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Or, you know, make movies that ignore garbage like identity politics in the first place. As for Marvel, they know it's killing their comics, but I guess they insist on infecting their movies as well. Oh well, the market will sort it out, they'll learn.
But that is the other side of including more diverse characters - if your sales drop, that is the perfect excuse. EA does this all the time when a Bioware game underperforms, and even used it as part of its defense why it shouldn't be named America's worst company twice in a row. I don't read comics regularly, I don't know why sales drop, but my first assumption is always that it is because the comics are bad.
(Personally I think that its great when stories include characters of different backgrounds,genders, races etc, but it gives me pause when you take an established character and change their background completely, which is what Marvel seems to be doing lately. That is just me, though, and I don't claim to be representative for the comic-buying public - in fact, it is probably more likely that the stories are just not good.)
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
But that is the other side of including more diverse characters - if your sales drop, that is the perfect excuse. EA does this all the time when a Bioware game underperforms, and even used it as part of its defense why it shouldn't be named America's worst company twice in a row. I don't read comics regularly, I don't know why sales drop, but my first assumption is always that it is because the comics are bad.
(Personally I think that its great when stories include characters of different backgrounds,genders, races etc, but it gives me pause when you take an established character and change their background completely, which is what Marvel seems to be doing lately. That is just me, though, and I don't claim to be representative for the comic-buying public - in fact, it is probably more likely that the stories are just not good.)
Two things;
1. The social justice comics that Marvel has been foisting are bad. In fact, they're not just bad, they're patently awful. In Miss America (yeah, that's really her name), the titular character (a teenage, lesbian, black, latina) spent 14 pages going on and on about her female love interest, followed by 6 pages complaining about why people don't care about her romance? (As if people should, like standing around admiring the romances of others is a thing.) In fact, there was no real villain, no motivation for her (beyond the love interest), and no plot. It was a Seinfeld episode, but without comedy.
2. Adding more characters is great, there should always be new ones, but for the love of Peter Parker stop trying to replace all the fan favorite characters, who often happen to be white males, with minorities and women. Make new characters, but if they fail, stop trying to cannibalize existing, well-loved titles to advance a pro-diversity agenda. Thor doesn't need boobs, Iron Man doesn't need to become a teenage black girl, and Captain America doesn't need to be villainized and turned into a freaking Nazi. (FFS?!?!) I can go on with these, no staple characters have been left untouched, and to say that the vast majority of comics fans are miffed is an understatement (88% as of the last reader poll).
So while the MCU is firing on all cylinders, more or less, Marvel the comics company is on life support and dying a gruesome, protracted death, and they're taking the entire industry with them, as <40% of comics stores that were around just 8 years ago are still in business. I had to partner with my own local store to keep it alive, and while I love being a store co-owner, having a comics store has always been a lifelong dream, it's certainly a money pit right now, since so many fans have went into hibernation over all this crap.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
1. This is what I have heard as well. That is enough of a reason to stop reading those series, in my opinion.
(It also strikes me as insanely stupid to call your fans racist homophobes, which is what that Marvel VP you linked to basically said. I know some comic fans, and racist homophobes is not a term I'd use to describe them.)
2. I wonder why they changed all their characters at the same time. There must be a plan here somewhere.
3 (or whatever. The comics store thing). I think that the dedicated comics store is not long for this world in any case. It is precisely the type of business that gets out-competed by the Internet, and now that you can read comics on an iPad, that will only accelerate. If Amazon can kill book stores, they can certainly kill comic stores.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Comics stores are a community hub for the misfits and artistic types, aka. nerds, and I love nerds. We stand and talk for hours about comics, gaming, politics, and general geek culture, and during that we sell comics and cards. A potential comic store employee's best quality is to be a conversationalist (along with being a font of endless comic lore), and we're one of the few places in the offline world where nerds go to get their fix for human contact (and we have free wifi, soft drinks, and game tables). One thing bumped up sales, we hired a RL girl full-time. Along with knowing the appropriate subjects, and being a first-rate MTG player, she's really cute (redhead!). The male customers may not have the guts to actually look her in the eyes, but they do like to see her. She's kind of developed her own cult following.
I guess I did exaggerate our losses a little, most months we almost break even (which is all that really matters to me), I just wish more of our business came from comics sales. If it weren't for card games, we'd be seriously hurting.
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Last edited by Cap'n Tightpants; Jul 12, 2017 at 09:22 PM.
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"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
One thing bumped up sales, we hired a RL girl full-time. Along with knowing the appropriate subjects, and being a first-rate MTG player, she's really cute (redhead!). The male customers may not have the guts to actually look her in the eyes, but they do like to see her. She's kind of developed her own cult following.
I've seen this succeed with a plain looking girl who knows nothing about comics.
The reason it worked was her being open to learning. Everyone suddenly had a blank slate upon which to impress their opinions of various comics... an irresistible lure.
Saw Spiderman at the drive-in. Enjoyed it a lot. Michael Keaton is awesome. Plot holes? Sure.
