DC Finally Overtakes SJW Marvel as Top Comic Book Company of 2017
Marvel recently fired its SJW Editor in Chief, and cancelled a slew of SJW titles in what butthurt SJWs are calling an apocalypse, but they’re still pumping out already-written-and-drawn SJW comics. It won’t be until the 2nd quarter 2018 that we’ll start to see if Marvel is still an SJW clownshow.
But as for 2017 — the damage was done. Looking at the entire year, DC beat Marvel.
Looking at the most-ordered comic books in the North American comic market, DC Entertainment had a particularly strong year, with seven of the top 10 issues of the year being published by the home of Superman, Batman and the Justice League. The numbers illustrate how much the market has changed in the past few years — in more ways than one. Comparing this year’s most-ordered issues with the top 10 from 2014, the scale of DC’s success becomes more apparent; just four years ago, not one DC title made it to the list, with nine titles coming from Marvel alone.
No worries. Brian Bendis has arrived at DC to converge Superman. And if their television shows are any guide, there is no shortage of convergence already metastasizing at DC.
The timing is perfect, as far as I’m concerned. As it happens, we’ll be offering more than just Alt-Hero and Wodehouse in the first batch of 24-pagers in February. Some of you may recall this scene from a certain Castalia novel.
The business world is beginning to recognize that more and more corporations have a diversity problem:
Does the world of comic-book superheroes have a diversity problem?
The question matters a lot for investors. Here’s why.
Consumers pay up for good, original content. And comic books come through in spades. They spawn a colorful array of endearing superheroes, followed by profitable movie spinoffs, action figures and collectibles.
Thus superheroes play a significant role in sales trends at Time Warner TWX, +0.26{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} and Walt Disney Co. DIS, +0.12{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} home of DC Comics and Marvel Entertainment, respectively. They also impact sales at Netflix NFLX, +0.64{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} which has produced two popular series based on comic-book characters, Cinemark CNK, +1.49{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} Regal Entertainment RGC, +0.04{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} AMC Entertainment AMC, +5.32{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} Hasbro HAS, -0.16{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} and Mattel MAT, -1.79{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee}
So if the new wave of “diverse” superheroes has caused the recent slump in comic-book sales growth, that’s a trend investors need to sit up and notice.
In the past few years, Disney’s Marvel Entertainment has rolled out an Afro-Latino Spider-Man, a Muslim Ms. Marvel, a female Thor, a gay Iceman, a Korean Hulk, an African-American female lead in Iron Man, and a lesbian Latina America Chavez.
Now fans accustomed to more “traditional” characters may have come down with diversity fatigue. And they could be walking away in protest….
Already, the trends don’t look good. Last year, sales growth of comic books, graphic novels and digital offerings cooled off to 5.3{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} as revenue hit $1.08 billion, says ICv2. That was significantly lower than the 9.9{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} annual average growth during 2010-2015.
This year could be even worse. ICv2 President Milton Griepp says comic-book store sales fell 10.5{139dcce145f96af3658d0fca91371b90d108412f7d21b6b2f7ff4f9655f4a3ee} in the first nine months of this year compared with the same time in 2016. He doesn’t yet have hard numbers for digital and regular bookstore sales. But he doubts they will be strong enough to offset the steep decline at comic-book stores, which account for over half of sales.
Convergence represents a problem for some, but tremendous opportunity for others. And as for our foray into comics, we are on track to release at least two 24-pagers in both digital and print format in February, as well as a pair of full-length black-and-white graphic novels.
And the good news is that SJWs always double down, as one perspicacious and hauntingly magnetic observer has noted.
Marvel also pushes back on the theory that diversity hurts sales…. So Marvel is sticking to its guns. “We have had such a great opportunity to create new and interesting characters that are truly representative of the way the world is,” says Sana Amanat, Marvel’s content development director who helped create Kamala Kahn, the popular Muslim Ms. Marvel. “We have made great strides, and we have more to go.”
But the writer has what really promises to be a great idea: Here’s a suggestion for Cebulski, from the cheap seats. Your company, Marvel, loves to say it reflects the world outside your window. If so, why not step up and launch a series that features alt-right characters battling it out with social justice warriors?
That would, indeed, be intriguing, would it not? What a brilliant idea!
The first Alt★Hero shirt is here! This one features a design that is very similar to the poster previously featured on Dangerous.
