You wouldn't get away with that nowadays!

[ed2962]

Have you ever read an old comic, and thought it was offensive? Or that some topical debate could've been handled better? What old comics published stuff that they just couldn't get away with in 2023?

This article lists a few:
https://www.cbr.com/marvel-comics-most-outdated-things/
[LIST]

[*]Karen Page's AIDS (Daredevil, 1998)- Weren't they planning a version of this story for the TV series? Junkie sex worker dies from her lifestyle is not super controversial. It actually the story a lot of conservatives would promote.

[*]Gwen Stacy's death (Amazing Spider-Man #121, 1973)- They literally did this just a few years ago in the Garfield Spidey movies...

[*]Ultimate Captain America's portrayal (Ultimates)- Well, Ult Cap is an A-hole, so yeah...


[*]The Stamford Incident, which involved a school being destroyed (Civil War)- eh, I can totally see this happening in a MCU TV series or movie...


[*]Princess Diana of Wales joins X-Statix (X-Statix, 2003, edited before publication to remove references to the real life princess, who died in 1997),,,only cuz it's a real person and yeah it didn't happen then...

[*]Norman Osborn impregnating Gwen Stacy (Sins Past)....
[*]Shang Chi, son of Fun Manchu (Master of Kung Fu)..only cuz Marvel doesn't have the rights to that specific character. They've since worked around it.

[*]Falcon revealed to be Snap Wilson, former gangster (Captain America #186)...A lot of fans don't like it cuz it goes back to blaxploitation stereotypes, but...it could be made to work in modern times.

[*]Marcus rapes Ms. Marvel (Avengers #200)...this one, yeah...

[*]Spider-Man reacts to 9/11 (Amazing Spider-Man vol 2 #36)...???

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Sam Wilson's past as a flashy Pimp

[ComicNoobie]

How Big Bertha loses all her fat weight.

[ed2962]

A story that really wouldn't work today is Avengers # 83. It's really about mocking women's liberation.

[Frontier]

Mary Jane Watson taking up smoking.

Bendis insinuating Wolverine and Squirrel Girl had sexual relations.

[Alan2099]

Colossus and Kitty Pryde's relationship. It never would have started.

[Force de Phenix]

Medusa's forced abortion by the Genetic Council. It's about a woman's right to choose, Medusa's right, and a court dictating what she can and can't do. I don't think they'd be that blunt about it nowadays.

[Stick Figure]

You start to realize that whatever complaints we have about current comics, they’re in a much better place than they were 30 or 40 yrs ago. Even 20 yrs ago.

[Digifiend]

Yeah - several of the examples in the article I linked to are less than 20 years old.

I know you probably know better and I think CBR's weird messaging system changed it to Fun Manchu.

Nah, just a typo. Edited, thanks.

[Frontier]

Medusa's forced abortion by the Genetic Council. It's about a woman's right to choose, Medusa's right, and a court dictating what she can and can't do. I don't think they'd be that blunt about it nowadays.

Speaking of the Inhumans, probably the whole Alpha Primitive concept in general.

You start to realize that whatever complaints we have about current comics, they’re in a much better place than they were 30 or 40 yrs ago. Even 20 yrs ago.

Not that messed up and problematic stuff still doesn't happen...

[Triniking1234]

Out of all the bad AIDS stories in the 90, CBR chose Karen Page.

There's nothing wrong with Gwen Stacy getting thrown off a bridge. Especially in a book like Spider-Man where the threat of death for side characters is high.

The marriage of Black Panther and Storm.

The first appearance of Synch.

Shuri telling black women they deserved to be raped.

Wakanda with rape camps.

What's wrong with T'Challa and Storm marrying?

[Riv86672]

[*]Karen Page's AIDS (Daredevil, 1998)
Things like that happen way too often irl.
[*]Gwen Stacy's death (Amazing Spider-Man #121, 1973)
Death isn’t supposed to be neat, tidy, or fun.
[*]Ultimate Captain America's portrayal (Ultimates)
It wasn’t a nice portrayal but that’s how a lot of ppl, esp. Military ppl, were.
[*]The Stamford Incident, which involved a school being destroyed (Civil War)
Tragedies are supposed to be tragic. Anything less and the fallout would’ve been a joke.
[*]Princess Diana of Wales joins X-Statix (X-Statix, 2003, edited before publication to remove references to the real life princess, who died in 1997)
Didn't offend me I just thought it was stupid.
[*]Norman Osborn impregnating Gwen Stacy (Sins Past)
Again, stupid.
[*]Shang Chi, son of Fu Manchu (Master of Kung Fu)
I was more upset at the retcon than I ever was at the original situation. The retcon took away from Shang Chi’s heroism in being his own person and showed a huge lack of balls on Marvel’s part.
[*]Falcon revealed to be Snap Wilson, former gangster (Captain America #186)
Again, it’s a heroe’s journey. Duh.
[*]Marcus rapes Ms. Marvel (Avengers #200)
How the incident was handled (in Universe and by subsequent creators) was the problem.
[*]Spider-Man reacts to 9/11 (Amazing Spider-Man vol 2 #36)
I chalk that up to the creators trying to make sense of prob. the worst thing they’d ever experienced irl.

[ed2962]

[*]Shang Chi, son of Fu Manchu (Master of Kung Fu)
I was more upset at the retcon than I ever was at the original situation. The retcon took away from Shang Chi’s heroism in being his own person and showed a huge lack of balls on Marvel’s part.

I don't think that one is about Marvel not having balls, though. They legally can't use the character of Fu Manchu.

[MichaelC]

Besides, what did it change other than the name?

[Krakoa]

Eh, I don't agree with all of these, I think if you did it well you could get away with the Karen storyline and with The Stamford Incident.

Some of these they didn't even get away with at the time (Avengers #200 lol).

That being said, my addition to the pile is Chuck Austen's "Mutants Can't Get AIDS"