I don’t even particularly care for milkshakes, but Heather Antos posted this selfie.
It's the Marvel milkshake crew! #FabulousFlo pic.twitter.com/ogn8KEYuPM
— Heather Antos (@HeatherAntos) July 28, 2017
I didn’t know anything about her, but I’ve since learned that she’s an editor at Marvel comics, and that mobs of manbabies hate her for that photo. And the fact that a fair number of editors at Marvel seem to be women.
It’s strange. They hate it when women aspire to STEM jobs, and they hate it when women are English and communications majors and get jobs appropriate to their qualifications — and all of those jobs are out of their league. But don’t worry, manbabies, the male executive class at Marvel also don’t like diversity, and blame it for declining sales…because overpriced comic books, bizarre story lines, and Nazi Captain America would never hurt their appeal.
It’s interesting how anything, even drinking a milkshake, can be a seditious act when your opposition is a swarm of not-very-bright snowflakes. It’s also amusing that they’re raging about an innocuous photo, while the Nazis-drink-milk fad elicited nothing but a bemused what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you from the SJWs.
Those guys should be ashamed. There has been a large increase in female comic fans. A 2014 demographic between male and female viewers are virtually identical trends with the women coming in just a little below although the trend line is positive for women. So, men is trending down. Men age comes in a little lower with most being 18-21 and females 21-24. Either way, when I was growing up it would have been odd for a girl to be a superhero fan and you definitely did not want a girl you liked to know you read comics. Now, I am not sure what these guys are complaining about because it should be easier for them to get laid.
On a different note with the Marvel execs, it is difficult to say gender superheros are causing a decline in sales. For example, Wonder Woman has made good sales and, although I haven’t seen it yet, I have had some of my friends who are male say that it was one of the best superhero movies they’ve seen. I think as a business exec the Marvel employees have a duty to their shareholders which should equate to their fans by putting out the best product for the best price. I don’t know the ethnic diversity numbers but obviously if a demographic does not have enough viewers or disposable income then it does not make sense targeting them to buy tickets and merchandise.
However, as a kid playing with GI Joe and Marvel figures I can say that race never played a factor in which character I wanted from Toys R Us, but probably it did with what my parents would actually buy me. So, the real question is how do you sell ethnic diversity to the current generation of parents? You don’t have to convince the kid because they already want the brown barbie or black panther (not before they have Spider-man), but you do have to sell the parents which I think is getting easier. It is still sad because sci-fi and superheroes are supposed to be color blind. Skin color is not supposed to matter only your superpower. You know, collect them all type of marketing.
As for “overpriced comic books”, they wouldn’t be priced that bad if it wasn’t for the fact almost every other page is an ad. It’s usually for another comic book, but still: I paid $3 to $4 for the book, I want to read it, not skip over pages of ads. Marvel and DC are the worst about this, which is just one reason I’ve started picking up titles from other publishers.
Jeremy Shaffer @2:
That’s one of the main reasons I only bother collecting graphic novel compilations. That and I get the full story arc in one sitting without having to worry about it being delayed or trying to find the next issue in my disorganized collection.
I’ve found titles like Lady Thor and Ms Marvel to quite good, but the cosmic crossover events are often too disruptive.
The man-babies would’ve hated my former co-worker (I’ll call her JM, her initials). She had an English degree from our alma mater, AND she worked in database development. And she’s written books since then, IIRC.
I’m no longer able to be surprised by doodz harassing women for existing in Guyspace. I am surprised by that much milkshake solidarity though. No one getting a cup or one of those waffle cone things?
ugh, always preview.
I’ve been reading comics since I was a little kid. I used to be heavily into reading superhero comics but I ve since dropped those because it became nothing more than excuses to draw large fight scenes. Nevertheless, I do enjoy the new diversity in some of the books. (I’m a black woman. I wonder if me and my niece would just make the manbabies heads explode?)
But I don’t buy single books anymore, because they just cost too much, at 3 and 4 dollars per book, and there are just too many iterations of the same groups and characters. I prefer to get the collections, so I can get the whole story at once, and I like to pick just one book per character. As an artist, I also prioritize the artwork. (The last series I bought was The Midnighter.) I don’t buy books about straight white guys anymore (and not just because they have a propensity to turn into Nazis.)
There’s also a wealth of new, more inclusive media, which I also subscribe to. I want to read about Black, Asian, LGBT, and Latinx superheroes and there are plenty of Indie companies writing those. Marvel books are better than they used to be but they could do better.
I also never buy physical books. As a woman I dreaded going into comic book stores, in the past, but I would occasionally brave them, only to be sneered at, or ignored. I just went to chain stores for the collections, when I got tired of that treatment. Nowadays, I never buy physical books,and I am so happy. Digital books are the best thing to happen to comics because it means I don’t have to come in contact with the horrific mouth breathing bigots, who used to hang out in comic book stores. But I don’t think the industry counts those the same way they count physical sales, which is why their count is down. I only buy digital books now (part of the reason I bought a large laptop.)
At first glance all I saw were ALL THE MILKSHAKES. I didn’t even realize everyone was the same gender until PZ’s text just spelled it out.
I’d like to think that’s a sign of maturity but nah, we all know it’s just the opposite.
I’m not going to make any claim about whether or it was a good idea from a sales stand point but Nazi Captian America was a brilliant commentary on the very segement of comic fans that flipped out over the innocent milkshake photo. Long story short: Steve Rogers retires and passes the mantle of Cap to Sam Wilson (aka the Falcon, a black guy). A certain segement of comic fans lose thier collective shit over a black guy being Cap. The writers respond by saying oh-k well Rogers was a brainwashed Nazi the entire time. Because clearly Captain America must be a blond blue eyed aryan to les deplorables.
See here: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/204647/nazi-captain-america
So, wait, the milkshakes drive all the manbabies from the yard?
All I can say is where were the women like that when I was that age? I was always a feminist out of pure — or not so pure — self-interest.
I have to laugh at how easy it is to trigger these idiots. All you have to do is state their toys are for kids and they go right off.
gijoel @13
I actually play games myself, so I’m embarrassed to be associated with that guy. Also, his argument is that you can show that some games aren’t for children, but you can’t show that there are more than two genders. Do intersex people just not exist in this guy’s head? Also, a lot of transgender people have intermediate sexual anatomy that was induced by hormone therapy. Both groups of people already fall outside of the gender binary from an anatomical standpoint. Why is it such a stretch for them to fall outside of the gender binary mentally too? One last thing, is anyone else getting tired of people who think they won arguments saying they “DESTROYED!!!” their opponent? it never fails to sound gauche and hyperbolic.
Your boner was not asked for its input.
@emergence Or that you can’t be born intersexed.
Saw this post late. Blah. But reminded me of a talk with some comic book fans. They get weird about noticing someone is targeting a new market segment. It’s “pandering” to females when Thor’s mantle gets picked up by a woman. But somehow they fail to notice that every smart guy ever in comicland (and there are a LOT of them from magic guys to tech guys to just randomly smart guys) is pandering to the geek male segment.
The strongest argument I can think of to justify pointing out these newer directions as inferior is that the older stuff may seem more nuanced while the new stuff isn’t. But I think that’s entirely due to the number of examples. It’s a lot easier for one side to artificially seem nuanced when you’re comparing dozens of samples to one or two. The larger group has to have more variety or they’d all be clones.