When has anyone, presented with no access to information, ever made accurate decisions? Stark or Happy could have kept the kid in the loop re FBI tipoff. A little BCC on the emails etc.
2. I wonder why they changed all their characters at the same time. There must be a plan here somewhere.
I'm beginning to think the entire plan for these artists is to make each facet of daily living an advertisement for SJW values.
The comic industry has always skewed progressive, which is fine, except when the message is so ham-fisted that you don't even know if there's an actual story present. I love Miles Morales (who happens to have the coolest Spidey costume ever, IMHO), and I enjoyed his comic without complaint until the arrival of a little YouTube girl who sees his skin through the torn costume and uploads a video saying, "The new Spider-man is a person of color!" It didn't matter. He was a good character until they forced an unnecessary agenda into the mix.
It felt natural until they made it unnatural, and that's Marvel's problem across their entire line. It actually feels spiteful, which is a terrible tone to let resonate for so long.
[EDIT] I failed to mention that I'm still loving DC's output right now. Red Hood and the Outlaw's has been fantastic, as well as the Superman and Detective Comics lines. I'm also a big fan of Francis Manapul — Trinity #2 (I believe) had two pages that actually left me misty-eyed.
I checked and DC is selling at 88% of Marvel at our store right now. Talk about unnatural. It makes sense, though. DC is writing great stories, for the most part, while Marvel is boring their fans to tears (when they aren't forcing an agenda down their throats).
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
Defenders was quite good, I thought. It got a bit crowded with all the sidekicks, but the ending made sense as a payoff, and I like the hints about where they're going with future shows, namely
Misty losing an arm, Matt seemingly dying and being nursed by what appears to be his mother and both Danny and Jessica seemingly finding some purpose.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
I heard Marvel were gearing up to pull all their content for their own streaming service. Not sure how wise that is. Netflix is working well for them.
Disney is pulling their content but specifically did not mention pulling Marvel or Star Wars stuff. They're clearly still negotiating.
Note that the Marvel series on Netflix are Netflix produced, Disney can't pull them even if they wanted. I don't know the deal they have, but likely Netflix can keep making those series as long as they make financial sense. I think Marvel is quite OK with that - those shows are about three (or I guess four now) second string characters and one that already failed in a blockbuster. Making something out of them is hard, and Netflix is making Marvel look good with their hard work.
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Last edited by P; Aug 21, 2017 at 04:30 AM.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Thats why I question it. Yes, if any single studio can get away with it its Disney what with them being everyone's favourite DVD babysitters but I'd imagine such a move would hurt their disc sales and if they don't offer every Disney movie ever at all times. Their preferred affluent market may not go for it if they feel they still have to buy DVDs as well when there is another Frozen must have on a loop and they can't stream it as part of their $15pm package.
As for the rest of us, having Netflix and Amazon and getting 90% of whats about is ok. People don't want to end up with too many subscriptions.
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Last edited by Waragainstsleep; Aug 20, 2017 at 09:10 PM.
Reason: Stupidly long sentence,)
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
They can lure people in with a subset of their catalog and then gouge them on the "Princess Package", where they don't play musical mice with the content.
Anyone seen Thor yet? I heard it was fun nonsense, which I believe is the standalone Thor movies role in the Marvel universe. I'm hoping to go this weekend, just gotta get the small people caught up on the old ones.
Thor was hella fun. Grinned all the way through. Appropriate use of Zep Immigrant Song. Many meta jokes. One star off for Hemsworth putting his shirt back on.
OTOH, Justice League flopped, wonder if DC pulls the plug on their universe.
It didn't really flop. It has box office receipts of about half a billion by now, on a budget of $300 million. A few more days and it breaks even. It will likely turn a modest profit eventually. Below WB expectations surely, but not too bad.
So no, they won't pull the plug, but they do need a new director, because Snyder is apparently out. He doesn't want to make any more, and they haven't exactly been successes anyway. Wonder if they will try to strongarm Whedon into taking over?
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Visually I love what DC have done, I've always been a fan of Snyder's aesthetics but its all very serious, gritty, dark and grown-up compared to Marvel's more light-hearted effort. I can't help but wonder if its that much less appropriate for children and hence its costing them for that reason in particular. The irresistible need to entertain kids is probably the biggest driving force behind cinema attendance these days and has been for some time.
You also have to wonder whether separating it from the TV universe was a great call. Wonder Woman was great and Suicide Squad was fun, but Arrow/Flash/Supergirl/Legends is great and more family friendly. If they could have thrown Gal Gadot, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto and maybe even Cavill in with that lot they could have really been onto something. Oh Momoa too, he's always good.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
Just read a long piece about the behind-the-scenes drama. Apparently Snyder had pretty free hands over at WB, with a high-ranking protector. When BvS failed, they were already deep in production on JL and didn't want to switch directors. When the evidence became overwhelming that the darker tone of Snyder's movies didn't work and the lighter tone of WW helped, WB finally decided to switch, but by then principal shooting was done. Whedon got a pretty much unlimited budget but very limited time to redo it, with an instruction to end the super-dark world-is-ending setup that Snyder was working on so future movies could be lighter. WB doesn't want future singles of Flash, Aquaman etc to be set under the cloud of an insane Superman or an alien invasion.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Thor was hella fun. Grinned all the way through. Appropriate use of Zep Immigrant Song. Many meta jokes. One star off for Hemsworth putting his shirt back on.
