Erik Larsen seems to be attacking the crowd you'd assume he'd want to back
When did comic books become so political? Today's creators have totally ruined comics by dragging politics into them! Comics are supposed to be escapism! pic.twitter.com/IoTcRS7CL2— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 7, 2018
He repeated the same with the following too. But, he misses the point as expected. What a lot of the audience now doesn't want is obvious leftist politics calling all Republicans inherently evil being clogged into the comics. Not that you could really expect a guy who's been doing stuff like that in the pages of Savage Dragon to have any understanding, of course. When somebody argues he'd rather not have nasty diatribes shoved into stories, Larsen said:
As the audience--we don't get to decide what goes into any given book--we just get to decide if we're going to buy it. If you don't like the work of any given creator--don't support their efforts. https://t.co/ZST82tvXS5— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 7, 2018
Ironically, there's quite a few SJWs in the writing departments - maybe including him too - who don't want anybody to buy their books and have no qualms about saying they don't want the audience you thought they did.
People bitch about all kinds of things being political. If Captain America punches a Nazi TODAY it's viewed a veiled criticism of President Trump because Nazis support Trump and he called them "some very fine people." https://t.co/odjMLvZDVe— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 8, 2018
Oh dear, is he putting words in Trump's mouth, without clarifying anything? Figures. His argument won't work out well if he repeats that leftist mantra.
It only happened to white males because that's all they had. At one point they literally had no book that didn't star a white male. That's your weakest argument thus far.— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 8, 2018
But I will say--I do get your point. https://t.co/KxpW7QocCt
Does he? They've had books starring blacks like Power Man & Iron Fist, and Black Panther, so that's not all Marvel had, and he misses the point that, if Marvel/DC really wanted to (and it's clear they dont'), they would've promoted and marketed books starring minorities as effectively as anything else.
Thing is--I think it's wrongheaded to try and say "you have to like this or you're racist/sexist." Many people disliked Obama for his policies but were labeled racists because of the color of his skin. It's possible to simply not like a comic book. https://t.co/Vwk5a8xY1J— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 8, 2018
Well at least now he's making valid points. It's offensive and takes away from serious discussions by dictating that one's writing/drawing cannot be criticized just because one doesn't like a certain book.
Marvel and DC's bigger problem has been creating new characters that stick. They've had a hell of a time doing that. We'll just have to wait and see if they can spin off these characters into successful series on their own when they bring back the original characters. https://t.co/2F4HXOoZEy— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 8, 2018
What's truly irritating is that, if there's any they seem to want stuck around, it's the characters who're Islamic, judging from how Green Lantern's been marketed of recent, along with the Muslim Ms. Marvel book.
Except--Marvel is making comic books and movies for the world and that world is not populated entirely by straight white males. Straight white males are a very vocal minority.— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 8, 2018
And, yes, I realize that I am in that minority. https://t.co/E7oB2y39ke
And other segments of society aren't? This misses reality by a mile.
You have to create and introduce them in a clever way and make people love them. It worked with Elektra, Beta Ray Bill and Deadpool. Their creators were relentless and never let you forget them. https://t.co/7PVo8QdkXD— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) February 8, 2018
But today's writers aren't trying to make people love them. And some SJWs who surely don't read comics don't want the characters to be lovable either, not even the "diverse" characters themselves. I've often figured people who criticized fictional characters in the past instead of the writing efforts built around said fictional creations were an early precursor to the social justice machine of today, and I may be right. They may not have even read the books containing the characters in question in the past.
If Larsen really wants to improve the landscape of comicdom, he shouldn't go against the crowd trying to lead to said improvements. In fact, maybe it'd be better if he'd just stay out of it. And stop doing his own political rants in the comics; that could also help.
Labels: moonbat artists, politics