The Four Color Media Monitor

The Fort Smith Times-Record sugarcoated Marvel's very bad year, claiming their "Legacy initiative" has what to find worth reading while downplaying some of their terrible missteps:

Marvel Comics rolled out a major publishing initiative last September called “Legacy.” While it clearly didn’t succeed at everything they hoped, the results are worth exploring for fans of Marvel comics, movies and TV shows.

No, I don't think so. They had zip last year worth the bother, and I sure don't want to support the work of Axel Alonso, though he is already out. The following should be telling something:

Marvel needed some good news in 2017, in what proved to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. The Hollywood Reporter even wrote an article titled “2017: The Year Almost Everything Went Wrong for Marvel Comics.” It’s an article well worth reading in its entirety, but some of the highlights included Marvel bungling its relationship with the guy who created Thanos, the Big Bad in “Infinity War”; a storyline featuring a fascist Captain America that outraged fans; hiring a new editor-in-chief who had to admit to defrauding the company in his youth; a retailer rebellion over expensive lenticular covers that didn’t work; and a senior vice president blaming poor sales on “diversity.”

Oh, what's this we got here? They may not have named Cebulski directly, but from what they're saying here, you'd think he was guilty of embezzlement! Just who do they think they are, distorting the whole issue, which was actually his use of an Asian name for a pseudonym, and the petty complaints that followed? This stands out as particularly atrocious propaganda in the article.

Yes, virtually all of these injuries were self-inflicted. Arch-rival DC Comics laughed and laughed, while inviting disaffected Marvel readers into its Batcave.

This fails to note they haven't entirely moved away from their own SJW-pandering. Although they may have brought back the white Wally West as Flash in another form of continuity (it's not entirely clear to me if the Flash title with Barry Allen is set in the same, and Cyborg's Titans history is still missing), they've still been pushing out Ray Palmer as the Atom for the sake of the Asian Atom, and Ted Kord's still been sidelined for the sake of the Latino Blue Beetle. Even in the DCU, there has to be a line drawn, and they haven't done much to inspire confidence they respect the older material.

Speaking of which, Marvel finished the year with the largest market share — 36.36 percent vs. DC’s 30.06 percent (with smaller publishers fighting over the table scraps). However, industry journal ICv2.com noted that Marvel had “less than half the lead Marvel had two years ago, when it topped DC by around 13 share points.”

Well, ouch.

Yeah, considering they did nothing to insist Marvel take concrete improvement steps, proving they don't love the medium. But, if they really do have less than half their lead from 2 years before, what does that say about DC? Nothing good either, to be sure. The article's not especially honest about their past conduct either:

Part of DC’s success came from a 2011 initiative called “Rebirth,” which re-launched their entire superhero line more or less from the beginning. Stripping their iconic characters of years of baggage proved to be a winner, with even lesser titles like “Aquaman” and “Batgirl” leaping up the sales charts.

No kidding! And where might those titles stand today? Obviously, not very high, and ultimately, nobody was impressed, though in fairness, it did at least lead to Identity Crisis getting de-canonized. But they still used "New 52" as an excuse to throw out Wally West as the Flash, despite his being a workable character at one time, and that's just the beginning of all the mistakes DC made after launching the New 52. Even the Justice Society suffered, with Alan Scott changed to homosexual, among other atrocious retcons that served as precursors to Marvel's SJW-catering. Even Batgirl had some in the form of a transgender cast member.

Marvel wanted to do the same. Hence, “Legacy,” which marvel.com says was supposed to “usher in the dramatic return of dozens of its most beloved heroes, villains, teams and artifacts in bold stories that will begin the next chapter of the Marvel Universe.”

In other words, copying Rebirth.

Well the reason it failed was mostly because nobody trusts their top brass anymore, and if Joe Quesada had any influence behind the scenes, that's just one more reason for the failure. Another was their SJW-catering and cowardice.

