Someone gave me a copy of Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.
It was actually Mr Paul Ashley Brown dressed as Dr Strange…which was kind of
odd because the last person I’d expect to come through the toilet window while
I was, uh, “contemplating the universe” was him dressed as Dr Strange. “By the hoary hosts of- phew! Aw seriously
give it a flush, mate –here!” and he went. Never even heard him open the window
due to this bloody tinnitus.
My recollection might be a little bit “off” there as I slip in
and out of reality so much. People keep telling me “You need to get more
sheep!” I don’t even have any sheep to
start with??
Anyway, I got the book and dived straight in. Cover-to-cover in two days. Now, I expected
to hear all these terrible stories about Stan Lee but, despite Howe obviously
digging, all I learnt was that Lee was the showman who promoted and made Marvel
Comics what it was but away from the
camera and media he was quite a sensitive person who did a lot of favours he
has never really been credited for.
Above: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and John Romita Sr. Apologies -no idea who the bald fella is!
----------------
Artist Joe Carter who drew the Human Torch. “Joe who?” Well, Joe was actually the very meek Jerry
Siegel, co-creator of Superman who
had been reduced to begging DC comics for work.
Howe tells of how Mort Weisinger, who Seigel worked under, once said to
the scripter: “I have to go to the can –mind if I use your script to wipe my
ass?” That is how comics treated
people. It may not have worked out but Lee gave Siegel work (pp. 45-46).
Lee tried to get stories dealing with politics and Viet-Nam,
drug abuse and much more through. Some
battles he won and others he lost because Marvel “higher ups” deemed them too
political (p.112). At one point Lee even
stated: “The comic book market is the worst market that there is on the face of
the Earth for creative talent and the reasons are numberless and legion.” (113)
and when Lee was told to fire people he called them in one at a time and after
they left he could be heard wretching and throwing up.
People like Alan Moore love to attack and claim preposterous
things about Lee because Lee is the
highest profile person associated with comics you can attack to your insipid
little circle of acolytes and get lots of attention. Facts do not matter. If it were not for Lee
and Kirby, who set up all the Marvel groundwork (and both were maltreated by Marvel) people like Moore, Ellis, Morrison et al would be shelf-stacking in Tesco.
And as I’ve gotten off the point –I know there are some
people out there who don’t like that because they have to read and use their brains, but I type what I think. Could get messy! Where was I….
Right. Why was Marvel such a success but DC
dragged behind? The first “Black” person did not appear in a DC comic until the
1970s and I believe that was due to Kirby (I’m sure someone is not going to
bother to correct me if wrong). But at Marvel Bill Foster appeared in Avengers #32, September, 1966. Stan Lee listened. He read.
He saw what was going on in the movies and on TV. That talking to fans
is the difference between the two companies. Lee once said that the fans are
the people who keep Marvel Comics going. Someone at DC once referred to comic
fans as “the schmucks”.
Above: Stan Lee in 1968
------------------------------------------------
And, of course, despite all the continuity and long running
stories, Lee made the point that “every issue of a comic is someone’s first
comic” so it was written and put together so that long time readers or new ones
could jump on, read and enjoy and that
was how you hooked the new reader and made him a Marvel fan.
I once watched Lee on UK TV and he noted that “the threat of
death to a hero has to be there or what’s the point?” Facing an evil super villain with a death
machine had to involve a life-and-death struggle and, in the case of a
character such as Spiderman, there was also the concern about aging Aunt May
–lots of little things thrown in so that the character was human, had faults
and weaknesses. Now, after Captain America (let’s
say the Steve Rogers one) is literally decimated by billions of bullets he sits
up and looks out at the reader: “Remember, guys: I’m dead. Sam will take my
place for a few issues and then I’ll be rebooted back into the book!”
Movies and comics. As
Howlermouse pointed out in his video, movie execs are making the
decisions. It does not help that “Yes
men” are running the comic side. Way back when Disney purchased Marvel I
predicted all of this –starting with the firings at Marvel UK
(Panini). Disney has to control
every aspect of its operations and comics it does not really like or understand
because it is “movies that make cash!” And merchandising of course.