This one says, “The Struggle for Human EQUALITY and PROGRESS Needs Heroes Who Fight For GLOBAL JUSTICE” Hey, we want to bring over all those Marvel and DC readers, right? Can’t hook them without bait.
As you may recall, our objectives with regards to the comics industry go well beyond Alt★Hero. That may be our aircraft carrier, but our goal is not to sail around the metaphorical seas and do naval exercises while looking pretty, it is to actually sink ships, blow things up, and send in the Marines to take territory. I mentioned that one aspect of our larger strategy fell into place earlier this week, now here is a glimpse of another one.
In addition to creating our own content, we are signing comics that are being produced by others that we believe will be of potential interest to comics readers who are increasingly dissatisfied with the SJW-converged material that Marvel and DC Comics are trying to push on them. Below is a page from what will likely be the first comic that we will release through our new channel.
That’s right. We’re doing Wodehouse. We also have a pair of Lovecraft Noir works in the mix as well as a possible adaptation of a popular military science fiction series by one of Amazon’s bestselling authors. Just to be clear, none of this is utilizing any of the resources provided by the Alt★Hero backers, it is merely the result of other content creators wishing to avail themselves of the alternative distribution channel we are creating by publishing with us.
In case you’re interested what we’ve been up to at DevGame, we expect to have this little arcade game out soon.
We’ve now got two DevGame teams making steady progress on their projects and we anticipate doing our first game-related Freestartr sometime next summer. It’s going to be a remodel-and-update of one of my favorite strategy games of all time and will be set in the world of Minaria. Due to time constraints, Voxiversity, and personal interests, I’ve decided to stop blogging at Alpha Game and start doing more at DevGame.
That doesn’t mean Alpha Game is dead, as I’ll be turning over the blogging there to another astute observer of human socio-sexuality. But I think I’ve said all that I really wish to say on the subject, and I want to find more time to spend on my first and foremost area of interest, which is games.
We also have very good news on the Alt★Hero front. I don’t wish to go into any detail on the subject at this point, but I can say that we are definitely going to be able to hit the price point I felt would be necessary in order to seriously disrupt the comics industry.
In the culture war engulfing America, there are many fronts. Some are apparent to everyone, such as the purging of right-wing figures from Facebook and Twitter. But a less well-known battle is being waged in science fiction publishing, where a steady convergence in the industry has all but eliminated straight white male authors from the catalogs of the major sci-fi publishers.
California is known as a bellwether state. Political, cultural, and demographic trends tend to appear in California first before metastasizing throughout the United States. It is not an accident that both no-fault divorce and Valley Girl uptalk both happened to have their roots in California.
In the same way, the comics industry can be considered something of a bellwether industry, at least when it comes to the culture war. Even before the university campuses descended into social justice lunacy, the two industry giants, Marvel and DC Comics, hired executives who promptly turned their companies into left-wing propaganda factories.
The extent of the convergence cannot be exaggerated; it is literally worse than you can likely imagine. From a transsexual Thor to a gay Hispanic Spider-man, from tedious lecturing and hectoring to homosexual marrying and villains celebrating girl power with heroes in lieu of fighting them, the culture warriors in comics have insulted their fans, rejected their roots, besmirched their heroes, and befouled and befattened the formerly beautiful.
Read the rest of my new monthly column on the culture war at Dangerous.
Just a note to apprise the Alt★Hero backers of the current progress. I’ve now completed the script for Alt★Hero #1: Falls the Hammer, so between Chuck and me we have written 108 pages of the 576 pages required for Alt★Hero volumes 1-6 and Avalon volumes 1-6.
The first 24 pages for Alt★Hero #2: Crackdown / War in Paris are now sketched, and they are now being inked, colored, and lettered. We anticipate having at least 3 24-page books ready for digital publication by the end of the year. The digital publications will be provided to all the relevant backers, but we cannot say yet when the first trade paperback will be ready as that depends upon the artists.
Due to a number of inquiries from independent creators interested in working with Castalia, we have created a second imprint for publishing outside projects that are either complete or already in development, including a pair of black-and-white neo-Lovecraftian graphic novels as well as a color adaptation of a PG Wodehouse novel. The first 24 pages of Quantum Mortis: A Man Disrupted will be done by the end of the year as well.
Just in case any backers missed the email, I should mention that backers are permitted to add to their backing in the event they would like hardcovers instead of paperbacks, or paperbacks in addition to digital editions, or whatever. Just email me to let me know of any additions; those of you who have already done so will receive confirmations later this week. The current plan is to release 24-page versions in digital format when they are ready, then publish the trade paperbacks and hardcovers once the necessary six 24-page versions are complete. Each 48-page volume will consist of two 24-page books illustrated by the same artist.