Sadly, “Legacy” failed to do that. In fact, it didn’t really do much, with one retailer (who prefers to go nameless) calling it “a meaningless label.”

As evidence, one should note that 18 titles that had “Legacy” slapped across the cover since September have been canceled, will be canceled in the next few months or are probably already canceled with no notice. It’s hard to imagine that was part of the plan.

One should also note several of the cancelled titles were among the worst social justice platforms given to screwballs like Gabby Rivera (who wrote the America Chavez title with a lesbian Latina). In fact, later in the article, they recommend the work of another SJW, their idea of whose work to read before or after the upcoming Black Panther movie:

Claws of the cat: Acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates continues his epic run on “Black Panther,” which is required reading for the Feb. 16 movie — and on general principle. Meanwhile, a “Rise of the Black Panther” miniseries, also by Coates, is filling in some blanks in the Panther’s origin.

So, what's so great about ultra-leftist Coates' stories that isn't so great about anybody who came before him, even Christopher Priest? Far as I'm concerned, the choice of Coates is no accident in terms of politics.

From the ashes: The five-issue “Phoenix Resurrection” miniseries, which ran weekly in January, brought Jean Grey and the Phoenix players back to prominence in time for the November X-movie. It will be succeeded by “X-Men Red,” an ongoing title starring Jean as an X-team leader, adding to a quality X-line that already includes two other recommended books, “X-Men Blue” and “X-Men Gold.” That’s plenty of X-citement to hold us until the “Dark Phoenix” premiere.

Gee, doesn't the Gold title contain some nasty attacks on conservatives? Suggesting the other spinoffs aren't far behind, so the rainbow colors they come in don't amount to a delicious doughnut at all.

Merc with a mouth: With “Deadpool 2” arriving in May, Marvel hasn’t been shy about highlighting its star — and its co-star, the time-traveling Soldier with a Snarl named Cable. “Spider-Man/Deadpool” is far better than it deserves to be, with several LOL moments per issue. “Despicable Deadpool,” with Wade Wilson returning to his murderous ways (temporarily, one assumes), climaxes in May. And “Cable” himself now has his first title in years, which should re-establish his particulars for the movie-curious.

See, this is the problem one could find a valid worry about with Deadpool. Even if it's only a "brief" return, it's still embarrassingly bad. Why must we sympathise/emphasize with a cold-blooded killer? That's even worse than Gambit being stuck in the role of a professional thief, and could make moviegoers feel awkward about watching the sequels.

Pseudo-Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the alternate-Earth web-slinger who will star in the animated film “Into the Spider-Verse” in December, stars in his own title, “Spider-Man,” and also the sunny super-teen book “Champions.” If you’re looking forward to Sony’s Spidey-less “Venom” in October, there’s a monthly book starring the space-born symbiote.

That "sunny" book happens to be filled with its own share of leftist propaganda, so I wouldn't recommend wasting time on that either.

Just comics: Obviously, not all of Marvel’s books are connected to Marvel movies or TV shows, and some of them are pretty good reads. “Ms. Marvel” stars a young Inhuman who is this generation’s Peter Parker — a lovable Pakistani-American girl who suffers the slings and arrows of adolescence in a New Jersey high school. [...]

When they start recommending Islamic propaganda like this, and don't even have the courage to mention religion, you know something's wrong. Besides, the tone of the book isn't so lovable. Why, neither is the tone of Geoff Johns' own pro-Islamic propaganda in Green Lantern.

But maybe the worst part is the subtle smear against Cebulski. No matter what his merits or lack thereof, that's no excuse for falsely asserting he embezzled or fleeced them of money. Now that is what I call stooping low.

Update: corrected the paper's location from Arizona to Arkansas.

Labels: Captain America, crossoverloading, dc comics, Flash, islam and jihad, Justice Society of America, marvel comics, msm propaganda, politics, sales, Spider-Man, X-Men