his website. On comic message boards some readers are claiming to have read a statement from Wright that included the April 22 death of NFL football player Pat Tillman as part of his reason to issue a public statement about his bogus Ranger status. According to these posters, Wright dated his original proclamation as being April 15, seven days before the death of then Ranger Tillman in Afghanistan. The letter on Wright's homepage now reads April 25.

Wright was the writer on the now-cancelled DC Comics/WildStorm book STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES. He is also the author of YOU BACK THE ATTACK! WE'LL BOMB WHO WE WANT! where he claimed to be a Ranger in the 1989 Panama invasion. Seven Stories Press, the book's publisher, has informed the press that they will remove Wright's false Panama story from any future publications of the book. The company has also cancelled its plans to publish Wright's follow-up book, IF YOU'RE NOT A TERRORIST, THEN STOP ASKING QUESTIONS, which had been scheduled for release in two months.


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