It's a well-known fact that Marvel Comics' current policy has been controversial among the fans for a long time. Changing ages, races and genders of fan-favorite heroes (like Thor Odinson or Iron Man), instead of creating new characters was a problem for this vocal group of people.
Marvel Legacy, the publisher's newest initiative, was supposed to correct the course, as Tony Stark and Wolverine came back to life, and Steve Rogers returned to his old self. Everything seemed to go smoothly, until the closed door New York Comic Con Q&A session with the retailers yesterday.
According to Newsarama, nothing suggested that the discussion would end this way. Everything changed after a complaint from a unidentified retailer about the poor sells of Marvel's lenticular variants. The meeting's hosts, editors Tom Brevoort (Civil War, New Avengers) and Nick Lowe (1602, Runaways) tried to explain the situation, but the retailer didn't listen and expressed his detest for the publisher's methods, especially replacing or altering Marvel's recognizable characters.
The agitated retailer also declared his problems with characters like Iron Heart – "specifically expressing his distaste for Iceman “kissing other men,” and Thor “becoming a woman". From this point, the Q&A changed into a total chaos. The retailers gathered in the room immediately joined the unhappy colleague, competing with each other. The original seller added that Marvel should focus on "creating new characters and not messing with the old guys. The old guys are solid", he concluded.
One of the hosts, Nick Lowe stated that changing the nature of the characters' identities was always popular at Marvel and gave examples of James "Rhodey" Rhodes and Frog Thor. Another retailer said that "Marvel has never replaced them all at once before”. He also referred to a group of The Marvel Cinematic Universe fans who came to his store to buy some comics with the Avengers, but they decided to leave, because "Thor is a woman and Captain America is a black man".
Lowe tried to explain his publisher's decision one more time, because in his opinion, Marvel was always about creating heroes, villains and stories that reflect "the world outside your window". He only managed to state that Marvel won't stop creating characters that fans of all genders and ethnicities can connect to, before closing the panel at the planned time. The retailers were far from laying down their weapons and gathered around Marvel Senior Vice President of Marketing David Gabriel in the hall outside the panel to continue the discussion with him.
It's a complicated situation without an easy solution. What's important is to not only express our feelings, but to do that in a civilized way - and that's what has been missing during the meeting. Marvel have their rights and so do retailers, but there's one thing that's definitely not right - behaving like villains, not heroes.
Be sure to leave your thoughtful comments on this important topic down below.
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