The Minority Report! Diversity In The MU.

[Venomous Mask]

Thor would probably say "They doth plunder our professions!"

[rdman]

So I see that "x quota is not met" "there's not enough people of y group in x book, etc." is still thrown around a lot so I've decided to look at the Marvel lineup:

Ongoing or upcoming Books featuring a straight white male/men in the leading role
1.) New Avengers
2.) Iron Man/Superior Iron Man
3.) Amazing Spider-Man
4.) Hulk (even though he's green I'll still put it here....)
5.) Cyclops
6.) Daredevil
7.) Deadpool
8.) Iron-Fist: The Living Weapon
9.) Legendary Star-Lord
10.) Magneto
11.) Moonknight
12.) Nightcrawler (He's blue...but whatever)
13.) Punisher
14.) Savage Hulk
15.) Uncanny X-Men (pretty much Cyclops-centric)
16.) X-Force (Cable-centric)
17.) Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier
18.) Hawkeye



Ongoing or upcoming Books not featuring a straight white male/men in the leading role
1.) Avengers (assuming the new roster is put together after Axis)
2.) Captain America and the Mighty Avengers
3.) Captain America
4.) She-Thor
5.) All-New Ghost Rider
6.) All-New X-Men (pretty much stars Jean/Laura these days without Cyclops)
7.) Secret Avengers (pretty much a Maria Hill show)
8.) Black Widow
9.) Captain Marvel
10.) Ms. Marvel
11.) Elektra
12.) Inhuman (Dante is hispanic)
13.) Iron Patriot
14.) Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man
15.) All-New Ultimates (female team book)
16.) Ultimate FF (Sue-centric)
17.) Nova (Sam Alexander is hispanic right?)
18.) She-Hulk
19.) Spider-Man 2099
20.) Silk
21.) Angela: Asgard's Assassin
22.) Squirrel Girl
23.) Storm
24.) X-Men
25.) Gamora
26.) Spider-Gwen
27.) Loki (he's bisexual and occasionally a woman)
28.) Spider-Woman

Note this is not every series, there are some ambiguous categories like All-New Invaders (I'm not sure if Captain America is going to be replaced by black cap in it), Uncanny Avengers/Logan's Legacy (no clear lead), and GOTG (also no clear lead), etc.. Also completely non-human or humanoid (Doop, Rocket, Silver Surfer, etc.) books.

In any regard, we see a gap between non-"diverse" vs. diverse series. So is there really an issue?

How about a straight male person of color with serious firepower and capabilities... is lacking :

Sunfire, Sunspot, Blue Marvel, Iron Patriot for the Avengers and may be Evan/Genesis/kid Apocalypse & Kubart/Kid Gladiator ofthe X-men.
I mean really?

[Hurricane D]

A question: why isn't Marvel promoting Silk as the first asian Spider Woman?

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.1970433

[Imraith Nimphais]

Voodoo is BACK!!!!

[Mutant God]

Thor would probably say "They doth plunder our professions!"

I don't know why I laugh so hard at that.

[aja_christopher]

How about a straight male person of color with serious firepower and capabilities... is lacking :

Sunfire, Sunspot, Blue Marvel, Iron Patriot for the Avengers and may be Evan/Genesis/kid Apocalypse & Kubart/Kid Gladiator ofthe X-men.
I mean really?

Think of all the possibilities...


rickjames.jpg

[Tiamatty]

Loki is bisexual: canon.

More important, he's canonically gender-fluid, which still falls under the "Queer" umbrella. (Note: The Queer umbrella won't keep you dry when it's raining men.)

Just... so much truth here. YES, they are doing well with diversity (YES, letting down when it comes to LGBT - HICKMAN!!!), yes that deserves praise, and YES we need to see if 3 years from now it's actually changed anything.

This year is a let-down for LGBT representation, but last year was so over-the-top with how good it was that I'm actually kinda willing to give them a pass for this year, as long as some LGBT characters show up in ongoings again soon.

[Ceebiro]

How about a straight male person of color with serious firepower and capabilities... is lacking :

Sunfire, Sunspot, Blue Marvel, Iron Patriot for the Avengers and may be Evan/Genesis/kid Apocalypse & Kubart/Kid Gladiator ofthe X-men.
I mean really?

Question - What happened to Bishop after Uncanny X-Force with Storm? Did he just evaporate into thin air or something?

[JaggedFel]

Well I will be damned Brother Voodoo resurrected... that is rare for a minority character

[Tiamatty]

The numbers speak for themselves. I'm not sure how you can say I'm wrong when it's mathematically proven. In any regard the responses to this are interesting, and seem to be saying that it still isn't enough to have minorities featured in the majority of titles. I'm curious as to when it'll be enough.

The numbers may speak for themselves, but what they say is actually mostly irrelevant. Your comment indicates a basic lack of understanding of the issue. You think the push for diversity is all about numbers. "Get 20% black characters, 10% LGBT characters, 15% Jewish characters." You think there's actually an end goal. That there will be a point where everyone just nods and says, "Yep, that should do it. We've got exactly the right demographics in the comics. Pack it in, guys! Our job is done!"

But that's not the point at all. There is no end point. It's not about reaching some specific goal. It's an ongoing process. A never-ending effort to promote a wide variety of characters from all sorts of different backgrounds.

