The Four Color Media Monitor

If the following news tells something, then as I'm sure many figured by now, the Ultimate line's replacement for Peter Parker is going to replace all Peter Parkers as the main Spider-Man:

Comic book geeks’ spider senses are tingling.

Not mine. This change has nothing to do with convincingly good writing. It's only about publicity at all costs.

After battling evil-doers in an alternate comic book line, a popular biracial version of Spider-Man is getting a promotion to the official Marvel Comics universe.

Sales figures don't support that claim very well. The Ultimate line didn't sell even after Morales took over in 2010, so why should we expect this switch to do any better?

“Many kids of color who when they were playing superheroes with their friends, their friends wouldn’t let them be Batman or Superman because they don’t look like those heroes but they could be Spider-Man because anyone could be under that mask,” says writer and co-creator Brian Bendis. “But now it’s true. It’s meant a great deal to a great many people.”

The character has been around since 2011, replacing the murdered Peter Parker in Marvel’s offshoot “Ultimate” line and gained a sizeable following, but the “real” Spider-Man has kept patrolling the company’s main titles.

Back that up with sales figures, please, because it's already pretty obvious the Morales character never did. And I dispute Bendis' ridiculous claim that children of different racial backgrounds were ever told they couldn't play the role of a white character. Did somebody tell him that, or is he just making it up to fortify his positions?

“Our message has to be it’s not Spider-Man with an asterisk, it’s the real Spider-Man for kids of color, for adults of color and everybody else,” says Bendis of the series which is drawn by artist Sarah Pichelli.

I think their message is that white Peter Parker is not a valid or authentic Spidey, and only a character of color and/or homosexual orientation is. That's surely the message they're sending with the changes they've made to Captain America too. Wow, some way to thank Jack Kirby and Stan Lee for all the hard work they put into their far superior tales of yesteryear.

The move is part of a recent push across the industry to add a little more color of a different variety to the splash pages of superhero books to appeal to a much more diverse readership.

Marvel has already surprised fans by introducing a female Thor and having an African-American hero, The Falcon, taking over the mantle as Captain America. And one of the publisher’s breakout hits in the last two years has been Ms. Marvel, a Muslim teen girl.

Yep, keep going while failing to present any sales figures so we can judge for ourselves. And what's this about the whole industry pushing for diversity? Most of the smaller publishers, whatever their politics, don't seem so hell-bent on doing the same. DC may have tried this first several years ago, using 3rd tier characters, but not only did it fail, it also shows just how cheap they are, if the only characters they can think of changing backgrounds for are minor ones.

And there is some dissent with Marvel's staff and the paper in the comments section. For example:

No.

I'm Black.

When I was a kid in early 80's England I had a Superman and a Spider-man costume and I dressed up as Superman more not only because Superman was my favourite but because Superman doesn't wear a mask.

YOU DON'T GET PEOPLE USED TO THE FACT YOU EXIST BY WEARING A MASK.

By all means give Miles a series but don't use race as a marketing tool.

I fully agree with that. I'm sure there's plenty of Blacks, Asians and Latinos who've worn costumes and t-shirts with Superman's emblem on holidays and at parties in the USA too, so Bendis shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. I may have spotted cosplayer girls in convention pictures who dressed up as Captain America and Green Lantern, so what's Bendis babbling about?

Another commenter responded to the claim social media was awash with pleading for Morales to become the main Spidey by saying:

That's a flat out lie. 98% of the real "fans" want the real Spider-Man...who is a white guy named Peter Parker. Ridiculous comment...any posts for Miles Morales would mainly be from progressive goofballs that probably would like to see a transgender Spidey as well.

Indeed, if the Marvel staff had proposed a gay Spidey, there'd be SJWs everywhere who'd be clamoring for that immediately, but never ever for talented writing. They probably wouldn't even buy and read the books once they arrive on the stands, because it's not great pastimes they care about. It's forcing their vision upon formerly great products and dictating to the wider public what they think entertainment should really be like.

Labels: marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, Spider-Man