Now go watch Hunt for the Wildepeople, also by Taika Waititi. Best movie of 2016.
This space for Hire! Reasonable rates. Reach an audience of literally dozens!
So Snyder’s original intention was evil Supes post-JL? No wonder they forced him out.
Snyder's intention was apparently three standalone Superman movies, but WB forced him to move towards JL quickly. He has been running things by the seat of his pants ever since.
The plan for JL was apparently two movies. The first seems to have been focused around the idea that Earth is going to hell without Supes - no alien invasion, just regular crime, war and revolutions etc, because he was apparently a moral beacon and without him the world is just crashing. The League is formed to stop that and eventually decides that the solution is to revive him. The process of reviving him is what brings Steppenwolf, but also warning of an even bigger threat out there. Steppenwolf is defeated, end movie 1. Movie 2 now apparently has the evil Superman subplot, where he makes himself a dictator to raise an army to defend Earth.
There are any number of problems with this. The idea of Superman as a moral beacon doesn't work if we've only seen him wrecking Metropolis while defeating Zod and then getting beat up by Batman. Supes as a dictator between the two JL movies means that it is hard to continue with other singles - Snyder is clearly drawing on the Dark Knight stories, but that was a separate universe and a closed story. WB is basically just drawing the line here before their world is completely wrecked, so they can go lighter without rebooting the continuity again.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
I know it is fashionable to make fun of DC movies, and I certainly don't like what they've been putting out, but it is really BvS that is the major flop. JL actually has a decent bounce - most likely the first weekend was depressed by the poor showing of BvS.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Thor was hella fun. Grinned all the way through. Appropriate use of Zep Immigrant Song. Many meta jokes. One star off for Hemsworth putting his shirt back on.
Saw it just now. IMO, it was the best Marvel single since Winter Soldier, a movie it reminds me a lot of.
The only Infinity Stone was the Tesseract in the vaults under Odin’s palace, which everyone seems to have forgotten until
Loke apparently grabs it
. A couple of movies left for the final one to be revealed.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
According to the trailer, he does not. He first has the Power stone (the one that the GotG left in the care of the Nova Core in the first movie) and then adds the Space stone (the one in the Tesseract, which was used first by Red Skull, then by Loke and finally given to Thor for safekeeping in Asgard).
Ragnarok spoiler:
Loke apparently picks up the Tesseract from the treasure chamber in Asgard near the end of the movie, so Thanos must have received it from him. The mid-credit scene is the spaceship with the Asgardian refugees, including Thor, Hulk, Loke and Valkyrie, encountering a much bigger ship which is implied to be Thanos'. That Thanos' has the stone already is curious - if he boards to take it, why would he leave all those supoerpowered people alive and on a functional spaceship? If he decides to follow them to Earth, he isn't exactly hiding. Did Loke give him the stone, turning heel again after the face turn in Ragnarok?
It is also curious where the Reality stone is, if Thanos doesn't have it. Last we saw, it was given to the Collector for safekeeping. He is not on Earth, so why come here without it?
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Snuck in to see Thor before it vanished from the theatres.
Easily the best Thor movie (hardly a high bar), but also probably second only to GotG 1 as a great Marvel movie. Really benefited from Taika Waititi's sensibilities and Chris Hemsworth proving that his comedy schtick in Ghostbusters was no fluk. He certainly dos funny. A riot of fun and colour. And tunes.
Usual dull villain issues but other than that a top two hours!
This space for Hire! Reasonable rates. Reach an audience of literally dozens!
Disney is apparently buying Fox' TV entertainment and film production assets. This would mean that they get X-men back, and distribution rights to Fantastic Four (if technically not the production rights just yet, but Disney can then just put those characters in the freezer until whoever has the production rights is willing to sell). I guess they need something for the later phases of the MCU?
(No, that's not why they're buying. Fox wants to sell, Disney is looking for content for its new streaming service - that they get the rights back to a few Marvel properties is just icing on the cake.)
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Does anyone know if Disney will end up owning 21st Century Fox? They are trying to buy Sky in Europe and I would much rather Disney own Sky than Murdoch.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
Ever since Disney came to own Pixar and LucasFilm, I've felt they are too big. I'd rather not see Disney gobble up any more of their competition. They aren't nice about copyright law, and they're too prudish for my taste. Star Wars Rebels is OK in general, but it bothers me how conservatively-dressed all the characters have become. Compared to Clone Wars. Someone picked up the phone after the purchase, and ordered all suggestive content clipped. Narrow hips on the girls, full-coverage clothing on everyone, avoid locations where problematic things happen. ie - Coruscant bars, where there are dancing girls. Likewise Jabba's palace.