Fox and Sony won’t give back Spiderman, X-Men or Fantastic
Four and it was clear what Disney was going to do. Those companies were pissing
in its family friendly alligator and snake filled pool.
“Fantastic Four is going to get axed” –“Hooper you are a
moron. Marvel would never cancel a flagship title!” Yah-boo-sucks.
“I think that Marvel Comics would definitely start getting
rid of the X-Men because it is not MC
any more it is Disney” –insult.
Insult. Suddenly the X-men are
being killed off and now sent into space and out of the MCU?
Now, The Inhumans are the new ‘mutants’ –which is what I
wrote way back.
Let me make it clear that when those rumours started was when I realised
that Disney had moved its people into Marvel (later documented) and Marvel
Comics was finally dead.
We are talking about crapping on The X-Men and then
kicking their asses out of comics. The three books that helped make Marvel and
had a solid and loyal following were The Fantastic Four, X-Men and The
Avengers. If you have watched any of the Comicbookgirl19 X-Men
Epic History videos you will see why
the X-Men was such an important title. Lee, Kirby and others pulled in social
issues left, right and centre under the guise of “mutant issues” but in stories
that were fun, gripped and pulled you in.
But another company has the movie rights and is screwing it
all up and won’t give them back. Disney
gives “the finger”!
Fantastic Four…that title brought so many people into
comics. It had elements of science fiction, monster comics and even B-movie
horror mixed in with super heroics. But, guess what? A movie making company
other than Marvel has the rights and are screwing things up and won’t give back
those rights. Disney gives “the finger”!
Now it seems that the Sub-Mariner, and if there was one
Silver Age character that got me into Marvel it was he –via the old UK black
and white reprints as he went on his Gene Colan drawn quest to once again
become King of Atlantis. When I found
the odd Marvel Super Heroes comics in newsagents shops I discovered
that “Subby” was a Golden Age character. Guess what? After years of building up
the character it turns out some other mother humper has the movie rights so
guess what? Apparently they had Namor’s
head cut off. He’s dead. Well, as dead as you get in comics…maybe more
so until movie rights get back to Disney then it’ll be a Band-Aid and “all
better now, thank you”.
I remember the Red Skull holding the Cosmic Cube while
Captain America
and the Falcon ducked, dived and fought their way through a jungle with killers
on their trail. Can you guess how desperate
I was to get that next issue? Even at
that young age I was willing to carry out a contract killing to get it (that is
not an admission of any killings,
okay?) Now? I could not give a flying,
blue winged turd what happens in the current Captain America …whoever it is.
That third title. The Avengers. Come on, like the Justice League it was a
case of the top characters combining forces.
Okay, as I wrote in another post (do I need to start inserting “* see
the Amazing blog post titled----“???) the Avengers had far more
characterisation and better stories than the JLA which is why they were
probably such a big hit. But I still love those old JLAs. But
the movies were hits and made money and so Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and The
Hulk became –The Avengers (movie universe version which is more like The
Ultimates version).
But they started off with science fiction elements and those
elements became more pronounced in the movies.
Basically, Disney is keen on sci fi and so the Marvel movie universe has
built on that. And that meant the comics
had to change. So the Avengers became a massive sci fi
titles with space invasions, dimensional incursions involving the destruction
of parallel Earths and more. Done before
but now it was full on science fiction.
The point was that the Avengers were heroes who combined
together to fight a foe a single hero could not defeat. Look at the original battle with a super
powered Count Nefaria or Graviton –those stories showed heroes (in the case of
Wonder Man it was facing up to his fear of death) going toe-to-toe and getting
the crap knocked out of them and New York.
Today, that would be “sorted before breakfast” as a sideline story.
But Disney has the movie rights so the Avengers can
live. They make money…via movies and
merchandise not necessarily the comics.
Science fiction…Guardians of the Galaxy! No, not the ones from the 1960s comic with
the interesting storyline and who became embroiled in Avengers history. Gimmicky dumb stuff in which a gun-toting,
talking raccoon and a big tree thing run around to a pop music sound track and
dumb-asses spend a fortune on the first appearance of the real Guardians of the
Galaxy in comics and…throw internet hissy-fits and rages because “This comic
cost me a hundred bucks and I was ripped off!” and it had nothing to do with
the movie.
