AN INNOCENT 150TH EDITION

LegalDispatch 150

Feb 06, 2026

Wow. 150 newsletters. Where does the time go?

FEEDBACK

Well well, last week’s edition generated a lot of feedback (and resulted in more than a few canceled descriptions). I’m grateful for the engagement. Let’s get into it:

Tub Ahelms writes:

I voted for Jill Stein in a safely blue district because Killer Kamala refused to deviate from Genocide Joe’s actions and words on Palestine. Fuck you, Trump, Biden, and Kamala.

Given the problems America is facing, I don’t believe in voting based on what’s happening — or not happening — in other countries. I understand that it’s difficult to hold your nose and vote for someone you don’t like, but that’s the unfortunate reality of being an eligible voter in America.

Related: If everyone in a “safely blue district” thought and voted as you do, it wouldn’t be so safely blue, would it?

Leave a comment

Laura Kirk writes:

THANK YOU for expressing my political feelings exactly. I always enjoy your posts.

Thank YOU for reading.

Kelly J. Crawford writes:

Dearest Marc, my heart is breaking for all my industry friends down in the US, right now. Every new day reveals horror story after horror story about innocent people being injured or killed in the fight for justice and basic human rights. I will never understand how Donald Trump got elected to the highest public office -- twice!

Well, racism, sexism, selfishness, and a healthy dollop of foreign interference made it possible — aided and abetted by Joe Biden deciding to run for reelection and Merick Garland deciding not to do his job.

Leah Poulliot writes:

Hard agree of the non-voter stance this past election. Refreshing to see some blunt honesty, which you always give, but saying it out loud makes it all the more validating to feel.

Thank you, Leah! And thanks for reading. I hope all is well with you.

William N. Fordes writes:

If one did not vote in 2024, one is complicit in the disgusting rape of democracy and civil rights we as a nation, and people like Ms Good and Mr Pretti in particular, are going through. For me, I marched against Vietnam, I marched against LBJ, I marched against the draft, I protested Iran/Contra, I protested Bush I and Bush II, marched against Trump 1.0 and 2.0 and will only stop marching and protesting when the legs give out. My new motto, replacing INDICT CONVICT IMPRISON on the tee shirts I had made for Trump 1.0 is “SEE YOU IN NUREMBERG, FUCKERS!”

Well, said.

Don’t Bother Reading writes:

Marc, you say “they” like “they” are united... but maybe “they”-- the Repúblican 50% of the country-- breakdown to something like 30% who like the policies but don't approve of the methods, 15% who have always and will always vote Republican no matter how or why the party alters, and 5% who love Jackboot Nazis in the streets? If so, if we add back in the liberal 50%, the Nazis account for 2 to 3% of population but an overwhelming amount of the state-approved and funded violence. Admittedly, that's a big IF. Also, I'm crappy at math. Love ya man!

I completely agree. The simple truth of the matter is that the vast majority of Americans agree on the same things: common sense gun laws, free and safe access to reproductive healthcare, no open borders, no fascism/authoritarianism. There’s a huge population of voters and potential voters for whoever is willing to speak to their needs and wants.

Love you too, buddy. Please give my best to Susan.

“Don’t Bother Reading” also shared this with me:

A picture’s worth a thousand words…

Chinyere writes:

Fuck yeah, Marc! I’m glad you see the reality of the political situation in America, but I’ll dig deeper. 2X. FUCK. THE. NONVOTING. I understand hate and racism. It’s woven into the very fabric of this country. However, the shiftless arrogance and the privilege of the willful nonvoter is proof positive that America will never change until it’s forced into accountability for its actions, past and present.
If we ever see another election, and if by some miracle the oligarchy is overthrown, we’re going to need to go ALL Nuremberg, no hand-holding, 24-hr coverage on C-SPAN.
Oh, yeah. Cool Marvel stuff, too. 😁

The second Nuremberg reference this newsletter. I have to say, assuming we somehow make it out of our present moment with our republic semi-intact, I really hope there’s a true push for accountability. However, that push is going to have to come from voters. History has shown us time and time and time again that, when it’s up to Democratic leadership, they’d prefer to just turn the cheek and turn the page, just as they did on the Iraq War and the 2008 financial collapse. If Chuck Schumer had been in power in 1945, he would’ve said, “Why do we need a war crimes tribunal at Nuremberg? Hitler’s dead. We’ve crushed the Nazi party. It’s time to move on and look to the future instead of litigating the past.”

