Chuck Dixon sees the industry collapsing, in part because of Marvel's fiascos
BIC: You’ve been rather outspoken about ComicsGate in the past, do you think the movement has changed over the past year?The writers and artists who attacked Comicsgate hopefully realized it was backfiring, and taking the risk of costing them audiences on their own books, and far less are saying anything about it now. Maybe the editors at their publishers also recognized the negative impact it could have, and told them to cut it out too. It's certainly about time the higher-ups considered that some order and guidelines were necessary, if they really want their companies to salvage whatever good reputation they expect to have, especially with investors.
Chuck: It’s fragmented as these things do. But I think things have settled down among the opponents to free speech that were arrayed against self-described ComicsGate creators. Mostly, I believe opposition has petered out once the naysayers realized how little effect (re: NONE) they were having stifling the creators.
Another reason why even the press outlets smearing the campaign should be ashamed of themselves for it, is because it could rub off on the moviegoers who've watched the films based on superhero comics, and make even them look like irrational creeps. Indeed, moviegoers might want to consider the negative impact the comics contributors and press sources who attacked Comicsgate could have on film fandom as much as comic fandom, and if needed, protest the ill treatment the establishment's giving them. Now to the part about the industry proper:
BIC: The comic industry also posted another negative year, making this two years in a row where have sales have declined. Why do you think the industry is currently in a downturn?And look how far that's plummeted too, now that their new projects consist mostly of stuff involving far-left politics, and one of the first, Border Town, was derailed after its writer was accused of sexual abuse. But this honestly isn't good if everything depends on Marvel for survival, any more than if other publishers base their artistic decisions on whatever Marvel does, which only demonstrates they lack faith in their ability to market by artistic merit. And the monopoly Diamond holds on comicdom is another serious problem, one Marvel at least partially has responsibility for.
Chuck: Inferior product is to blame, for the most part. And, let’s face it, Marvel takes up most of the air in the room even when they aren’t #1 in market share. They’re the industry leader and bellwether in a large part due to their draconian policies toward retailers as well as their brand name. If they fall, we all fall. Like it or not. And for the past few years they seem less interested in finding new readers than they are in pissing off the old ones. You HAVE to cater to your current readership AND make an effort to find new fans. The last time I can remember anyone making an effort like that was when Vertigo was launched.
BIC: How do you think it can recover?Be that as it may, one thing is clear: modern Marvel/DC cannot be recommended to any new readers with the way they're going, stuffing their series with crossovers and far-left politics. And doubtless quite a few of them are now plagued with gratuitous violence, another serious detractor they've suffered from for over 2 decades already.
Chuck: Try to coax a new, young readership to get into the comics buying habit. Through library programs and school book fairs and anything else that gets comics in front of kids again. That’s gonna be tough. We skipped a generation or or two of readers when comics left the news stands and supermarkets. Digital is not the answer. Getting a kid to pick up a physical comic book or trade is.
As of now, creator-owned products will probably be the future of comicdom. And all because nobody in the industry wanted to try better approaches, or worse, they intimidated anybody with better ideas into silence under the threat of blacklisting.
Labels: dc comics, good writers, indie publishers, libraries, marvel comics, sales, technology
Sad thing about Dixon is that he threw away all of the respect I had for him (as a conservative comic writer standing up to the masses) by working for an actual white supremacist. Vox Day is no better than any leftwing hack. In fact, he has quite a lot in common with them. Being a racist and anti-Semite who loves identity politics.
Posted by Anonymous | 9:48 AM
Chuck Dixon must also be too stupid to understand that Marvel and Dc , and the entire comics industry did try to
" coax a new, young readership to get into the comics buying habit. Through library programs and school book fairs "
Be that as it may, one thing is clear: modern Marvel/DC cannot be recommended to any new readers with the way they're going, stuffing their series with crossovers and far-left politics.
The whole purpose of sjw comics was to make comics that library programs or school fairs would support or promote. The vast majority of people who work in libraries or as schoolteachers are sjws. They are the real audience for things like Squirrel Girl and it remains unclear if these sjw comics created any long-term readers given the abysmal quality.
The issue that many people have with Jews is .
Jews...more or less pioneered modern identity politics movements with the sole difference that they tend do better than most groups out there. There's something odd about a group that does better financially than most groups out there complaining about being oppressed and persecuted in developed countries. For some people, that feeling of oddness turns into hatred and that is unfortunate.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:24 PM
It is real cowardly to talk about what 'many people' think or what 'some people' say, and hide your own opinion behind a lot of nonexistent others. On the other hand, I can understand why the commentator up top would not want to cop to an op like that one.
The guy seems to be saying that Jews are not hated but they think they are and the oddness of that thought makes people want to hate them. Sounds logical. It is kind of reassuring to know that the idiots are the bigots.
