WTF, Marve!?

You may have heard some of the crazy crap that has been said by some people in MARVEL lately. Nobody knows what happened. It’s hard to believe that someone would say those things in public, knowing that it will have a huge impact on such a big company like MARVEL.

I absolutely love MARVEL. I owe so much to them. MARVEL are the ones that got me into comics. MARVEL are the ones that got me into comic book movies. Heck, marvel are even partially the ones that got me into blogging! But no matter how much you love something or how much of a fan you are, you will hear some crap once in a while that will just make you look at that thing from a completely different angle.

Damn. MARVEL sure said some things recently that are costing them a lot right now. I am, of course, talking about Alex Alonso’s words about comics book artists and David Gabriel’s words on diversity in comics. I will start off by discussing the latter. Now, in case you don’t know, MARVEL’s Vice President of Sales, has recently been quoted as blaming diversity for the fact that MARVEL’s comic book sales haven’t been doing very well lately. In fact, he went on to blame the readers for not buying comics about diverse characters!

Now, what do I think about all of this? Well, obviously, that’s not something you should say when the media has a microphone stuck in your face. No matter how true things like this may be, you never say them aloud. I mean, sure, diversity probably is part of the problem why MARVEL isn’t doing as well as it used to, but it’s super counter-productive. The reason MARVEL started introducing all of these diverse characters is to show people how politically correct they are. And now that they managed to earn the trust of those people that believed comics should have more diverse characters, it isn’s smart of them to just throw that trust in the bin now.

But, the thing that pisses me off the most in what he said, is that it’s our fault for not buying the one billion number ones each month where they change all of the classic characters into black people and women. Not everything needs to be a damn social statement! And they don’t need to replace 98% of the original MARVEL characters with more diverse people! It was great when they did it to a couple of characters here and there a few years ago, but I believe that it has gotten way out of control. As of right now, this is every character that I can think of that MARVEL changed for diversity’s sake:

1. Wolverine – Laura Kinney
2. Nick Fury – Nick Fury Jnr.
3. Spiderman – Myles Morales
4. Captain America – Sam Wilson
5. Ms. Marvel – Kamala Khan
6. Hawkeye – Kate Bishop
7. Thor – Jane Foster
8. Deadpool – Gwenpool
9. Hulk – Amadeus Cho
10. Vision – Some female version of Vision
11. Iron Man – Riri Williams
12. Star Lord – Kitty Pryde

Yes, I agree! It’s a lot for such a short amount of time. And I’m sure that I missed a few! Basically, what I`m trying to get at here is that MARVEL cannot just be trying to please everybody by first introducing a ton of new characters and then blaming people for not buying them. I mean, diversity aside, reading comics is a pretty expensive hobby. MARVEL start a new series every few weeks, so you can’t possibly expect all of your readers to just casually add another five euro to their monthly outcome.

So, yeah! Those are my thoughts on that subject. Now, let’s move on to what Alex Alonso said. Bear in mind that this guy is bloody editor in chief! And, according to him, artists don’t sell comics. Basically, he said that people would only ever buy a comic because of a writer and not because of an artist. And, in his own words, artists just don’t move the needle.

I mean, it’s insane that he’d even consider saying something like this in public. The saddest part is that this may very well affect everybody at MARVEL Comics as well as us, the readers. I can see many artists being very reluctant to work for MARVEL now. But, do not fear! That smartass insured himself by saying that McNiven and Coipel still do move the needle after all! Son of a %$#@!

Now, I’d hate to be that guy who is just a one-sided, bias jerk. So, as much as I cease to believe that Alonso would think this, I can sort of see where he could potentially be coming from. MARVEL have had some issues because of artists in the near past. You don’t need to look any further than the recent controversy surrounding X-men Gold. Basically, if you aren’t aware, an artist tried to insert a very hateful message onto Collosus’s t-shirt. And even though this happened after what Alonso said (possibly as a subliminal middle finger towards the guy) stuff like this has happened before. However, that’s just me playing devil’s advocate. I personally think that it’s outrageous he would say that and I’m just hoping that artists will be able to shrug it off as him not knowing what he was doing.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I posted it on ComicVine but it was originally posted on my website: www.SciFiPie.me

Yup. I feel you. Well expressed.

Their low book sales aren't due to diversity, it due to horrible writing and story telling.

Nick Fury Jr. is by far the most useless character of all time, that was the first sign of Marvel basically saying "you know this classic character you love so much? Well we're gonna do something drastic and switch him with basically a carbon copy but instead he's black....and don't complain or else YOU'RE A RACIST AND YOU HATE DIVERSITY!!!!!!"

Kate Bishop showed up as HAwkeye years ago and people keep bringing her up like she showed up yesterday.

Rather than employing a Runaways approach of creating new diverse younger characters, or an Avengers Academy approach of creating new diverse younger characters with older established characters also in the mix, Marvel chose an approach of REPLACING their popular characters with newer ones. Thor was replaced with She-Thor. Giant-Man (Hank Pym) is replaced by gay middle eastern Giant-Man. Hulk is killed and replaced by Asian Hulk. Captain America is turns into the leader of Hydra and is replaced by a POC Captain American. Iron Man is replaced by POC female Iron Man. Wasp's identity is now shared with the new Wasp, Nadia Pym, and the original Wasp is regulated to the role of "step mom". This was part of the problem. People like the older characters - removing/diminishing them alienates the fan base.

