(PCM) Is Political Correctness Being Forced on Comic Book Readers? Around the Internet many media sites are praising Marvel comics for knowing what readers want, asserting that readers are smart enough to accept a female Thor or a Black Captain America.
The point that Marvel is making these changes isn’t very exciting to established comic book readers. Marvel editors don’t see these moves as daring or needed. They certainly are not in response to any readers demanding characters be female or black. They see them as no more than another marketing stunt by a publication to cash in on some hype.
Should there be more female superheros? Should there be more racially diverse superheroes etc…? That’s not the subject of this article. What you should be aware of is that politically correct superheroes are no more than a considered angle to sell comics.
The fact you are reading this article may mean you don’t even read comic books. Comic book readers already know the answer to this question because they understand the real agenda of Marvel in making politically correct changes to characters.
Be sure to understand this clear. If a Female Thor sells comics, Marvel will blow with the politically correct wind and claim this was their plan all along. The same goes for a Black Captain America. The editorial staff at Marvel are not geniuses. They are business men that want to sell paper. They are throwing an idea against the wall and hoping it sticks. The latest hip trend are politically correct comics.
Yet in this hyper politically correct society which has evolved over the last 20 years, there is no doubt ideas like maiming an character or killing a character are not as newsworthy as current top three. They are:
Changing a character’s race
Changing a character’s sex
Changing a characters’s sexuality
Do you think this is cheap or do you think this is great storytelling? Should you be considered smart if you accept these changes to an established character or should you be insulted?
What’s interesting is that Marvel is killing off one of the top franchise characters late in the summer of 2014. That character is Wolverine. He won’t stay dead of course. It’s a story telling device in comics that has not yet be used on this character. It’s a fair bet that those issues of Wolverine will sell more comics than both Thor and Captain America combined.
Will the Death of Wolverine sell more than Thor and Captain America because Marvel made Thor a female and Captain America black? The fair guess is no, and the reason is much simpler than the misguided media will speculate. The answer is easy, Wolverine has a larger established base of readers which will continue to read Wolverine. Thor and Captain America will have their usual readers as well. The status quo will not change.
To this the only lesson to learn is that you should not read mainstream media for opinions on comic books. 