To honor the untimely demise of Wolverine, the most iconic X-Men ever, Marvel is proud to present the all new, exclusively crafted, WEAPON ETCHED HOLO FOIL covers for the DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1-#4. Gorgeously rendered by blockbuster artist Steve McNiven – each WEAPON ETCHED HOLO FOIL wrapped issue of DEATH OF WOLVERINE will be a sight to behold!
“With a huge event like DEATH OF WOLVERINE, we wanted to give retailers and fans a cover that stands out on shelves and really helps to grab your attention,” says Marvel’s SVP of Sales & Marketing David Gabriel. “Something that says this is an event to behold. Whenever you do any kind of special cover treatment, you want to make sure the story can back it up. Charles & Steve have an epic story planned, and we’re confident that when you crack open DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1, you’ll agree!”
It really is the 1990s all over again, isn’t it?
(From Marvel PR.)
In 2002, Marvel Comics and the Sci-Fi Channel announced a miniseries adaptation of STRIKEFORCE: MORITURI to be called A THOUSAND DAYS. When Peter Gillis heard about this, he sent Marvel a letter pointing out that he had never signed a contract on the book, so they did not own it and the Sci-Fi Channel deal could not go forward. Marvel responded with an extremely lowball rights offer and a letter saying that Peter ought to accept it, because if he didn’t the project would never happen and he would see nothing at all from the property. Peter held steadfast to his position, at which point Marvel claimed that he HAD signed a contract with them. As “proof” they offered up one of the standard character rights assignments documents that Marvel used to make its freelancers sign back in the ‘80s whenever they wrote an issue of an established title like SPIDERMAN or THE AVENGERS. Peter had signed quite a few of these when he wrote books like CAPTAIN AMERICA and DOCTOR STRANGE. Now someone at Marvel took the signature page from one of those, attached it to a new blank contract, and penciled in “Strikeforce Morituri” where the name of the created villain or supporting character would normally have been typed. The result was pretty laughable (the typeface on the sig page didn’t match that of the rest of the document, for example) and Peter once again insisted that he had never signed his rights away.
If true, this is both hilarious and appalling.
What do you mean by that? How was a multicultural aspect “always there” during decades of Spider-Man being white?
When you become the writer of Spider-Man, all of a sudden, every day, every week, every month, someone of color — all different races — comes up to you and tells you, “Spider-Man was my favorite and this is why,” and then I hear a version of this story: “My friends, when I was a kid, wouldn’t let me be Superman, wouldn’t let me be Batman, because of my skin color. But I could always be Spider-Man, and Spider-Man became my favorite. As a little kid, I didn’t even understand why he was my favorite, but it was because anybody could be Spider-Man under that costume, because it was head-to-toe.” That’s not why we created a Spider-Man who’s a person of color, but afterwards, I was like, “Oh man, this was subconsciously why we did it.”
This Brian Bendis Vulture interview really bugs the hell out of me. I mean, I find his whole “we created a new Spider-Man who just happened to be half Black half Latino” explanation to be ridiculous but the idea that people of color connected with Spider-Man because he could be anybody under the mask ridiculous and sad. I was lucky enough to attend a diverse elementary school when I was a kid so I never had to deal with the kind of racism Bendis describes but I was also never under the impression that Spider-Man was anything other than white, because you know, I knew who Spider-Man was.
I think it’s a pretty sad commentary on the mainstream comics industry that people of color identified with Spider-Man because his design allowed for the possibility that he wasn’t just another White guy. Maybe if Luke Cage, Sunfire, Thunderbird, Night Thrasher, Prowler, Vibe, Bishop, Shang Chi, Rage, Simon Baz, White Tiger and so many other non-White characters had defining traits other than Not White and Angry all those poor White and non-White children would’ve felt that they had a place in Marvel and DC’s fictional universes.
(As an aside, contrast the characters listed above with characters created by people of color like the Blue Marvel, the entire Milestone stable and Isiah Bradley. You’ll generally find that the origins don’t involve the hero getting their powers through vaguely criminal circumstances and race is only one facet of the character’s existence as opposed to their sole reason for existing.)
It’s embarrassing that Big Two creators get media attention for presenting somewhat dignified portrayals of non-male, non-White or non-heteronormative characters in 2014 but those creators, most of which are freelancers, do deserve some credit for going against the grain especially when not doing so has no consequences and giving the people exactly what they want can be incredibly lucrative.
On the other hand, Miles Morales, the half Latino half Black Spider-Man created by Brian Bendis and Sara Pichelli, is not a good character.
One major problem is that Miles isn’t an original character; he’s a legacy, inspired by Peter Parker’s example to take up the Spider-Man mantel after the original died. In and of itself, that not a fatal flaw. Though Barry Allen and Hal Jordan were not the first heroes to called the Flash and Green Lantern, they have become so popular they have all but eclipsed their predecessors. Even though Miles has only appeared in comic book form and owners of the Spider-Man movie rights seem determined to keep it that way, there exists a chance, however small that Miles might one day be thought of as the default Spider-Man. But because the character doesn’t seem to have a future in other media and exists in an alternate universe that sits outside the regular Marvel publishing line, it is much more likely that he’ll always be the Black Spider-Man while Peter Parker will remain the real Spider-Man.
Additionally, the character has yet to really stand on his own two feet. Throughout the 28 issue run of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and its attendant spin-offs, Miles has mostly battled Peter Parker’s old foes and Peter’s friends and family have slowly become Miles’ supporting cast despite having no connection to Miles other than the fact that he’s now Spider-Man. Miles didn’t make his costume like Peter did, it was made for him by Peter’s clone and his best friend makes his web fluid from Peter’s old recipe. Miles is overshadowed by Peter, and frankly, doesn’t have much of a personality or any cultural signifiers to that a Black Latino teenager living in Queens might have. He’s a legacy character who won’t leave one.
