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Topic: Marvel Editors say the darndest things Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 31 July 2017 at 8:05pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

OK, how about "I've been collecting stamps for 50 years, I can tell you everything about them, some I love and display in places of honor" vs. "I've been collecting stamps for five minutes, I can't tell you anything about them, and I don't really do anything special with them"?  How are these two fans (or "fans") equal?

If he was trying to make the point that new readers are important too and that Marvel was going to try to reach out to them, he did it in a very ill-phrased way.
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Christopher Frost
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Posted: 31 July 2017 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

While the comment is being taken out of context, it should be noted that it's less a "welcome to fans of all stripes" comment and more of a response to a trend that's been happening on social media these days. On a great many sites, like Facebook for example, when there are disagreements amongst fans of various books, tv shows, movies, etc. there is always a contingent of fans who denigrate the opinions of others and call them "fake fans" because they haven't been fans as long as others. You get Trek fans telling others that they aren't real fans because they weren't there to watch TOS when it aired, you get SW fans telling newer fans that they don't love it as much because they didn't grow up in the 70's and 80's and don't understand, etc. It's become ridiculous and Wacker is clearly responding to that with his message. It doesn't matter if you've been a Spidey fan for decades or just discovered him last year, fandom and it's related love for a character or property can't be defined by how long you've loved it. You were around to see Star Trek during it's original run? That's great but it doesn't make you a better fan than me, it just makes you older.
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Lars Sandmark
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Posted: 31 July 2017 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Too bad that today's "Marvel Comics" doesn't have a guy like Stan Lee working there.
Stan would have been able to phrase his meaning eloquently and with panache.

It's a shame what Marvel is today, and the quality of the editors is saddening.
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Joe Zhang
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Posted: 31 July 2017 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Marvel has operated  for many decades under the assumption that "kids don't read comics". So they feted adult male fans with darker stories that tended to be deeply cynical views of heroic ideals. It should be no surprise that they ended up with a readership of angry, cynical men.

In the past couple years Marvel decided to get with the times and attract a younger, hipper, more socially-conscious audience ... the diametric opposite of their older readers. Culture War knife-fights like these were inevitable, but Marvel had their heads too far buried in the sand to anticipate this.  

This "Twitter War" is significant that Marvel employees are involved. The misogyny expressed is shameful. But the rift between Marvel and their bread-and-butter readers has just turned into a chasm. I don't think there are enough new readers that can fill that gap, for Marvel to continue as a financially viable comic book publisher. 


Edited by Joe Zhang on 31 July 2017 at 9:07pm
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 31 July 2017 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Why are people going out of their way to read evil intent in Wacker's note? Vitriol toward his innocuous statement is everything that's wrong with fandom.
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Rick Whiting
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 1:28am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

I don't see anything wrong in what Wacker said. In fact, I agree with him. That being said, I find Wacker's statement ironic and a bit hypocritical. Since the Quesada's tenure as EIC, Marvel has been aiming their books more at the long time greying fan base as well as trying to attract brand new greying fans. They are mainly/mostly (but not solely) interested in new adult readers.
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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 3:28am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Andrew W. Fargo - yes, seriously. Hard though it is to believe, I personally am not familiar with the entire Marvel comics production teams these days. I haven't been collecting Marvel for... well, it could be a decade now.

So I didn't ask who Steven Wacker was in a sarcastic and insulting tone. I was actually curious as to what his position was. At this point, I don't know if he's a Stan Lee issuing statements, or an Irving Forbush who found the password to the Twitter account. So thanksa lot for the answer.

The message isn't mean, rude, or insulting. He's right; Marvel SHOULD be treating every fan as if s/he was that long time true believer, be it five minutes or five decades. It just seems that, from what I've gleaned, that hasn't been Marvel's style for a damned long time. Switching characters' identities, annual huge crossovers (requiring cash outlays that even some of the longest duration fans are a little hesitant to invest in), and making things seem pretty hard for a new fan to just step in and start reading don't say to me that a five minute fan is being treated well at all.
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Stephen Churay
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 3:58am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Marvel doesn't need help to look foolish.
Then again, trying to read anything else
other than, Wacker was trying to defend a
fan from bullying seems foolish as well.

I'm finding the rest of this thread to be
arguing for the sake of arguing.
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J W Campbell
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 4:09am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

 Stephen Churay wrote:
Wacker was trying to defend a 
fan from bullying

No, Wacker was defending a fellow editor from a torrent of misogynistic abuse directed at her for the terrible offence of posting a selfie of herself and some fellow editors on Twitter.
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

No, Wacker was defending a fellow editor from a torrent of misogynistic abuse directed at her for the terrible offence of posting a selfie of herself and some fellow editors on Twitter.

There's a vocal subset of superhero fandom that can't stand that there are girls in the clubhouse, and they really can't deal with the fact that some of them are gatekeepers and officers in the club. Most people who have an issue with that have either adapted or have learned to accept it, but the ones who haven't are getting louder and nastier to make up for lost numbers.
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J W Campbell
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

 Andrew W. Farago wrote:
There's a vocal subset of superhero fandom that can't stand that there are girls in the clubhouse,

It's completely understandable, though. I mean, back when Comics Were Good, it's not like there were any female editors. 

Apart from Karen Berger. And Louise Simonson. And Ann Nocenti. And Barbara Kesel. And Diana Schutz. And Bobbie Chase.

And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head!
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 01 August 2017 at 2:33pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Not to mention that women have been drawing comics since 1896. What were they thinking?
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