The other part of the equation is that Marvel's writers have done a really bad job over the last several years. Bad stories don't generate long term sales.

-X-23 being the Wolverine successor since she is his clone makes sense

-Can't speak on Nick

-Miles is from the Ultimate verse and was around long before any SJW bs, on top of the fact that Peter died in his verse. If random white guy John Doe became it, you wouldn't have a problem right? There are also like 54258 other spider men/women.

-Sam is Cap's best friend so when he was no longer cap of course he'd pick it up. Pretty sure Bucky has been CA too.

-Captain Marvel willingly gave Kamela the Ms. Marvel name, and even took her under her wing...

-Kate was always there like Miles except not being from another verse

-Can't speak on Jane, don't keep up with Thor in general, but I don't see anything wrong with her, but the whole being Thor just by wielding the hammer when the guys actual name is Thor is weird.

-If you even read the Gwenpool story ft. Deadpool, you'd realize she doesn't like him, and was even surprised that anyone thought that she was like him

-I didn't see anything wrong with Amadaus taking the Hulk from Banner when he doesn't even want. Banner was ecstatic when he was no longer the Hulk.

-Viv?? That is his DAUGHTER

-Again with Iron Man OOC it was up for grabs by anyone, but here is the thing, she isn't even taking Iron Man's name, but I guess you are okay with white guy Doom taking it?

-Can't speak on this one either.

I have a feeling that if all of these characters had been replaced by other white guys no one would've had a problem.

1. Wolverine – Laura Kinney(Correct)
2. Nick Fury – Nick Fury Jnr.(Correct)
3. Spiderman – Myles Morales(Peter is still very active)
4. Captain America – Sam Wilson(Steve is still very active)
5. Ms. Marvel – Kamala Khan(No one was change for this Carol wasn't using the name.)
6. Hawkeye – Kate Bishop(They've been sharing that name for almost 10 years now, keep up)
7. Thor – Jane Foster(corret)
8. Deadpool – Gwenpool(You don't read nothing involving Gwenpoole, because if you did you'd know that they have nothing to do with each
9. Hulk – Amadeus Cho(correct)
10. Vision – Some female version of Vision( You mean his daughter, also Vision himself is still active.)
11. Iron Man – Riri Williams(correct)
12. Star Lord – Kitty Pryde(again Peter is still active, and I don't even think Kitty is still even Starlord, that was just for a single arc or two)

@captainsalt is that you?

@kwasid2k: I agree mostly, but I think the whole thing that's made fans drawback from marvel is the way they brought in new characters to take over for the hero's they already knew and were introduced to.

Legacy heroes are always a contentious issue for comic fans. We fall in love with a character, so for them to be replaced is met with resistance. I remember when Hal Jordan was replaced by Kyle Rayner there were a lot of Green Lantern fans that were upset. Even though Hal had replaced Alan decades before so there was precedence and even though it was a white guy replacing a white guy. The added element lately is replacing characters and then saying "Oh, you don't like the new version because they are [insert race/sex/orientation/religion/nationality/etc.]." This causes old readers to dig in and feel insulted.

Simple rules of replacing a character.
1. The more popular the character is, the harder it will be to do.
2. The less time people have with the replacement, the more resistance and bitterness will occur.
3. Making the new version of the character "better" or "improved" will not win people over.

By all means try new ideas and introduce new characters, but if you think a fan base is going to go, "I've invested decades with this character, but all I cared about was the name so I'll accept the new version immediately!" you're way off base.

@mraugen: Thanks for checking out my blog. I totally agree with you. I would also like to add that a character should only be replaced if it actually adds something to the plot. Don't replace a character for the sake of legacy or, the one that is happening a lot now, for the sake of diversity. Also, it should probably be a character that actually has some sort of legacy. Captain America is not only Steve Rogers, but it is also a title symbolizing honor and justice. In the meantime, Punisher is nothing but a man shaken by the murder of his family.

@ms-lola: Thank you for reading. I'm glad you agree. :)

@kwasid2k: I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with these characters. In fact, I think that a lot of them are great! I'm just saying that marvel's push for diversity is blinding them from actually making good stories.

@tvc-15: Woah! I never outright said that legacy characters are a bad thing! I just think they are currently making stories to fit around the legacies instead of it being the other way around.

@laughingbatman: no....

@lapresagio: true that

@just_sayin: Yes! I completely agree with you! Certain classic characters were unfortunately created in time of white supremacy and discrimination against women and of course certain groups of people. But there's no point in changing all of them just to be 'politcally correct'. But I definitely agree with you that introducing diverse characters through stories such as, as you said, Runaways or Avengers Academy and more! And this is one of the reasons why I'm really stoaked that they announced a Runaways tv show.

The point I would make is replacing characters is the laziest move creatively, and yet it can the hardest endeavor for a comic company to take on. It takes years to decades for any character to establish itself, giving market confusion to people only adds a layer of challenge for a character succeeding. If they believe in something, make a character and stick with it. Aggravating or antagonizing existing fan bases gains nothing from my experience.

Their stories are going down hill and has nothing to do who is what.

Marvel fuqed up pretty badly.

Somehow this is Chris Brown's fault.

Let's face it:

Stories are just utter nonsense.

SJW pandering all over the place in stead of quality stories. Smh

Just give me this Marvel