Marvel VP Blames Women and Diversity For Marvel Comic's Slump in Sales
I'm curious to know what you all think about this. As you know Marvel Comics has been changing up a lot of their comics and making them more diverse, which I think great. We live in a time where diversity is a big deal and comic books have always reflected the things that are going on in our society, so this is kind of a natural progression of comics and the stories they tell.
According to Marvel VP of Sales, David Gabriel, this progression is the reason why Marvel Comic's sales have declined. In a recent interview with icv2.com, he points the finger at woman and diversity saying:
"What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity. They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales. We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked."
Of course, he later went on contradict himself a bit saying that diverse characters like Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Gwen, and Moon Girl are are all popular, and won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
I see a lot of the fans online embracing the diversity changes, regardless of that, Marvel Comics sales are still down and that slump seems to be getting worse. I don't think the blame should necessarily be put on woman and diversity. I don't know if you've been following the comics that are coming out, but there is so much going on! There's a ridiculous amount of Marvel crossover event series' with so much going on and they don't make it easy to follow because they all overlap with each other. Then there's the fact that they recently turned Captain America into a Hydra agent, which isn't going to help sales either. You can't pull that shit on a popular character like Captain America and not expect there to be a backlash and slump in sales.
On top of all that, buying comics has become an expensive hobby! It costs $3.99 to $5.99 or more for comics these days and buying all of those comics to follow everything that is going on in the Marvel universe becomes pricey. That's the main reason I had to cut back on buying comics.
In the end, I think the diversity of the comics is the least of Marvel's problems. I believe they are actually bringing in more of an audience by attracting different demographics. I think the solution is simplifying things. They don't need all these crazy crossover events to stay relevant. Yeah, they can still do them, but I think twelve a year is a little accessive. Things don't need to be over complicated.
Ms. Marvel co-creator and writer G. Willow Wilson shared her thoughts on Gabriel’s comments with a post on Tumblr, saying:
1. This is a personal opinion, but IMO launching a legacy character by killing off or humiliating the original character sets the legacy character up for failure. Who wants a legacy if the legacy is shitty?
2. Diversity as a form of performative guilt doesn’t work. Let’s scrap the word diversity entirely and replace it with authenticity and realism. This is not a new world. This is *the world.*
3. Never try to be the next whoever. Be the first and only you. People smell BS a mile away.
4. The direct market and the book market have diverged. Never the twain shall meet. We need to accept this and move on, and market accordingly.
5. Not for nothing, but there is a direct correlation between the quote unquote “diverse” Big 2 properties that have done well (Luke Cage, Black Panther, Ms Marvel, Batgirl) and properties that have A STRONG SENSE OF PLACE. It’s not “diversity” that draws those elusive untapped audiences, it’s particularity. This is a vital distinction nobody seems to make. This goes back to authenticity and realism.
What do you all think about what Gabrial had to say? Why do you think Marvel Comics' is in a sales slump. Sound off in the comment section below.
Via: io9