This is my first blog entry, and I figure I'd kick start with an interesting observation I've made in the last year. Remember when DC killed Ryan Choi? Of course you do, chances are very likely that you've never read his series, that you've never had any interest in the character itself, and you probably didn't even know his name, but the character is now synonymous with the biggest spark of controversy that has hit mainstream comics since Women in Refrigerators. This particular fire erupted after the infamous Chris Sims' article made it's way onto the internet, and it's one of the few pieces of comics journalism that in addition to make a tangible difference, is still in the public eye. It's even gone as far heavily influencing DC's commitment to diversity as evident by the relaunch and the promises of a more diverse DC in the future But, what about Marvel?
It's fascinating how Marvel has managed to come out of this situation almost entirely unscathed. And why shouldn't they? Marvel has always been depicted as the better of the two companies, friendlier, with a better commitment to their fans and their creators. Marvel is in the unique position of having been largely developed decades after DC had established their core cast of characters and concepts in a less...socially acceptable era. They have had a huge lead on DC for a while now when it comes to diversity in their cast of characters and for this Marvel generally manages to escape notice in these discussions while DC is hammered relentlessly. In all honesty, they don't deserve the immunity they have seemingly been granted.
Let's start with a few interesting statistics: Looking at September Solicits Marvel has the following amount of ongoing titles that feature non-white, non-male characters in a starring role: Thunderbolts, Ghost Rider (Apparently Ghost Rider is a female now?), Black Panther, Iron Man 2.0*, X-23, Dark Wolverine, Heroes for Hire (For all intents and purposes this is a Misty Knight book), X-Men Legacy (A Rogue book). So out of 50 or so titles, Marvel manages 2 ensemble books with a minority lead, 2 ongoings with the sole focus on a minority character, one book with a bisexual lead, and 3 books with female leads. Not really that impressive is it? It doesn't get much better when you start evaluating team books. Between the three main Avengers titles (Adjectiveless, Secret, and New) there are only two non-white characters on the team. The main team does not have a single minority character and only a single female character to boot. Avengers Academy fares slightly better with 2 minorities and a 50% female cast. The true stand-up team at Marvel that manages to incorporate a truly diverse cast of characters is the Young Avengers. It's almost inspiring how they manage to work in such a differing interesting group of characters that never feels like it was stitched together just to meet some quota to half-heartedly appease critics who harp on these types of things. It's a shame that they simply star in a miniseries, and genuinely tend to disappear for long stretches of time after Allen Heinberg is done having his fun.
Marvel does have one other ace up their sleeve though, and it's a shield they have managed to successfully hide behind whenever these nasty accusations pop their head up. The X-Men, the most diverse bunch of characters that have ever existed in any modern comics publication. They're great aren't they? So many characters, so many personalities, so many of them it's hard to keep straight. But, that's sort of the problem isn't it? The X-Men as they are, are so widely divided from the core of the Marvel universe (Outside of obvious exceptions like Wolverine), that it becomes difficult to really cite this as true diversity. Writers are constantly creating new X-Men, but they rarely make it from one run to the next. Just as Dick Grayson's supporting cast changes with every new writer, so do the X-Men rarely come with the baton pass. These new X-Men, they can't support titles, they don't show up anywhere outside of their own respective books, only occasionally showing up to clutter crowd scenes. It is diversity, I make no qualms about this, but this type of diversity comes with serious strings attached. Marvel is known for the high-level of integration of it's universe, something DC is not known for, but even then the X-Men generally tend to exist in their own bubble. You can cite that the Marvel Universe is diverse and this is true to a fault, but when it comes down to it, it is simply the X-Men that are truly diverse. In most respects Marvel is just as bad, if not worse than DC when it comes to the greater universe.
We've taken a look at Marvel this September, but let's take a look at DC in September as well. 52 ongoings: There are 8 ongoings with a female lead (One of which is an all-female team.), 6 ongoings with a minority lead, and one ongoing with a LGB lead. On almost all counts that's twice of what Marvel is offering, with only two more books being published. On team books, the mainline Justice League book has 3 minorities (possibly four), with 4 female characters. The JLI has 4 minority characters, with 3 females in tact. The Teen Titans beat out the Avengers Academy for minority characters. Stormwatch is headed up by two gay lead characters. Now let me make it quite clear that I am not implying that DC is diverse just because of what is shown. Quite the opposite in fact, they still have an uphill battle on making sure that these titles STAY this way, and even then they still have a way to go. Numbercrunching doesn't stand up to much scrutiny, but it does help paint a better picture of what I'm saying. The Marvel Way is not the clear-cut answer, and the fact that they have managed to escape the diversity issue entirely intact is simply disingenuous. DC has improved, and now the ball is now in Marvel's court to do the same. Marvel simply cannot hide behind the X-Men as their source of diversity because it does not work when examining the whole of their universe.
Tomorrow I will get into the differences between DC and Marvel when it comes to the creation and implication of minority characters, and weigh the flaws and benefits of both methods.
*I have severe trepidations about listing Iron Man 2.0 as a book with a minority lead when it's become increasingly evident that War Machine is barely even a character in his own book. http://funnybookbabylon.com/2011/06/24/i-am-pretty-sure-marvel-mislabeled-fear-itself-immortal-weapons-2-as-iron-man-2-0-6/
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