Identity politics in these here United States probably got its start with the Tammany Hall Irish, although you could make a case for it beginning with white southerners claiming to be defending the southern way of life.
A group on the top that complains about being oppressed and persecuted - isn't that the essence of the far right neo-white nationalist movements out there?
Posted by Anonymous | 11:06 AM
"neo-white nationalist movements"
The people who join those things fall into two camps.
The people who join those things are poor whites who are get bullied by black kids.
Poor whites who are told by far-left progressives that they are inherently evil and need to be replaced by people who they have hurt.
Segregation in the South made since at the time since racial tension made it impossible for integration to happen immediately in the South. White supporters of segregation NEVER claimed to be oppressed or discriminated. They were terrified of slaves taking revenge for slavery.
They were afraid of the 1804 Haiti massacre happening on U.S. soil.
" Even whites who had been friendly and sympathetic to the black population were imprisoned and later killed." in Haiti. (Wikipedia)
We can see similar sentiment building in South Africa..with the black controlled South African government becoming increasingly hostile towards whites as a way of addressing disparities in income. While you can argue segregation was wrong, it's clear that racial differences between blacks and whites make it hard for them to form a melting pot society where race doesn't matter.
Posted by Anonymous | 1:05 PM
Thomas Jefferson said;
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."
Segregation does not prevent rebellion; it didn't prevent whites from lynching blacks, and being in the back of the bus or going to a different school doesn't stop anyone from rebelling if the will is there. There is no sense to this argument.
"While you can argue segregation was wrong..." - yes, I suppose there are some people who might take it into their head to argue that....
Southerners claimed to be oppressed by Northerners. Constantly.
Posted by Anonymous | 1:49 PM
"There is no sense to this argument." Segregation and lynchings did prevent rebellion..,it certainly was a deterrent towards aggression towards whites.
If segregation doesn't work then Left-wing separatist movements such as "safe spaces for x", the creation and support of Israel are also wrong-headed but most liberals support the idea of safe spaces for minorities where certain groups are allowed in, and that Jews "need" their own state because of universal persecution.
Posted by Anonymous | 2:54 PM
I generally agree with the above poster. A consistent and predictable pattern of extrajudicial torture and killing of males, combined with rape of females and sexual humiliation of men, in a community where the underclass knows beyond doubt that the vigilantes have the tacit support of the state and will never be held accountable, is the only way to keep a potentially dangerous and racially distinct civilian population in line. His only mistake is thinking that segregation helps reinforce the message; in fact segregation and its maintenance is what made this message necessary. This is how the backwardness and poverty of the South were preserved for generations.
If there is anything that shows how the comic book community has been dominated by sjws over the last 80 years, it is that the characters who recognize this truth are always made to lose. Dr Doom, the Red Skull, Thanos have each gained the power cosmic and they still wind up being humiliated by lesser more ignorant title characters with their infantile unrealistic posturings about morality. What more proof is there that the stories are rigged in favor of the liberal "heroes"?
The obvious next step is to bring vigilante tactics to bear against the schoolteachers and librarians. Now some might balk; each of us recognizes that this is necessary, but we each have our pet. My librarian is different they say; can't she survive? But my sister is a librarian, says another. But we have to recognize the face of the enemy; each librarian who survives will teach a new generation and bring back chaos in their wake. All must be lynched or none of them, and then we can disregard things like the constitution forever.
Posted by Anonymous | 9:54 AM
Squirrel Girl is Marvel's throwback to the Silver Age - clever stories and witty dialogue and good characterization, without the heavy handed angst and overwrought art with nightmare anatomy that came along later. A hero who wins with brains instead of punching people into submission or killing them. Just because you hate librarians doesn't mean you have to spoil the fun for everyone else.
Posted by Anonymous | 11:21 AM
If "universal persecution" was the criteria for having a state, the only peoples who would have one would be the Kurds and the gypsies. The French didn't get France as a booby prize for being hated by others. They have it because they are a distinct people with their own language and history and culture and army and laws. Israelis ditto.
Posted by Anonymous | 11:29 AM
I've heard this about Dixon, "Chuck Dixon is one that actually fetishsizes Barbara Gordon and really leaned into it when he left DC. I think he wrote a short erotic fanfic on his old site and invited fans to send him bondage fan art of her and some other red head character I think."
Posted by Anonymous | 10:10 PM
If you think Squirrel Girl is a good throwback to the Silver Age, I have some serious concerns about your mental condition.
Posted by Anonymous | 10:56 AM
Marvel has been encouraging readers to write letters to the editor this past year or two, trying to get old fashioned letter columns going again. For the most part it hasn't worked. Squirrel Girl is one of the few titles that has engaged with its fans strongly enough to have regular two page letter columns each month. Don't be too quick to underestimate it, not until you actually read it.
Posted by Anonymous | 2:16 PM
I have: it sucks.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:24 PM