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How Liberalism May Be Hurting Comic Book Sales by Darin Wagner

gailsimone:

lowarthighcraft:

iandsharman:

Hahahahahaha…what a spectacular crock of shit this is.

First and foremost I’d like to know why this guy is reading comics in the comic store before buying them and then putting them back on the shelf when he discovers their offensively liberal content?

What kind of leftist hippie is he? Comic shops aren’t libraries! He should be a good capitalist and pay for those comics before he reads them!

If he seriously thinks this is why comic book readership is falling then I suggest that maybe, just maybe, he removes his head from his arse and do some proper research into how the industry works.

Won’t somebody please think of the oil companies?!

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Okay. This article isn’t particularly making its case well, but I do agree that Conservatives and religious people tend to be portrayed as cartoonish, ignorant or evil in comics. It’s unfair. I’m a lefty to the core and it’s unfair. Some of the few honest conservative characters in comics have had that stripped away over the years (Wally West was presented as mid-West Conservative for a good while, only to have that angle dumped completely).

However, there are two HUGE problems with what he’s saying.

1) At least the Conservatives and religious people are VISIBLE in comics. Dozens of groups aren’t represented in comics at all, or in only the most token way, including liberal-leaning groups like Atheists. Is the occasionally unfair portrayal somehow worse than no representation at all? I know there are exceptions, but there are exceptions in the original complaint, as well. There are at least SOME positive Conservative portrayals.

2) IF what this gentleman is saying is true (and it isn’t, not on any big scale…he’s projecting a personal reaction to explain a problem that is vastly more complex than  that), then wouldn’t Conservative-leaning comics be growing, or at least maintaining their audience with greater vigor than the liberal-leaning comics he’s upset about?  There are plenty of talented Conservative creators: Frank Miller, Dave Sim, Bill Willingham, Chuck Dixon, Beau Smith, Billy Tucci, on and on. Wouldn’t Conservatives be drawn to their work and buck this trend?

When a liberal comment makes him put a comic back on the stands, wouldn’t the lack of same cause him, and those who agree with him, to buy HOLY TERROR?

But there is zero evidence, and I mean ZERO evidence, that any such trend is occurring. If anything, those creators are being hit with the same market softness that the rest of the industry has been. It’s a little ironic that a few of the books he’s chosen to mention as containing Conservative-slamming comments are in fact the top-selling titles in the industry.

Twenty years ago, we didn’t have comics piracy, we didn’t have competition from the internet, we had a different price point and distribution system. There are dozens of factors, some of which may in fact be related to content.

But I could just as easily say, I don’t like books where the characters wear yellow capes, so I put those books back on the stands, and now the industry is much smaller. It MUST be the yellow capes propaganda.

Where is the evidence?