How ridiculous! Change should not be making a man a woman, or a white a black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Change should be introducing new characters into the comics we are already buying, build that character slowly and strategically, and then when people love the character . . . give them their own book; not throw to the side characters people have literally grown up with.
I bought the recent "America" issues for the sole purpose of supporting this. I'm not buying anymore, because I don't enjoy it. That point aside, I just feel the big wigs at Marvel are stuck in that L.A. bubble of reality, where "the rest of the word is just Neanderthals and we need to be in charge of changing people's thinking"
You want to teach me about diversity? How about having your diverse character earn their stripes by pairing them with a already loved and respected character and then when the time is right, expand their own identity instead of having to take over someone else's?
Amadeus Cho is a great example. If that kid was pitched to us as the new Rick Jones for about thirty Hulk issues, and the character was always there, side by side with the Hulk for those issues, building his character. Then if the job was well done, and he changed into anything other than a character that already exists, I'd be up for following that character. But nope, sporadically placed in WW Hulk, and then a few years later, "Look everyone, now the Hulk is Asian American!"
End of rant because I'm sure this is falling of deaf ears.
Well you reap what sow. I think this is a combination of Disney and of Axel Alonso being in charge. As sash said, creating a new diverse character is fine, but they don't need to be dopplegangers. And then on top of that you destroy the original character to force people to read the new ones. Well guess what, people don't like being forced to do things. Plus all of the events and new numbers ones never made sense to me.
I'm over it, happily buying collections of classic stuff.
I think all of us saw this coming for a long time. It's a shame that Marvel only listens when their sales start tanking, and even then they deny that anything is wrong and justify this by forcing comic stores to order waaay more issues than what will realistically sell and use that number as a "sales" stat.
How about having your diverse character earn their stripes....
You're using the language of marvel's mindset. Slippery slope, that. "Diverse" is being used by Marvel to mean "not a white male heterosexual". That, of course, is not what diverse means. One character cannot be diverse, by definition. Marvel used to be diverse - that is, it had characters of both genders and many races, religions and backgrounds. It brought many perspectives to the fore. I'd like to say the characters' race wasn't a factor in who they were, but of course it was, with, for instance, too many black characters coming from the ghetto and looking out for "their people". And yet, that still wasn't the be-all of their existence, unlike the current trend of defining characters by their flesh tone or genitalia. Not to mention wonderful characters like the Black Panther - a prince who came from the most technologically advanced country on the planet -- in Africa. Nowadays you don't dare even hire a non-black writer for a book like that (especially after Ta-nehisi Coates has been writing the book - just ask the producers of The Great Comet of 1812 about that).
I'm sorry, but I think the fact that they've written themselves into a corner that resulted in poor sales and now they're afraid to dump some of these characters because it might look bad is hysterical.
How many other "great new ideas" have they pulled the plug on over the years the second sales figures started tanking? But suddenly instead of the bottom line they're worried about appearing to be insensitive? Please.
I bet Stan Lee is laughing his ass off about this.
Not like it's just Marvel. I mean how many issues of "Shade, The Changing Girl" do you think DC is going to sell? LOL.