Marvel comics are about men and women doing their best to defend the world they live in. Their personal lives and who they date will always be secondary to that especially when the title that has a cast 20 something people. If an individual has a problem with that then again I say maybe they are reading the wrong form of entertainment for them. It's not personal, it's not discriminatory, but it is what it is. If you want a title where a group of heroes date first and kick ass later, I'm sure somewhere their is a book for you. If you want a title where heroes are making out every other page or go further than even that, I'm sure somewhere their is a book for you. But in this particular case when it's based on dating and romantic relationships of a character don't expect a writer to change the nature of a book to please you as an individual when you as an individual are free to find and buy the books that fit what you want and what you are looking for.

I disagree. Strongly. In the strongest possible terms, in fact.

It's not Spider-Man that people care about, it's Peter Parker. Fantastic Four didn't succeed based on monster and alien stories, they succeeded based on the interplay between the characters. While it's true that not every book needs to have a strong character focus, and that some can be about crazy shit happening and superheroes punching it into submission, the majority are always going to be, first and foremost, about the characters. The adventures they go on are an avenue to explore who they are. Even how they fight should say something about who they are.

Thor would probably say "They doth plunder our professions!"

"Dey durth plurth ur prurr!"

[NexusTenebrare]

This year is a let-down for LGBT representation, but last year was so over-the-top with how good it was that I'm actually kinda willing to give them a pass for this year, as long as some LGBT characters show up in ongoings again soon.

You might, but I certainly don't.

We've still not gotten a full on gay solo. The LGBT characters that do get solos always have to be bi, so the writers have the option of going for a diferent gender relationship.
Yes, Daken slept with that trickster god guy, but his meanigfull relationship was with the female cop. And the most obvious relationship prospect in Loki is with Verity. Not getting started on Mystique.
I don't know why people say it was over-the-top. We really didn't get all that much gay representation last year. A rushed lackluster wedding, a few lone minor characters here and there and one title where the big revelation at the end of the series was that 90% of the cast was either gay/bi or had a same sex experience at some point in their life. Frankly it came of as a joke to me and I found it insulting, but I know most people will disagree with me on that.

We never ever got anything like the push female representation is getting. And now it's been reduced to almost nothing at all.

[Trident]

I disagree. Strongly. In the strongest possible terms, in fact.

It's not Spider-Man that people care about, it's Peter Parker. Fantastic Four didn't succeed based on monster and alien stories, they succeeded based on the interplay between the characters. While it's true that not every book needs to have a strong character focus, and that some can be about crazy shit happening and superheroes punching it into submission, the majority are always going to be, first and foremost, about the characters. The adventures they go on are an avenue to explore who they are. Even how they fight should say something about who they are.

I think you have miss understood me to some degree, here. The personal lives of the characters are part of the book that helps shape the characters but that is secondary to the hero taking down the villain/ defending his city or his world, which also helps shape the character. The little interactions inbetween characters is not what drive Marvel comics. If that where the case there wouldn't be as many Hero vs. Hero fights as opposed to hero join forces and bedding each other. Even with Spiderman as you metioned many of his "inbetween" moments are either to drive the plot or he is quickly running off to the next thing.

I'm not saying the inbetweens aren't necessary or don't/can't make a book great. What I am saying at Marvel they have always been secondary to the Hero defending the people of 616. If that wasn't the case we would have more books only zeroing in on their lives out of the costume but instead we only have a handful of character with actual cilvilian identies. You can't really argue that.

[Tiamatty]

You might, but I certainly don't.

We've still not gotten a full on gay solo. The LGBT characters that do get solos always have to be bi, so the writers have the option of going for a diferent gender relationship.
Yes, Daken slept with that trickster god guy, but his meanigfull relationship was with the female cop. And the most obvious relationship prospect in Loki is with Verity. Not getting started on Mystique.
I don't know why people say it was over-the-top. We really didn't get all that much gay representation last year. A rushed lackluster wedding, a few lone minor characters here and there and one title where the big revelation at the end of the series was that 90% of the cast was either gay/bi or had a same sex experience at some point in their life. Frankly it came of as a joke to me and I found it insulting, but I know most people will disagree with me on that.

We never ever got anything like the push female representation is getting. And now it's been reduced to almost nothing at all.

I'll agree the LGBT community hasn't gotten the push the female community has. Part of that is probably simple demographics - women make up half the population, queer people make up . . . something. It's actually impossible to know. Estimates range anywhere from 1% to 20%. Still, there's a lot fewer LGBT people than there are women. So women naturally get a huge push. I do hope that 2015 goes back to being good for LGBT representation, of course. There's a shitload of fantastic LGBT characters who deserve to be getting used.


On another topic, I want to actually voice my approval for the new Uncanny Avengers roster. Of the 7 characters shown, 4 belong to minorities - Captain Falcon and Brother Voodoo are both black, Wanda and Quicksilver are both half-Jewish/half-Gypsy, and raised as Gypsies. That's so much better than having two out of nine belong to minorities. I also like that Vision's there - he's not technically human, so his inclusion on a team that's supposed to be supporting a diversity is pretty reasonable. My one complaint about the team is Sabretooth's inclusion. Because ugh, I don't like Sabretooth.

Still, between this and the oddly optimistic undertones I've picked up in the first two issues of Axis, it's almost like Remender's looked at my complaints about UA and decided to do something about them. So I'm going to take credit for these changes. Yep, it's all me.

[Mr MajestiK]

Voodoo is BACK!!!!

Pleaze elaborate.

[4sake Baned]

Pleaze elaborate.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=56388