We will also be sharing some more new artwork tomorrow as part of the launch of a major new site.
You may recall that last week, I posted an image of a GI Joe cover that many of you doubted could possibly be real. Well, it was. And here is an interview with the current writer of GI Joe, Aubrey Sitterson, with Bleeding Cool, which may prove to be more than a little informative. Note how this line was practically paraphrased from SJWAL’s description of the purpose of narrative propaganda: “It’s speculative fiction, right? So why not use it to conjure up a better world?” BC: Some Joe fans take issue with a person of your political persuasions writing GI Joe. Tell us why that’s actually a good thing.
AS: I’m a socialist, and that’s been a tough pill for some folks to swallow. That’s in part because in this country, the military is almost universally seen as a right wing institution, but that’s actually far from a universal sentiment. There are too many countries to list where the military has fought off right-wing coups or fundamentalist takeovers, or even where the military has sided with socialist insurgencies. In South American history, it’s not even uncommon for socialist activists to become soldiers themselves! It’s a common Marxist refrain, but that’s because it’s true: The military has revolutionary potential.
There’s nothing inherently right wing about the military, it’s just how the military has generally been used in United States history. One of the big questions I posed to myself, especially writing this book in the midst of Trump taking office and the rise of the alt-right, was figuring out what a socialist GI Joe book would even look like. After a lot of thought, it came down to tweaking not only our general perception of the military’s goals, but also the methods by which it achieves them. A socialist military doesn’t exist to further enrich the monied classes or enforce property rights or promote imperialist agenda. Instead, it has a far simpler, far more noble goal: Protecting and empowering people.
The book is designed to be aspirational, so I tried to write Joe as an idealized military – what the military would be if I could wave a magic wand and make it so. That’s why GI Joe became an international organization, one more concerned with protecting the population of the planet than promoting any single country’s interests, and also a big part of why we switched all of the Joes over to using laser weapons. It’s speculative fiction, right? So why not use it to conjure up a better world?
Using lasers also solved another big problem with doing a leftist take on GI Joe: Guns. I love gunporn action flicks as much as anyone, more than most, honestly, but what flies in John Wick or Commando simply ain’t appropriate in GI Joe, which is, at its core, and in my favorite incarnation, decidedly a kids’ property. I grew up watching all kinds of stuff that glorified gun violence and while I don’t think it broke me as a person or anything, that kind of material definitely contributes to the exaltation of firearms. And in 2017, with what feels like near-constant mass shootings, fetishizing guns in a children’s property isn’t just gross, it’s wrong.
That’s the behind-the-scenes reason on why the Joes use nonlethal lasers, but there’s also an excellent story reason as well: If the Joes are the best in their chosen fields, and they’re all working together…why would they even need to kill people? The Joes are strong and capable enough that they can afford to be nice, to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if doing so puts them at risk. And truthfully, that’s the very definition of a hero. BC: You’ve been the target of what we’ll call “backlash” for some of the changes you’ve made to GI Joe, but GI Joe as a property has been, in a lot of ways, progressive since the ’80s. In that respect, what parts of that legacy did you build on for your take on GI Joe?
AS: “Backlash” is a nice word for it, right? Though they’ve thankfully calmed down now, I was getting death threats for more than a month. One of the most perplexing things about that whole situation (outside of how someone could get so upset over a comic book that they’d threaten someone’s life) was that GI Joe has been progressive since the very first issue of Real American Hero. War was never something to be celebrated in that book — it was a sad necessity, albeit one where heroes could be elevated through valor. And that progressive trend was continued in the Sunbow series a few years later, with a level of gender, ethnic and racial representation that was simply unheard of at the time. And while the Joes were a diverse group of friends, the Cobra villains were, by-and-large, homogenous white males. That’s shockingly progressive for smack dab in the middle of Reagan’s America.
GI Joe is, at its core, a progressive concept, so I didn’t have to go in and do any heavy lifting. Instead, it was all about figuring out ways to continue that trend, but in a way that’s appropriate for 2017. Our new Salvo is a great example of that, albeit one for which I continue to catch a lot of heat from a certain vocal minority of Joe fans. Making Salvo a Samoan woman served a couple purposes. First, it gave us another international Joe for our newly international team. Changing the character’s race and gender not only gave us some Polynesian representation, but also helped us dodge some problematic visual associations, as Salvo’s original look (bald, heavily muscled white guy with giant guns and a shirt that says “THE RIGHT OF MIGHT”) reads as… a little too alt-right. It also presented an opportunity to introduce a different body type into the group, which I thought was important.
