I almost feel bad now for starting this thread. Things went off the rails pretty fast. But, I have long believed that online, text-based, asynchronous communication is a terrible format for conversations like these -- so I shouldn't be surprised. You see how people just pick and choose what portions of someone else's thoughts they wish to respond to. Pick and choose which words to conveniently misinterpret.
I honestly wish we could all sit in a room over coffee, tea, beer, whatever..... perhaps some scones.... and talk. People would undoubtedly shout at each other for a while and some people would simply never be open to the concerns of others. But, ultimately, I think a lot of us would leave the room with a better understanding of one another and with a more cohesive sense of what we want Marvel to do in order to make the most people happy and stay in business.
But in formats like forums it's just dumb. I feel like some of you are genuinely of the same mind yet are fighting over trying to split the thinnest of hairs. *shrug* I'm sure I've done it too. Like I said, it's just not a good format for these kinds of talks, but, I don't have a better format to suggest so, I can't help but keep trying sometimes.
I want us all to work together towards being able to all enjoy comics. I want a forum like this to be a place where people are motivated to celebrate the stories they are reveling in and lend respectful, level-headed criticisms when they feel like it. Instead, it's just a mess. Easily 50% of the most popular threads are charged with some kind of social/political energy that just looks desperate to reach toxic levels as fast as possible. People think it's doing good, but, and of course it can do some good for individuals here and there. But, when I take a step back, when I look at "the long game" I think things are worse than a decade or even 2 decades ago.
When War Machine came out, he immediately became my favorite over Iron Man. And the only reason was because he was sooo coooool. I couldn't give a flying eff about the color of Rhodes' skin. As a 5th grader, in the 90s, I could make a choice about what I read without it being tallied as a reflection of who I am morally. These days, it just doesn't feel that way.
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Personally, I don't know where I'm at with comics at the moment. I'm sick of wondering what hack job is going to happen to my favorite characters next. I can see it now, "The new Silver Surfer is a nightclub DJ!" I'm sick of knowing that even the most well-received book will start its numeration over again at #1 within the next year or two because its an easy cash grab. I'm sick of one "earth shattering" event after the other after the other after the other. And I'm sick of people trying to make me feel ashamed for preferring certain characters over others just because of gender/race/orientation. I'm sick of the double standards. You don't want Batgirl to look "out-of-character weak" on the cover of your favorite book? Fine. But then can I demand the same over
this upcoming Daredevil cover? I know the answer is "no," so anyone feverishly typing up their "it's not the same!" response, you can relax. But, I find the reasons behind that answer are problematic at the moment.
So, yea, anyone want a scone?