Here’s a prediction: soon, very soon, in a cinema not so far
away, Star Wars will cross over with the Avengers in movies. Two big
money-making franchises combined. The very thought sends convulsions of ecstasy
through Disney executives (some may never recover). of course some fans do not like the idea cross-over even if you "keep those events in comics nobody reads"!
Falling sales. Well,
yes. Long term fans have had
enough. They are speaking with their
wallets and purses. Sales are plunging.
Are Disney executives asking “Why?” No, because they do not care. “Don’t talk to your piggy-bank” is their
slogan and if they need to dump all the comics so what? All the movie money is there.
Here is another thing.
The internet. The most crooked place you can find. Back in the 1990s and
into the early 2000s I’d see time and again on my Yahoo groups links to get the
latest Marvel and DC titles scanned.
Independent comics –scanned same day. I stopped those links. I pointed
out that every company, especially Independents, depend on every single sale.
No one cared. “If I read the scan and
like the comic I’ll go buy it” which is still theft. “I’ll just take this money out of your pocket
and if I don’t like it I’ll give it back.”
My books I did with Art Wetherell and Dave Gordon for
Fantagraphics Eros line –illegal downloads now stand at over two million. If I
had a £/$ for every download I would be very happy. No one cares that someone
had to write and draw the books. “F*** you!” is the attitude from illegal
scanners and the downloaders –why should they go pay for a book? It’s a reason none of my books are available
as downloads. You want to steal from me you pay and then do the work first!
What I never understood was that a Marvel, DC, Image or
other company’s comic that was out that day was scanned and online before comic
book shops closed. I’m not talking about a few titles. I am talking EVERY Marvel, DC and Image title
fully scanned including ads online on new comic book day. Every week.
It does not take a genius to ask “how are they getting all
those comics scanned and online in one day?” Think about it. If it was all Marvel titles you would need to
look at people within the company. Ditto
DC
Distributors and companies knew this was going on. I’m guessing it still is. This is the point: thousands
of people were reading free comics every week.
There was even a forum at one point where you could go to get specific
runs of titles or links to download sites.
Not one download site. Not two
download sites but a dozen. All fully
loaded with new titles and one closed and the files were uploaded to another
site under a new account name. All there on the same day with centre spread
pages as one and, in a lot I saw, no staples?
No folds at the side of page 9 or 10. Perfect page scans.
“If I read the scan and like the comic I’ll go buy it” How
many using that phrase actually purchased a copy of any comic?
File share sites were closed down by the FBI because Marvel
and DC were big bucks. The smaller Independents were, if you go by what they
were claiming, were treated as third rate and no one took much notice.
So we have Marvel that Disney have killed off, who will not
listen to fans but will insult them –you don’t talk to piggy-banks. DC which is going the same way. Because they
are headless chickens and are jumping on any fad or craze where a cent might be
made. Neither has a Stan Lee or even a Roy Thomas overseeing what goes on. They don’t care. Quick buck and go. Or “He was a fan favourite let’s put him ‘in charge’ and see what
happens” but it didn’t work. Solution? “He was a fan favourite let’s put him ‘in
charge’ and see what happens” If it is moldy and smells something rotten then,
guys –it has gone off. “This
steak has mold on it. Let’s try it!”
We have the movie people in charge of comics so screw
continuity or fan following of 50 plus years. You don’t talk to
piggy-banks. “We can’t have the film
rights back? **** you –we’ll cancel the characters and comics!!” Stamp foot,
cut your nose off to spite the face.
We have the illegal scanning and alleged comic ‘fans’ who
are ripping off creators -do not
give me that “Well, the creators already got paid so it’s the big company we’re
ripping off!” Use your brain: creators got paid. But the comic ain’t selling?
Those creators get fired. If you are
reading all your comics online and not buying any comics you are helping kill
the industry. Sales fall.
A comic book company ‘think-tank’ session.