So, the SJW definition of a hero is “someone who is strong enough to be nice and give people the benefit of the doubt, even if doing so puts himself at risk.” That explains the SJW position on immigration, does it not? Okay, so that’s the shot. Now here is the chaser, a news item posted later that same day by the same comics news site, Bleeding Cool.
There’s still more than a week before the December 5th final order cutoff for retailers to order Scarlett’s Strike Force, the new GI Joe series launching out of IDW’s First Strike super-mega-crossover event. But before all the orders are in for the first issue, set to hit stores on December 20th, the book has already been canceled by IDW.
“Unfortunately, IDW told me early this month that Scarlett’s Strike Force was being canceled after issue #3,” writer Aubrey Sitterson told Bleeding Cool in an exclusive interview. “And with up through issue #4 already written, that means ending on a pretty outrageous cliffhanger.”
Since the first issue is more than a month away from hitting stores, with time yet left for retailers and fans to order it, it might seem premature for the book to already be canceled, but Sitterson relayed the reason he was given by his publisher, as unlikely as it sounds: “IDW told me they made the decision due to low sales.”
Good riddance! IDW appears to be figuring out that SJWs are a cancer a little faster than either Marvel or DC is. Of course, IDW has considerably less margin for error, since they aren’t being propped up by their movie-licensing revenue. UPDATE: No, my assumption was incorrect. Apparently IDW has learned nothing from this incident and the decision was imposed upon them from above. “IDW stood by Sitterson (he did keep his job as the writer after all). Their initial support statement was only retracted after Hasbro allegedly got involved.” Snicker-snack….
A longtime DC Comics fan explains why he recently canceled his subscription.
Like many kids, I enjoyed comics, but as I got older I gave them up so it had been decades since I’d bought one. In 2016 DC, realizing that their sales were slumping and the effect of SJWs on their comic franchises, launched Rebirth, which was a supposed return to the roots of the characters. I’ve always liked Batman and Superman and decided to give them a shot. My focus here is with the political and moral implications of the various comics, not specific plots, unless they were especially good or bad. The art ranged from really good at times to mediocre but that’s outside the scope of this too. I’m not looking for political perfection in my comics and I expect them to be as far left as the average TV program–which is at minimum center left.
However, I was finally forced to conclude that Rebirth is an SJW bait-and-switch aimed at traditional fans, and that all of the reborn comics will eventually be as converged as they were before. And that’s not even taking into account the fact that Marvel’s big SJW, Brian Bendis, is now coming to DC to do to Superman what he did to the various Marvel lines.
Detective Comics: Read #934-956
The main arc is that Batman assembles a team to help in Gotham which includes Batwoman and even Clayface. The Clayface plot was actually pretty good of why he was a villain and him trying his best to reform his life. A positive highlight was the Victim Squad. They were a group of people who through Batman’s actions in the past were “collateral damage”. They had physical ailments, suffered loss, etc. They collectively decided that since something bad happened to them it justified whatever they wanted to do to the world and of course wanted revenge. I think this was a direct swipe at the victim culture. Another interesting plot is that Batwoman’s father is a military man who is running a black op to take out sleeper agents in Gotham. Batman stops him and moralizes at him, then throws him in jail. All well and good except Batman is dead wrong, the military guy is right, and there are sleeper agents in Gotham. I stopped reading it at Robin’s (Tim Drake) death because it was such a stupid plot device, and the it was obvious they were going to bring him back quickly making his death meaningless. The series has a few lesbians as as friends of the team and mentions that Batwoman was forced to leave the US Military Academy due to her being in a lesbian relationship. I’d say overall it’s center left, but not full SJW.
Titans: Read #1-10
Not much to say here. It’s pretty boring, but the art was nice. I didn’t really care about the characters and I don’t remember a lot of heavy politics by the time I gave it up.
Superman: Read #1-#35
This is the best of what I read. Superman is heroic, always tries to do what is right, including being a good father and husband to Lois. The art is good, the plots are classic, with an interesting twist that Lex Luthor is now a good guy (maybe). The best part of this series is the interaction between Superman and his son. I don’t even think I could nitpick this series if I wanted to as Krypto “Superdog” is even in it and defends Superboy and Superman. This is what comics should be like.
