[TheBlueMarvel]

@Red
Thanks for the compliment, Red. I thought the same thing when I posed her! lol

@lordbest
I agree entirely with your demographic arguments. Marvel's not making these decisions based on political leanings. Marvel is making these decisions based on hard data regarding the changing demographics of the fanbase, country, and world (a reality that a number of people are struggling with for idiosyncratic reasons). It's a business move. Plain and simple. That said, I wouldn't dismiss all of the complaints we "old guys" are leveling at the current state of Marvel. Continuity is taking a tremendous hit in this rush by Marvel to come up to speed with the times. Not to mention, there is a gimmick laden quality to some of what is going on.

The gimmick, in my opinion, is "lets simply change the flagship characters to be more representative of the fanbase/society and do so by cannibalizing what came before." To me, that's inorganic and lazy. I'm all for more diversity in comics, I'm an African American Marvel/DC fan who's been reading since the late 70's. I've been excited by every new hero introduced to me, but especially excited by heroes of color because they aren't as plentiful (and obviously, they are representative of my ethnic subset of American culture). In my estimation, the development of a more diverse creative and editorial staff is the only way a publisher like Marvel will successfully address targeting current and future demographics. In this manner, they can create 'new' ideas that don't alienate 'old' sensibilities.

My avatar is Adam Brashear. Truth be told, I like the character, but he isn't my favorite superhero. What initially drew me to Blue Marvel is that he is what I always wanted as a child. A black Superman. Conversely, I'm not a huge fan of Calvin Ellis, the actual black Superman. The reason for this dichotomy is that I've matured as a reader and individual. I have come to realize that I don't want "Superman" (insert whatever here - Batman, Cap, Thor, etc) to be African American, I want a black superhero with his/her own thoughtful backstory on the same level as that of Superman. Not someone to replace the icon, but someone that stands in equal regard with equal potential to become a future 'icon.'

I get the legacy argument that has become popular, although I think it's often extrapolated a bit too widely. Again, in my opinion, when cosmetic changes are made to flagship characters, it smacks of a cop-out. Marvel and DC can create universes/pantheons that reflect our changing world without cheaply altering the wonderful history they've created. They just need to be courageous enough to develop new characters and resolved enough to allow these characters the time to catch on (ergo they don't cancel the titles when sales are flagging). I hope you can understand what I'm saying. I don't HATE what's going on at Marvel, it just seems a tad superficial and rudderless.





...damn MCU figs, they're starting to grow on me.