Post by Icefanatic on Sept 22, 2017 8:41:08 GMT -5
Yeah, I said it.
And not because of diversity, but because she gets 'it'.
When Ms. Marvel(Kamala Kahn) first debuted, I decided to check out her comic.
I found the character likable and enjoyable, but I dropped the book after a few issues because it wasn't really the type of book I was looking to read. I also had no interest in her powers(I have hated DC's Plastic Man since I was a kid, and I like Reed Richards and DC's Elongated Man in spite of their 'rubbery' powers, not because of them. I'm not sure why I don't like 'rubber powers', except rubbery superheroes either look cartoonish and very fake to me, or too real and creepy/gross. I chalk it up the kind of thing that makes most people dislike snakes and spiders.
Anyway...
A few months back I ran across an interview with G. Willow Wilson, and one of the things talked about was the backlash against a lot of Marvel's so-called 'diversity replacement' heroes.
What surprised me was she said she understood a lot of how some fans felt. That she had taken great care to honor Carol Danvers and her fans when she introduced the new Ms. Marvel, and she pointed to how Thor was replaced: "They humiliated him". She could understand how his fans had hated that and how some even blamed Jane for it.
Then, in the very recent Generations - Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel one-shot, she took dead aim at Marvel through the fictional "Women's Magazine" Carol was once editor of, in a story very laced with meta commentary.
There's been a culture war in comics in recent years, and it went, for example, from:
Many female characters in 'broke-back' poses(put into anatomically impossible positions to emphasize their breasts and butts in the same image) and most female characters depicted with large breasts...to depicting many female characters as having small or no breasts at all.
From artists Like J. Scott Campbell going from being revered as a good-girl/cheesecake artist for how he draws women, to being reviled as a misogynist for how he draws women. (I think it was Joyce Chin that made a comment to the effect that 'if he's a misogynist for drawing women like that, then so am I, and I am NOT a misogynist').
From depicting teen characters, some barely even teenagers, as fully developed and often over-sexualized women...to depicting adult female characters as if they were prepubescent children.
From having the books overly dominated by straight-white-males to literally shoving them out of the books...even their own books, left and right...to be replaced by anyone who wasn't straight, or white or male.
One extreme to the other. You could make a list as long as my arm.
And both sides attacking and demonizing the other. You hear the arguments, for example...
'We need to get rid of all the big guys with big guns, they suck. They are what was ruining comics, we need more comics like what I like.'
'We need to bring back the big guys with big guns, they are what the fans want. This other stuff sucks and is ruining comics.'
Marvel publishes close to a hundred comics a month. There is no reason they can't publish books for a wider audience, without alienating their existing readers. There is no reason that on a seven person team, you can't have popular established less-diverse characters and newer and more-diverse characters. You might actually get *gasp* fans who like some of those characters from one camp to start liking some characters from the other. But if people aren't getting much, if anything, of what they want to motivate them to even buy the book in the first place...
Marvel should be trying to grow their audience, not replace it. Has that ever worked in the history of business? Because I've seen other companies try it and all of them eventually have to come crawling back to their core customers at some point, or go out of business, or both.
Stop trying to tell the audience what they should like. It's wont work and they will eventually start looking to get what they want from somewhere else.
Most people want the benefits of social activism, they don't want their entertainment reading like source material for political science classes.
Back to the topic, I think G. Willow Wilson has shown she is someone at Marvel who gets that, and that is no small thing. I think she should have a leadership position there, as other writers like Bendis have had.
She should also be writing the Captain Marvel ongoing...
And not because of diversity, but because she gets 'it'.
When Ms. Marvel(Kamala Kahn) first debuted, I decided to check out her comic.
I found the character likable and enjoyable, but I dropped the book after a few issues because it wasn't really the type of book I was looking to read. I also had no interest in her powers(I have hated DC's Plastic Man since I was a kid, and I like Reed Richards and DC's Elongated Man in spite of their 'rubbery' powers, not because of them. I'm not sure why I don't like 'rubber powers', except rubbery superheroes either look cartoonish and very fake to me, or too real and creepy/gross. I chalk it up the kind of thing that makes most people dislike snakes and spiders.
Anyway...
A few months back I ran across an interview with G. Willow Wilson, and one of the things talked about was the backlash against a lot of Marvel's so-called 'diversity replacement' heroes.
What surprised me was she said she understood a lot of how some fans felt. That she had taken great care to honor Carol Danvers and her fans when she introduced the new Ms. Marvel, and she pointed to how Thor was replaced: "They humiliated him". She could understand how his fans had hated that and how some even blamed Jane for it.
Then, in the very recent Generations - Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel one-shot, she took dead aim at Marvel through the fictional "Women's Magazine" Carol was once editor of, in a story very laced with meta commentary.
There's been a culture war in comics in recent years, and it went, for example, from:
Many female characters in 'broke-back' poses(put into anatomically impossible positions to emphasize their breasts and butts in the same image) and most female characters depicted with large breasts...to depicting many female characters as having small or no breasts at all.
From artists Like J. Scott Campbell going from being revered as a good-girl/cheesecake artist for how he draws women, to being reviled as a misogynist for how he draws women. (I think it was Joyce Chin that made a comment to the effect that 'if he's a misogynist for drawing women like that, then so am I, and I am NOT a misogynist').
From depicting teen characters, some barely even teenagers, as fully developed and often over-sexualized women...to depicting adult female characters as if they were prepubescent children.
From having the books overly dominated by straight-white-males to literally shoving them out of the books...even their own books, left and right...to be replaced by anyone who wasn't straight, or white or male.
One extreme to the other. You could make a list as long as my arm.
And both sides attacking and demonizing the other. You hear the arguments, for example...
'We need to get rid of all the big guys with big guns, they suck. They are what was ruining comics, we need more comics like what I like.'
'We need to bring back the big guys with big guns, they are what the fans want. This other stuff sucks and is ruining comics.'
Marvel publishes close to a hundred comics a month. There is no reason they can't publish books for a wider audience, without alienating their existing readers. There is no reason that on a seven person team, you can't have popular established less-diverse characters and newer and more-diverse characters. You might actually get *gasp* fans who like some of those characters from one camp to start liking some characters from the other. But if people aren't getting much, if anything, of what they want to motivate them to even buy the book in the first place...
Marvel should be trying to grow their audience, not replace it. Has that ever worked in the history of business? Because I've seen other companies try it and all of them eventually have to come crawling back to their core customers at some point, or go out of business, or both.
Stop trying to tell the audience what they should like. It's wont work and they will eventually start looking to get what they want from somewhere else.
Most people want the benefits of social activism, they don't want their entertainment reading like source material for political science classes.
Back to the topic, I think G. Willow Wilson has shown she is someone at Marvel who gets that, and that is no small thing. I think she should have a leadership position there, as other writers like Bendis have had.
She should also be writing the Captain Marvel ongoing...
Member Is Online
Member Is Offline
Member Is Banned
ABP NEWS
Verified Account