I read the preview and it is 100{75555d9e07a24e4b9ce698107dbbd309d5544f8e8057bab8f219509a7e001883} converged. “Undeplorables”, Russia is the enemy, and William F. Buckley Jr. is a villain. This is the future of DC now, as this event will impact the continuity going forward. Action Comics: #957-987
This is the series which made me give up on DC. It starts out reasonably well and retells Superman’s origins, death at the hands of Doomsday, and explains how this Superman got here as apparently he died again before this series of illness and this Superman is from New Earth, not Earth Prime on which things happen now. (Confused yet? Welcome to the silliness of comic continuity.) The plot dragged down as Doomsday showed back up but there was no tension because they weren’t going to kill Superman again with Doomsday since started with Superman #1. They high point is where Lois and Jon (Superboy) pray for their father during the fight.
From there it goes downhill plot-wise and the SJWs show back up. First after raising their son in an idyllic countryside about an hour from Metropolis Lois decides that she isn’t fulfilled and a whole lot of horrible rationalizing begins by Lois and Superman of why she needs to go back to work at the Daily Planet, live in an apartment, and Superman of course goes along with all of it. Even though they both admit it’s not necessary monetarily, and Jon loves his friends and where he lives. He complains but they don’t give a shit and move him to a skyscraper because it makes them happy. (Are Babyboomers writing this?)
Then an SJW writer takes over and “the worst evil humans can commit” is brought about by some guy named Dr. Oz which includes a white hunter teaching his son in Africa to poach rhino horns, white rebels in Africa stealing medicine, white sweatshop owners, and a white guy who lost his job to Hispanics – expressly illegal immigrants – tries to gun them down while wearing an American flag bandanna on his head. I stopped reading right then, and got my money refunded on my Kindle. In fact I had purchased a few others I had not read yet and got my money refunded on all of them too.
With the recent Bendis hire, I can only imagine where things are headed. I’m sure Superman will be fully converged soon. I’m a casual fan, so any corrections in the above with regards to plot or characters is appreciated and I’m sure that the serious fans will have a lot of good insights to add which I missed. I’m also curious to know about some of the other series like Green Arrow or Wonder Woman are like, and what state they are in since Rebirth.
Cataline’s completely arbitrary list of SJW Invasive Destructiveness.
SJW Fortified: Organizations that were built with resisting SJW entryism as one their deck planks. SJWs will try anyway because they are parasites and parasites must feed. Example: Castalia House
SJW Resistant: Organizations whose internal culture is resistant to entryism by it’s nature. Any place where everyone has to start at the bottom and work like hell just to get a foot in the door. Lower level corporate culture provides considerable protection. (*Surprise*) Example: Disney Parks, “Yeah I know it’s 94 degrees and you are wearing a forty pound bear suit. NOW DANCE MORE SPRITELY YOU FAGGOT!” Entryism in these cases are the result of top down pressure, when it can be managed at all. SJW Neutral: Organizations that are under the impression that they can stay open minded even with a few SJWs on payroll. Entryism and eventual Convergence are guaranteed. Example: the 2010 version of Cracked.com.
SJW Compliant: Organizations that bow to external SJW pressure despite the damage this causes. Example: Target. SJW Friendly: Organizations that invite SJW guidance and follow SJW politics but are still (temporarily) functional. Example: Google.
SJW Converged: The target organization of Entryism has been killed and the SJWs are now “parading around in it’s skin. Demanding respect.” Example: Take your pick.
Now Converged is as low as Vox Day has gone so far but I have a level beneath Converged. SJW Cancerous: Organization is so diseased it is destroying everything it touches. One that is so converged it is completely dysfunctional and is only still surviving due to it’s ability to parasitize a host. Example: Marvel Comics.
On a not entirely unrelated note, I’m pleased to be able to say that the entire first 48-page volume of Avalon #1 has been written, and the first 24-page Alt★Hero comic has been both written and illustrated. We are making rapid progress and we are on track to get the first digital comics and the first 24-page print editions out in February. We are also establishing a second imprint for publishing content that we have not created ourselves, for which we have already agreed to sign three unrelated graphic novels produced by outside parties.
The 24-page editions will NOT be delivered to backers except for the two #1 versions which will be included as bonus rewards to everyone who will receive either HC#1 and/or PB#1. They are post-campaign creations that are going to be used to provide us with a presence in the comics stores. They are inexpensive and you will be able to obtain them from the stores.