“Are gays popular?
Okay, we’ll make that character gay now”
“Are Blacks popular? We’ll make that character a Black then”
“Muslim! Muslim! Muslim! It’s all we hear. They must be
popular. Let’s make the character a
muslim!”
“Teenage Disney princesses are popular –right? Let’s make
this character a Disney princess style super hero!”
“Guys. Guys….listen.
I just had an idea. I orgasmed. Let’s
make the character a black, muslim teenage Disney princess…ooooh..oh…sorry.
Another orgasm. Thinkof the money!”
“Oh guys..ohhh…uuh…okay. Look, the character has been a
while male for over fifty years…oh.. Let’s make the character a black, muslim
teenage Disney princess. OH JESUS! JESUS! Ooooohhhhhh.”
The comic book company ‘think-tank’ is now to become…. a
black, muslim teenage Disney princess!
You are
detecting a note of sarcasm, right?
Above: Okay. I screamed. A little. Then came the nausea.
For Marvel Comics there is no hope. It is dead. It is an ex-comic company. It has
ceased to be. Might sound better in your
head if you imagine John Cleese from “The
Dead Parrot” sketch saying that?
DC…well, if you actually say “That character has been a
white man since 1943 and now you want to make him a black woman?” you get
called a “pussy” or “racist” because that shuts you down (they think) and fans
around you will say nothing because they do not want to be called a “racist” or
“pussy” do they? And challenge
themonline and you’ll have DC and Marvel editors cut into you.
Insert “Dead parrot” quote.
And SJWs…would they call it racist if you objected to the
character Sam Wilson, the Falcon/Captain America or whatever, being rebooted as
a white man? A pale skinned, blond-haired and blue-eyed Sam Wilson? Or making the Scarlet Witch a male
character? T’Challa, the Black Panther –what
if he were made a white man? Pandering to these people –the SJWs who probably
do not read comics and scream at anyone objecting to a major change of a
character as a misogynist, sexist, racist or bigot….they ain’t the comic
buyer. Some spineless morons are
changing things and losing all their regular fans because they are wetting
their pants and waiting for SJWs to tickle their bellies.
I have seen one business after another fail. Shops close.
In modelling, gaming, crafting and many other areas because the people owning those companies would not listen to
customers. You buy what they decide or you can **** off. Every
business does the same thing and start with “You just can’t get that any more”/
“Apparently its in a shipping freight somewhere. Call back in a week”/ “Well, the distributors
just will not handle products from that company but we do have this which is
not what you want or even need but you can buy it” and when that fails and you
point out the product is still
available, still listed online by the company and in a catalogue and the
distributor does have the item in
stock (and I have been through this and seen others go through this)? “Well, why don’t you go and get it off the
internet then?”
I used to go to what was, in the 1970s/1990s the model shop in Bristol . As a youngster I met many of the old
model making and wargaming crowd in there. That stopped after 2009. The last remaing two of that old group (the
rest had all given up and travelled to other towns to buy or went online…or
were dead) were in the shop and the two longest serving staff were there. Customer: “You are hardly stocking anything
to cater for the long time customers.” Staffer: “No. That’s how it’s gone –it’s
the new customer looking for motorised vehicles or remote controlled
aircraft/drones”
Customer two: “This place has gone so downhill. We’ve been coming in here since the 1970s…”
Staffer two interrupting: “I told you the shop was shit now!”
I’m standing there looking in almost disbelief. The shop is
now part of a national chain and its reputation is bad where ever it is. Order things. Never turn up. Not once. Not twice –but five times. They out-rightly
lie to customers because that is what they are told to do. They do not offer
products that sold VERY well for decades but just new gimmicky things. And they
tell customers, in a crowded shop, that the business is crap. One of the staffers told me the other day “We’re
just taking pay cheques til the shop closes.”
This is what Marvel and DC are doing. Quick cash gimmick and screw the old fans who
kept them in business.
In the 1990s Marvel had more problems. I’ve mentioned before
how art never really suffered but stories and scripts were dire. The “writing standard” was not really a
standard and The Avengers was suffering as were other titles. So the heroes were killed off.
