Written by Marvel comics made quite a bit of news this week after its Vice President of Sales, David Gabriel, gave an interview with ICv2 on sluggish sales. He completely distorted the cold hard reality that fans are tired of politicized comics to say that we really just have a problem with “diversity.”
To see just what a disingenuous liar Mr. Gabriel is, I have provided a review of Marvel’s America by Gabby Rivera. I purchased the first two issues, which appear to be a perfect storm for social justice activism.
Check out my latest YouTube review to learn all about the “privileged” and evil white cyborgs who try to destroy Sotomayor University, or the being of “white energy” that imprisons an entire planet until it is defeated with America’s “brown fist.” I wish I were joking, but I’m not.
As always, I look forward to hearing your feedback in the comments section below.
Editor’s Note: Our good pal Dave Huber just wrote a piece for The College Fix that touches on Marvel’s partisan politics problem: Don’t be fooled: ‘Get Woke’ campaigns really mean ‘Agree With Me (or else)’. He was also kind enough to reference my review of America.
Douglas Ernst Blog 
Wonderful video. It makes me wonder just how deluded Marvel has become. They’re obviously tripling down on the politics here, and raising a defiant middle finger to the departing former readers. The irony here is that if they would moderate their views somewhat within the fiction, they could actually make a better case for their politics, instead of consistently preaching to a shrinking choir. A Youtube comment caught my attention, mentioning Justice League Unlimited, which in my opinion, had a perfect balance between telling a good story and balancing different points of view with respect for everyone. Marvel refuses to respect anything right of Bernie Sanders, and as such, I’ll go out of my way to support DC or other companies that don’t let their writers go on an endless diatribe in and outside their work.
One thing I’ve noticed for a while is just how unappealing the modern Marvel visual aesthetics are. Everything looks like a giant pastel color gradient, there’s a severe lack of detail in the backgrounds, and the character faces lack, well, character. I don’t need things looking like an old four color process, but things look too clean and sterile for their own good.
Thanks for the comment, AG. I appreciate it. Like you, I enjoyed Justice League Unlimited. I watch quite a few episodes with my wife. I think she was the one who actually got me into it… Haha. 🙂 When we were in college we used to watch Teen Titans together. Those were the days!
The YouTube comments are quite interesting. I called out one guy out for being a racist (and immediately lost a subscriber…oh well), and then 30 minutes later someone is saying that I’m a card-carrying member of the “alt-right.” This too is odd since the guy probably thinks I voted for Trump (wrong — I went Libertarian), and hate minorities (wrong — I also married one).
In terms of the art in Marvel’s books, it varies for me. Some books are great (e.g., Daredevil), and others are pretty bland (e.g., America).
I totally agree with you about Justice League Unlimited. There was this great episode where wonder woman became evil. It was an amazing episode which showcased freedom of speech,and that everyone has the right to be offended. Sadly I think if Justice league existed today then that message would have not even made it to the green room.
I approve of all these JLU fans around here.
If only Timm/Dini were running the live action movies instead of Snyder. (not that I’m a synder hater, I just think he needs more experience or at least is a better follower than leader)
A few more short points:
-Does Marvel Comics want to play a game to find out just how many times they can denigrate Steve Rogers?
-Sotomayor University? Really?
-Of course we have the villainous white privileged hatemongers attacking the ultimate left wing safe space.
-I don’t mind a story from a left wing point of view, but sheesh, learn how to tell a story with just a tiny bit of subtlety, no matter what your politics are.
“-Does Marvel Comics want to play a game to find out just how many times they can denigrate Steve Rogers?”
I wish they would just sort of come out and say, “Yeah, we decided we kind of hate him…because ‘white privilege’ and stuff.”
“-Sotomayor University? Really?”
Heh. I would have respected Thurgood Marshall University for a number of reasons, but I guess he doesn’t count because it doesn’t fit with “Latina Power!” or whatever.
“-Of course we have the villainous white privileged hatemongers attacking the ultimate left wing safe space.”
I almost want to keep reading just to see how bad it gets. Will there be a villain called “The Patriarchy”? Where does it end. 🙂
“-I don’t mind a story from a left wing point of view, but sheesh, learn how to tell a story with just a tiny bit of subtlety, no matter what your politics are.”
These writers actually think they’re doing a good job if they bash you over the head with their personal politics. It’s so embarrassing. I kind of feel bad for them because they’ve steeped so long in an ideological stew that their brain doesn’t function properly. The have some sort of lobe damage that affects their objectivity.
It’s terrible. If I were to make a parody of more outlandish left wing beliefs and attitudes…I would just end up making America. What’s really sad, is that it leaves us with less real diversity, as heroes become more the same out of bias, and we recoil from the hammering. I love reading about different character interacting, and conflicting…it’s why I loved X-men, and JLU that was mentioned earlier.
Sorry about the video on the youtube page, I tend to avoid the place anyway. I found another video of it, and would like to know what you think…unfortunately, the part where the gas mask guy goes full snowflake and rages about how special he is, is cut out, but maybe someday you’ll check this show, Mob Psycho 100, out.
