Comic Book Companies VS The Readership

Recent action of a certain Marvel writer calls into question about our responsibility as the readership. Should we critical of their work? Should we just let things slide since it is just a comic book after all? Should you just sit back and not say anything when there an issue you may have with the story or characterization? Should writers or editor be treated different than everyone else that post at message board? Should we just shut up with our criticism about these things we see in the comics and with their behavior on the Internet? These questions have to be asked and have to be answer by the readership of this entertainment media.

Today’s comic book readers are more informed than those of past. Things change because as human beings we are constantly evolving forward. We have more information at our finger tips than any other time in history. We can research past works of literature of every kind. You can go Wikipedia and get a summation of the history of any comic book character if you wish. You can also find out about the works of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare on the Internet with a brief bio of those masters.  You can get all this information and use it to understand the characters that you are reading. This comes to the much of displeasure of those that work at Comic Book Companies. In an era of information, there is really no need to find back issues in order to get up to speed on the characters, and you don’t have to get those back issues for no other reason that you want to have those issues. In turn, we have become more critical of the current work being published today.

Critical of work, or getting your monies worth, is never a bad thing. Some see it as negative, but they are short of vision and not seeing the big picture here. If someone is being critical of something that seems to be constant theme in a story, they are telling you what is really wrong in the book. To use the “New Coke” analogy, Coca-cola didn’t have to go back to the old formula if they didn’t want to keep customers they have had for decades. They did because they were losing money because people didn’t like it the product. The customers were saying,” If I want to drink Pepsi, I would buy Pepsi and not Coke.” Coke could just have said they were being negative and ignore them. Instead they listen to these critics and change it back to what the customer have in their product now. For a period of time they produce two products that had Coke in the name, New Coke and Classic Coke, to see which one sells better. Classic Coke won. Comic Books could learn something from Coca-cola business example there with how they do things. “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Yes, the readership of comic books tends to be very passionate about the characters they read about on monthly basis. They are invested in these universes not only in money, but they are invested emotionally with these characters they have read about, in a lot of cases, for decades. They have grown to understand the behavior and motivation of these characters in these ongoing series. When a company tries to do a serious shift in these universes that requires that these characters to behave in a way that the readers don’t understand, the criticism will increase depending on how it is done. The character of Hal Jordan is a perfect example of this because his motivation becoming Parallax was out of character with his history. In turn, there were people who dropped Green Lateran until he became a Green Lateran again in Rebirth. While there are some that didn’t like this move, Hal’s return has been seen as the correct way to fix a mistake in characterization.

Writers and editor have come to Internet message boards for a few reasons. One, to read what people are saying about their product they are presenting to the customer. Two, they promote upcoming story lines in these books. Three, they interact with the readership of these books or the company they work currently work at. Now, the first two very rarely causes any controversy, but that third on is one that causes a lot problem. This is an entertainment media and open to criticism. There a numerous comic book websites out there that publish promos about upcoming titles and very rarely are critical of stories that have come out of these companies. Why? Fear of losing those previews and interviews most likely are the reason. The Comic Book Industry is the only Industry that has complete control over what is being said about them on news outlets. Newsarama used to have Cup of Joe articles until they printed the JMS article about his take on One More Day. Now CBR has the Cup of Joe article, doesn’t that seem a little petty by Joe Quesada? It was a news story that readers of that site were interested in reading. People get upset when a government does this type of thing, but it is okay when a private sector does this type of thing.

Writers and editor come on message boards claiming to want to interact with the readers. Yet, there are some that don’t like what is being said about their work. Instead of looking through this with professional eyes and trying to understand what is being said, they act like it is a personally attack. They don’t seem to understand that it isn’t about them as a person, but it is about the customer. They act like we don’t understand. In truth, that maybe the case and clarification would have gone a long way to make a customer happy. A simple message of understanding and kindness goes a lot farther than one that is insulting. There have been a few cases where a writer has gone to the extent of trashing a person publically because they were critical of their work or own a site where that is allowed to happen. That is when ego has grown too big. They have forgotten what makes a reader into a comic book fan. The idea that we are in this together mentality has been lost. It isn’t about us. It has become an Us VS Them thing now.  That is really sad.

I personally have been very critical of Marvel Comics because I feel they don’t want me reading their product anymore. Why? I don’t know really why they feel that way. Maybe, it is because I remember too much from the “good old days” of comics. It could be that I stand up for myself even if it is just a comic book. It could be that pointed out how their arguments are baseless in the changes they have made with Spider-man. It could be the fact I am relentless about something I see is wrong in how they treat people. I am not afraid of tell people how I exactly feel. That may get the label of “crazy fanboy”, but that tells me that are not reading the whole thing. They do not understand the message that is being presented to them in my writing or my podcast. Just like those that didn’t like the Spider-man marriage, there are very few professional comic book writers and editors that behave in this manner. Most interaction I have had with professional writers and artist were friendly. They were humble and really appreciated that I wanted to talk to them even if it was just a simple hello. They understand that they got in these positions because they treated everyone, no matter what, with same attitude as the Legendary Writer Stan Lee.  Kill them with kindness is what they used no matter how rude some fans can be towards them. They never once used the line,” At the end of the day I write…”

What can we learn from all of this? We can learn that we have right to voice our opinion about comic books because it is more than a comic book. It is entertainment in a time where stress is at an all time high. We can learn that when someone pushes us, that we have the right to push back. We can learn that at the end of the day, they want our money. We have power to make a change by not buying their product. We can get rid of the “New Coke” age of comics and get back to the “Classic Coke” age of comics.