And so they decided to reboot. “Fan favourite”
Jim Lee (who is always pulled in when
the shit gets heavy because just saying “Fan favourite Jim Lee” makes
everything better and sunnier. Go on.
Say it: “Fan favourite Jim Lee” See? Let’s not forget “Fan favourite Rob
Liefeld” and other “fan favourites” and The Avengers was…”awful”. Captain America ….I won’t even discuss that
nor the Fantastic Four. How bad was the collaboration of the greatest and
hottest “fan favourites” in comic book history? Well, it sort of faded out
within a year.
But then came Heroes Reborn –great writers and artists and
The Avengers, Fantastic Four and other titles began soaring high again. But then someone decided to kick Busiek and
Perez off Avengers and we saw “Avengers Disassembled”/”Dark Reign”/”Secret
Invasion”/”Return of Dark Reign” (I think that was a “thing”?) and it all went
into one huge shit heap.
Movie success!
Sorry, went full circle there. But reboot, reboot, reboot. I gave up after
Dark Reign. There was no emotional investment in the characters any more.
Above: NorthEast Comic con flyer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is how Marvel
Comics could be saved but there are insurmountable odds against it –ie:
Disney. Yes, it would mean a “reboot”
but back to the continuity and characters of the pre- Avengers Disassembled
period. Bring in old writers and artists
who know
the characters and what the fans like and really can write and draw. As far as I am aware, neither Marvel nor DC
is currently(?) employing George Perez (the
fan favourite) or John Byrne.
Yet, according to DC comics Perez is “One of the most popular artists working in comics over the last 30
years, George Pérez's resume contains a who's-who of the most popular
characters in comics. From his co-creation, with Marv Wolfman, of THE NEW TEEN
TITANS in the 80s and his work on CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and WONDER WOMAN to
his mega-successful JLA/AVENGERS, George's work has thrilled comics fans for
over 3 decades.”
You get the creators back but you have someone who also knows the characters and the fans and
can oversee continuity (something Stan Lee has almost obsessive over but it
worked) and, here is a point people do not like and certainly the money men do
not; you slash back titles.
Five or six Avengers titles with 5-6 variant covers (and I
do know people are out there who do buy every variant cover). Either cut back to one Avengers book in
regular format or offer –and Disney can
do this with no difficulty- a double sized monthly comic at a non rip-off cover
price. Or, if you want to kill comics
off completely just release a certain number of graphic novels each year.
Remember old titles like Tales To Astonish where you had two featured strips like Iron
Man and the Sub-Mariner (with his head still attached to his body in those
days)? Well, character titles could be published that way so a Marvel Action
featuring Captain America and Thor, Tales To Astonish featuring another two
characters and so on that’s already four books combined to make two and cutting
costs in half. Core titles such as
Spiderman or The Avengers would remain as such.
DC could do the same.
But it will not happen.
It cannot because they are both movie-making franchises now and not seen
as comic companies.
I notice more bloggers have dropped even more DC and Marvel
titles this week. Some are down to one
title and may think about dropping that one.
I know this has been a long post. I’m the one sat here getting enflamed haemorrhoids
typing it! I can’t add anything more to
the current debate. To me DC comics is
dead. For me, Marvel Comics died about a decade back. I still find it almost unbelievable that I
write and say that. The twenty year old –well,
even the 45 year old- me would think that impossible. The younger me would
probably thump me in the teeth and yell “Make Mine Marvel!”
But that is it.
Wertham couldn’t do it. Comics overcame him and his mad cult. The Comics Code Authority could not do it. Recessions could not do it. At a time when
comics should be selling better than
ever it is the comic companies –Marvel and DC- who are cutting their own
throats and fans shout out “We can save you!” and the response? “Get us a
sharper knife, f**k-wits!!”
Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image (just search the blog for
Image Comics) know what they
are doing. They know how to stop all of this. They
just do not care.
Go spend your money on Independent Comics –colour or black
and white. They need your money. They will
talk to fans because most used to be/still are comic fans and they know from
the comic book greats that the fans are the
most important people in the business.
Now go get eye-drops!
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