To frame it, Mob (which doesn’t represent an gangster influence, (actually a word for ‘non-descript’) has super psychic powers, but does not wish to use them on others…whats great about the scene, is that his ‘master’ a con-man named Reigen, not only is gifted with Mob’s power to protect his friends, but defeats them by his pure adulthood, even as flawed as he is. Entertainment nowadays seems to worship childishness and victimization…In the scene, Reigen completely skewers these ideas. Also, Mobs gratitude to his mentor is a sweet touch, hope you enjoy
Wow, this one may actually be crossing into so bad it’s good territory. Honestly, this comic just sounds like pure SJW fan fiction. A good indicator that something is fan fiction is when the only way the author knows how to distinguish their character is to show how awesome they are by having them one-up established popular characters(stealing Cap’s Hitler punch is just criminal). I honestly think that Ms Rivera is so deluded that she pictures herself as the main character, breaking down barriers of “white energy” with her “brown fist” in her everyday life. As a kid who grew up in the 90s, I can honestly say that the environmental message in most episodes of Captain Planet wasn’t as ham-fisted as the SJW message seems to be in this comic. Probably the biggest head scratcher in this whole thing is how these issues actually made it past an editor’s desk.
As bad as these issues are though, I hope you keep covering this series, as I’m genuinely curious to see how much worse it gets. There’s something fascinating about watching SJW train wrecks play out.
“Wow, this one may actually be crossing into so bad it’s good territory. Honestly, this comic just sounds like pure SJW fan fiction.”
I can’t wait to see what people will be saying about this era of Marvel ten years from now…if they even remember. Every time I think Marvel can’t go any further off the deep end, they do it!
“As bad as these issues are though, I hope you keep covering this series, as I’m genuinely curious to see how much worse it gets. There’s something fascinating about watching SJW train wrecks play out.”
There’s a good chance that I’ll keep tabs on this one because it is such a perfect example of everything that is wrong with Marvel. It ticks me off that CNN, Vogue, Huffington Post, and all these other sites say it’s the greatest thing ever when it is clearly just social justice propaganda vomited into existence.
Did see an update with an additional comment from Marvel (for whatever that may or may not be worth): (http://www.newsarama.com/33843-late-16-sales-downturn-told-marvel-people-didn-t-want-any-more-diversity.html). Apparently the story is now that, despite initial thoughts, they’re convinced that readers are embracing both the new and old characters and concepts.
Regardless of the politics, I have to agree that I don’t like the art very much based on the examples (I’ve seen a lot better) and the series sounds like its going for a very weird setting, with all the dimensional travel and whatnot, not really in my wheelhouse.
I’d heard of the America character before but didn’t know much about her. From the description of her power set, she sounds a bit like Jenny Everywhere (kind of ironic, given that I like the Jenny character).
How a book with so many terrible, pandering, and intentionally controversial aspects was allowed to be written and sold by a major comic publisher I have no idea.
Who was the the audience for this? Who was asking for this? Who the hell is buying it?
Marvel is never going to listen. It will take someone at Disney to basically decide to fire everyone at Marvel comics and start with a clean slate to fix Marvel at this point. They have really lost the plot and gone off the deep end.
Also completely agree. The need to stop confusing writers and activists.
OR we just hate crappy sermons with bad plots? Ugh, this is why I don’t read MARVEL anymore. And my family is pretty diverse, but that isn’t enough to float a silly trope masquerading as a story.
Isn’t America Chavez the most Mary Sue of recent Mary Sue characters?
“Isn’t America Chavez the most Mary Sue of recent Mary Sue characters?”
It may be a toss-up between America Chavez and Riri Williams.
Looking back at this, I would start believing that America Chavez would make for a supervillain more than a superhero. The basic plot of the story so far certainly seems like an origin story for one: “Main character has a lovers’ spat with her live-in girlfriend, skips town and finds a ‘safe space’ in another world that is everything like the dream world she yearns for. Gains additional superpowers of time travel and skips through the decades to upstage Captain America’s iconic ‘Punching Hitler’ comicbook cover scene. Returns to her safe space and finds it being invaded by ‘privileged white supremacist’ cyborgs.” Definitely sounds like a fanfic you might read from a 14-year old hipster girl.
The question is what to do with such a character. Chavez is written like said 14-year old girl. What happens when she returns to the “real” world? If I were to write a story with this character, she’d come across as so full of herself that she’d end up turning on everyone else, and be the real “villain” in that story. That is how I view so many of the SJWs, after all.
Out of curiosity, I looked up some of the reviews of the first issue on Comic Book Roundup. The majority were very positive. Lot of praise for the lead character in terms of personality (granted, one reviewer found America to be unlikeable and many of the other reviewers also indicted that they had liked the character in her previous appearances and had wanted to see her get a solo series).
Some commented that it added welcome diversity to the lineup and at least one was pleased that it did this by adding a “new” character, nor replacing an old one (America was created in 2011 and Wikipedia claims that she’s the third character to use the superhero mantle “Miss America,” for what it’s worth).
At least one review offered the opinion that the book probably wouldn’t appeal to the politically right aligned (although they seemed to be thinking of Pres. Trump’s camp specifically and I have no idea where he fits in on the Conservative spectrum) and I recall another one thinking that the book was an acquired taste in any event. I recall a few thinking that the commentary was a little too heavy-handed as well.
As I have not read the book, I can’t comment on the accuracy or not myself, but it does seem that the book found its audience at the end of the day.
“As I have not read the book, I can’t comment on the accuracy or not myself, but it does seem that the book found its audience at the end of the day.”
If that is the case, then why are they giving it away for free?
This book was bad. Even if you strip out the politics, the writing on a purely technical level was bad. “Acquired taste” is a euphemism for “bad.” And anyone who says, “It’s good but Trump voters won’t like it,” is only telegraphing their own bias. It translates: “This book is bad, but I’m going to say it’s awesome because I agree with the author’s activism.”
If the audience for this book is rabid left-wing ideologues who do not care about good writing, then sure, I guess it found its audience. I’m looking forward to seeing the sales numbers over the next four months.