The more problematic aspect of Miles’ characterization lies in the ways in which he’s different from Peter Parker. When Miles began to headline the Ultimate Spider-Man series, he had two parents loving parents and an uncle with whom he shared a deep bond. As of the first issue of the new Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man series, he has none of the above. His uncle was revealed to be a thief who died as the result of trying to force Miles into a life of crime. Miles’ mother was killed by a monster that was created by Peter’s father. And most recently, Miles’ father, a former criminal with the improbable name Jefferson Davis, abandoned his underage son after finding out that he was the new Spider-Man whose actions inadvertently led to his wife and brother’s deaths.
I can’t imagine any child in the world who would want to be a character that mired in misery and Black pathology. This isn’t like Batman where the tragedy is some distant event that character has long since overcome or even like the original Spider-Man where the occasional tragedy reinforces the character’s commitment to acting responsibly, whatever the personal cost. Bad, suspiciously stereotypical shit just happens to Miles.
I don’t blame Marvel Comics for creating a weak character, I blame myself for supporting a company that presents itself a bastion of diversity while it largely employes only White straight men. I don’t blame Brian Bendis, I blame myself for believing that someone outside my culture would depict it with any sort nuance or consideration. But I am annoyed that they receive praise for creating a character that could barely be described as being better than nothing.
(via apkr)
So worth reading.
Late 80s/Early 90s Superhero Fashion
Late 80s/Early 90s Superhero Fashion
What were the actual roots of this – eg that Wolverine link I just reblogged? Spikes, chains, pouches, studs, “low cut muscle shirts” etc. As a reader I “was there” so I saw the very rapid effect on how superhero comics looked, but I was also British (which I suspect matters) and maybe four or…
Tom asks a question I have often wondered.
DAZZLER: BIG IN ATTILAN
Greg Pak was saying McK and I should do a Dazzler comic on twitter earlier.
It reminded me of something.
When we were doing PHONOGRAM, we were often asked in interviews about what superhero work we wanted to do. Our standard answer was Dazzler, not as we really wanted to specifically, but because we wanted to talk about our creator owned books in interviews. It was a standard answer that got a laugh, and to get back to trying to make people interested in our desperately uninteresting indie book.
However, the problem with writers is that if you even say things enough near them, they’ll find themselves thinking about it on some level. And one day I realised I had an idea for a Dazzler story.
And then you find yourself just writing them down, to get them out of your head. I did it for this story, and put it in a folder alongside such masterworks as ROBIN HOOD VERSUS PREDATOR, and expected to never touch it again. I’m not working for Marvel, and I wasn’t trying to court them. I had uninteresting indie books to try and sell.
Then Fraction mentions to me that Marvel may be looking for a Dazzler mini. I smile, polish it up a bit and lob it at Axel and Nick.
It didn’t go anywhere for reasons that will become immediately obvious – in part that Attilan had just moved off the moon, in part that it was patently apeshit – but I’m still fond of it in many ways. There’s at least two jokes I like in it a lot – the implicit one that it’s a PROG vs DISCO story set on the Dark Side of the Moon and the other which you’ll probably guess, as I mention it twice.
And on a more practical level, people do ask me what one of my synopsis/pitches look like. This is a very early version, obviously, but may be interesting for that too.
Anyway – here’s what 2007 era Gillen was thinking about the Disco Dazzler…
This is the greatest.
The more recent relaunches at Marvel are coming in at lower sales levels both because of how recently some of the previous volumes of those titles launched and because of the number of new first issues at Marvel these days. A new first issue a month might be viable, but one or more a week clearly isn’t. “Wolverine and the X-Men” launched with 99,611 estimated units in 2011 and with only around 54,675 units when it relaunched in 2014. “Fantastic Four” launched around 114,531 units in 2012, relaunching at a far lower level in 2014 with only 65,775 units. “Secret Avengers” launched at 85,267 units in 2013 and at just 34,035 estimated units in 2014. Launching with lower numbers on the more recent volume doesn’t happen universally, but it has become the norm, not the exception.
Marvel has gone to the well too often and too frequently. The lower launches are setting lower high water marks for the relaunched titles. With the number of new titles they are launching, the launch numbering most likely will continue to weaken on most title. Marvel is systematically draining the sales power out of first issues much like it drained it from retailer incentive covers.
The question is, what happens after relaunches are exhausted?
In the Marvel movie universe, a straight white guy has played some part in saving the world 20 times in the past nine years. With The Amazing Spiderman 2 opening today, we’re up to 21. On the pages of Marvel’s comic books though, a different story is unfolding.
The company has, in the last few months, been aggressive in giving women and minority superheroes starring roles. That means solo books for heroes like Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, and Black Widow; the launch and re-imagining of the Ms. Marvel as a teenage Muslim-American girl; an all-female X-Men title; a new solo series for Storm; and perhaps most excitingly, the formation of The Ultimates, a superhero team comprised of women and minorities.
Reason Number 23 Why DC’s PR Sucks*: The publisher has been leagues ahead of Marvel in terms of female-led books (and, arguably, books with non-white-straight-leads…? I’m less sure about that one, to be honest, although it feels right) for years, and yet Marvel’s canny PR team is able to score headlines and stories like this one in Vox when it finally gets around to parity, making it seem like the leader in the area.
(* Reasons Number 1 Through 22 are pretty much the ones you think they are.)