KentL writes:

We have definitely noticed the dearth of new shows. At one point we were subscribed to everything out there, but we've whittled it down to just a couple right now. I cancelled both D+ and HBO Max last summer. We jumped on a great deal for HBO Max at the end of the year (an obvious ploy to artificially inflate their sub numbers for the sale), but we haven't returned to D+ since because there just isn't enough to justify the cost. I'll probably insist on getting it back at some point this year (once I've built up a backlog), but there's really no rush.

I hear this from a lot of people and am encouraged by how many are canceling their subscriptions over a lack of new content. Hopefully, the streamers will get the message and start addressing the obvious appetite for new shows with longer episodic orders. If they don’t, I truly believe that it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out how to produce a compelling, independently-financed show and put it up on YouTube.

AN INNOCENT GIRL

Today marked the first casting announcement for An Innocent Girl, my first post-Arrow collaboration with Greg Berlanti.

Suffice it to say, I’m rather excited. Kerry Washington gave the commencement address at my eldest’s high school graduation. James Marsden is the first live action Cyclops (and I love him in Paradise). And I met Chloe East back when she was a child actor on my wife’s show, Emergence. (Thanks for making me feel really old, BTW, Chloe.)

Variety describes An Innocent Girl as a “psychological thriller about a young and ambitious woman seduced by a high-powered D.C. couple who draw her into a dangerous world of sex, power and murder.”

You can check out the whole article here.

The title was Greg Berlanti’s idea. I’m not sure why he thought I’d like it…

Billy Joel - An Innocent Man - Album Cover Location

As it turns out, the very first thing I wrote for Greg was the fifth episode of Jack & Bobby entitled… “An Innocent Man.”

STAR WARS: JAR JAR

Next Wednesday sees the release of Star Wars: Jar Jar, the one-shot starring Jar Jar Binks that I co-wrote with the man who originated the role, Ahmed Best.

To mark the occasion, Ahmed and I are doing a signing at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles on Wednesday from 4 PM to 6 PM.

And AIPT has a preview:

APPLE VISION PRO

The Apple Vision Pro was released two years ago. The anniversary prompted me to dig out this little bit I’d dictated for the newsletter back in December:

I recently rediscovered my Apple Vision Pro when I decided to re-watch Avatar: The Way of Water prior to the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash. The reason I haven’t used my Vision Pro in quite some time is, well, there’s not a lot of use cases for it.

What it excels at is showing media, particularly in 3D. But I also will use it for its massive virtual monitor, which allows me to open tons of documents all at the same time when I’m jumping back and forth between different versions or different projects. The point of all thisis I was reminded of just how magical the Vision Pro is as a device.

Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that you should run out and buy one. It’s far too expensive, far too heavy, and is very much a Generation 1.0 device. That being said, the experience of using it is definitely not Generation 1.0.

It actually feels like it came from 15 years in the future. The hand/eye tracking is remarkable and orders of magnitude better than what you get with a Meta-manufactured headset.

And the eye tracking, which the Meta headsets don’t have, is nothing short of magical. The ability to track even the most imperceptible movements of your eyes, so that if you just, for example, look at an icon, it will know which icon you’re focusing on, is revolutionary. It feels as if the device is reading your mind.

However, like I said, there just aren’t that many use cases for it. What I think Apple should have done was, instead of making an iPhone — which does everything — they should have made the audio-visual equivalent of an iPod and market it as like Apple Personal Theater. You can even watch videos from various seats in a virtual theater on the Vision Pro. It’s pretty cool.

But the idea that it had to be a device that did absolutely everything all at once, that, I think, made for such a very heavy, very expensive device.

Be good to each other.

Best,

Marc

Encino, California

2.6.26

COMING ATTRACTIONS

A regularly-updated list of upcoming releases and events:

THE WHISPER WAR #1 (February 10, 2026)

STAR WARS: JAR JAR (February 11, 2026) - w/ signing at Golden Apple Comics 4-6 PM

SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #10 (February 25, 2026)

THE WHISPER WAR #2 (March 10, 2026)