Marvel were being cowardly here.
Seriously, they went to Spiegelman...Spiegleman of all people and when they saw what he wrote (what was rather light) they chickened out.
The Marvel of yesteryear (the Marvel that gave us Black Panther despite the intense racism of the time) weren't afraid to express themselves. But as others have pointed out, since their CEO is Mr Perlmutter (a bigoted asshat himself) that's close to Donald Trump, it stands to reason that Marvel will exercise caution.
Last edited by Username taken; 08-19-2019 at 07:28 AM.
I think it really shows the division between Marvel itself and the people who work for it. You know that some editor or higher up thought getting him was awesome! I mean, virtually all people grow up reading Maus at some point. It's a classic of literature and Spiegelman is a legend.
Honestly, I'm surprised that Trump isn't lauded in Marvel and made into some great president. He isn't. But you have Perlmutter, who only is going to let things go so far.
If Perlmutter made Marvel into an accurate reflection of his political allegiances, all we'd get is stuff like Mr. A and Holy Terror. So no he won't do that.
I personally doubt if Perlmutter was involved in this. An intro for an arty comic series published by Marvel and an arty company, intended for a niche of a niche audience, isn't something Perlmutter would involve himself in. I think this is some junior underling trying to gain attention of the boss by showing "we wuz with you...at Rigoletto's".
I do think that the fear of angering Perlmutter was big part of it. Remember the tantrum he pulled with the Fantastic Four rights slipping away again when Fox announced production of the FF 2015 movie? He ordered all tokens of the FF's existence removed from the Marvel offices and the title was ordered cancelled despite doing fairly well at the time. I think he's aware of more things than you're giving him credit for. You also see this with the X-Men to a smaller extent. He's not totally crazy or he would have had that cancelled too. But for example, there was a lack of representation of the FF and the X-Men in promotional images for Marvel's 75th Anniversary materials.
Fortunately for the film division, Marvel Studio's Kevin Feige succeeded (with Disney backing him) in a behind the scenes power struggle that got Perlmutter removed from the movie side of things
Last edited by Iron Maiden; 08-19-2019 at 08:50 AM.
Perlmutter as it is doesn't have a say or influence on the most profitable piece of the Marvel pie -- the MCU. And now that Disney Plus is coming and Marvel TV will be under Kevin Feige too, even Marvel Television doesn't have him anymore. That Inhumans show which he pushed and which got his name attached with was also a disaster that made him a laughing stock. So as it is, Perlmutter might want to be on the low-key lest shareholders and others gather and ask him to step down. As it is, Marvel Entertainment, the company that oversees the comics and other stuff, doesn't have much going for it. The Netflix shows are ended now.
I think Perlmutter's political involvement with Trump is simply him stretching his wings a bit now that he has less space to push stuff around at Marvel.
Avoiding Perlmutter's tantrums was definitely part of it. Even if he didn't see it himself, all that would need to happen was the usual right-wing trolls mentioning it on twitter. It' eventually get to Perlmutter's buddy Trump, and he'd either have a fit on Twitter or complain to Perlmutter at one of his stupid golf resorts.
No you were trying to play the dumb "Oh he didn't specifically say you were an idiot so he couldn't possibly be insulting you" game while ignoring context and implication.
And now you're playing the "Just asking a question" game.
Last edited by JackDaw; 08-19-2019 at 10:58 AM.
Why in the world would you think that Trump supporters make up HALF of comic buyers??? Or even a "fair wad"??? Trump does NOT have, and never has had, half the population of the US supporting him. He's only got like 30% of voters -- which makes for an even smaller segment of the population.
And this is NOT about comic sales. Spiegelman's introduction was for a very, very, very niche product with a very limited run that is aimed at quality book collectors. It's a Folio Society book and costs $225. The Folio Society publishes all sorts of "political" classics, so seeing Trump referred to as The Orange Skull isn't going to have their audience clutching pearls. Frankly, I'm amazed it bothers any Marvel fan. For the far more ... snooty audience of the Folio Society, having PULITZER PRIZE winner Spiegelman on the book is far more likely to contribute to sales than Roy Thomas (who I love).
Second, it's a Golden Age comics reprint, which also has a very limited audience, and certainly doesn't contribute to modern Marvel's sales numbers. Anyone who reads a Golden Age comic first, is not going to run out and find more of that sort of book being published right now.
Otherwise, I agree with those that say Marvel has always has politics in their books. These particular stories have politics in them. Stan Lee's soapbox often addressed it directly. I don't see why they are shying away from it now.
Namor the Sub-Mariner, Marvel's oldest character, will have been published for 85 years in 2024. So where's my GOOD Namor anniversary ongoing, Marvel?