Diverse: Showing a great deal of variety, very different. So in a universe where mutants, aliens, sorcerers, cosmic entities, enhanced humans, and talking animals all exist at once, seeing a Black person makes you shit your pants?
"Diversity is ruining Marvel Comics" is what I would say if I was a stuck-in-his-ways, unagreeable, selfish, purist, idiotic, out-of-touch basement dweller. Jokes on you, fools. I live in an apartment now. A black Iron Man, a muslim Ms. Marvel, and an asian Hulk walk into a bar. They are all thrown out for being underaged. I mean, what do you people want? You want Iron Man and Captain America and Thor to leap up, high five and yell "Whites rule"? You want Bruce Banner to sit down with Amadeus Cho and tell him "You can stop being in comic books now, son. I'm here and I'm the white, male, adult people your age can relate to. Now excuse me I have to cause another war". You can't stop it, you know. All these black Spider-Men and Hispanic Falcons aren't going away, we're not going to take the vaginas off of Wolverine and Thor. And it's not like they're YOUR heroes anyway. Don't like Robbie Reyes and his "stupid car"? Johnny Blaze has a book with Blade. Don't like the new Hulk or new Wolverine, don't worry because Young Man Logan and Bruce "Banned" Banner are coming back. Don't like Miles Morales or Riri Williams, well don't worry because the only writer who cares about those two is going DC Comics!
Now you may be wondering, why is it only Marvel is overflowing with young diverse characters and DC isn't. Well, it's not for any metaphorical or marketing reasons. The reason that one higher up at Marvel said "diversity is killing sales" is because he didn't want to tell the press the real reason Marvel Comics is underselling is because they have 58 titles that cost at least four dollars a pop. Compared to DC Comics and their 25-30 titles that cost at least three dollars a pop and it's no surprise they're ahead. The problem isn't brown people it's Marvel ignoring retailers sales reports and opting to blame the minories like all big companies do once in awhile. Side with the political party that have the loudest voices and the shortest attention spans. The real reason diversity is taking over Marvel is because they lack any direction. Marvel's writers are leaving left and right and the editors they have on staff are either overworked or half-cocked. Some editors have to edit a total of fifteen titles. If you have over fifty books and you need each editor to edit fifteen books each, every week? You're going to get some slips. The second leg to this phenomenon are the young talents being pulled in. You see a lot of modern comic book writers like Jason Aaron, G. Willow Wilson, and Greg Pak like young diverse characters because those characters provide a voice for the modern audience. And with such a weak editing staff it's basically impossible to stop them from inventing these characters. Sure, we white adults may enjoy a good cinematic outing to the next Thor film, but for the differently colored and vastly aged viewers in the crowd watching Thor, they may relate to Thor on a personal level, but that's it.
That's why Champions is the best book over at Marvel right now. Maybe not the best selling, but it's still the best written. Because Mark Waid-a 55 year old man-captures the voices of these young people better than anyone else could. Champions has a muslim girl, a black boy, a white kid, a asian kid, a mutant (basically a gay metaphor) and a robot who is actually gay. If that isn't 2017's youth in a nutshell. And it's not all LOLs and Me Toos, it's actual topics of debate. The Champions exist to help people in ways The Avengers never had. The Champions don't punch down and they don't wait for trouble to find them. They stopped a human trafficking plot because they looked for it. Not because Scarlet Witch was captured by the criminals or because Aunt May was hurt. No, because they were looking for crime and they found one. The Champions started a movement, people cleaning up beaches and feeding the homeless. When Captain America went on a HYDRA bender and blew up Las Vegas, The Champions didn't chase him down and beat him up, they went to Las Vegas and looked for survivors. LIKE HEROES DO.
But I get it. It's easier to bitch and moan about these new heroes being annoying and pandering and reminisce about the days when Cap was a werewolf and Tony Stark wanted to arrest his friends, right? When Thor was unsellable and The Hulk wore a wife-beater and Spider-Man made a deal with the devil to divorce his wife without signing any papers. Where were you then, old people? Where was all this hate when Cyclops killed Professor X? Where were you hiding when The Fantastic Four left their home to Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Thing, and She-Hulk? No, it seems the only time you want to go online and make videos and essays regarding how people with different backgrounds than you are destroying a comic book company with caucasian-led films is when you "hear" about it. When you "see" it. But not when you "read" it. Did you read Ms. Marvel? Ironheart? Spider-Man Miles Morales or Totally Awesome Hulk? How about All-New Ghost Rider, or All-New Wolverine, or Moon-Girl and Devil Dinosaur or Champions? No. Because reading is hard and expensive. But being a selfish prick online? That's free.
Thanks for reading.
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