dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
black women? please school me then
Marvel is putting out hip hop variant covers
- Thread starter Soundwave
- Start date
YeLovesBoston
Superstar
how you supposed to remake an album cover of a baby sittin on his uncle's lap b?
your brand of hate is so irrational it's comical
Peter Parker and Uncle Ben
Dirty Mcdrawz
Your girl loves em....
got it from some where else
Well, looks like the posters in here giving Marvel the side eye for this were right 
Marvel's hip-hop inspired variant covers aren't sitting well with some black nerds
This fall, Marvel’s releasing a series of variant covers to a number of its newly re-launched titles like Spider-Man/Deadpool, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Amazing Spider-Man. You’ll notice that each of the covers is styled after a different hip-hop album from the past 30 years or so.
“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog,” Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso explained in a widely shared press release. “Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces.”
While the covers are undoubtedly eye-catching, a number of Marvel’s fan’s felt as if the company’s decision to use hip-hop to promote its new books was tone-deaf considering that none of the writers for its new series appear to actually be black people. Rap and hip-hop, two art forms born out of the black American experience, have long-since become integral parts of the larger pop cultural conversation.
To some, however, Marvel’s variant covers were an attempt at appealing to their black readers, something that could have been done just as effectively by featuring more voices of color in its editorial staff.
“One issue with Marvel publishing hip-hop-themed covers in the wake of not hiring black creators is that…a dialogue goes two ways,” David Brothers, former journalist turned staffer for Image Comics, wrote in a Tumblr post. “Axel Alonso said Marvel has been in a long dialogue with rap music, but that isn’t true. It’s a long monologue, from rap to Marvel, with Marvel never really giving back like it should or could.”
Brothers was speaking in direct response to a flippant post made by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, who dismissed a fan’s question about Marvel’s decision to mine hip-hop culture for a little artistic flair.
“Can you explain why Marvel thinks that doing hip hop variants is a good idea, when absolutely no announced writers or artists on the new Marvel titles, as of now, are black,” the fan asked. Wouldn’t correcting the latter be a much better idea than the former?”
“What does one have to do with the other, really?” Brevoort asked in response.
Hours later, Brevoort returned to his blog to elaborate on his previous statement, insisting that there was plenty more to be seen of the All-New, All-Different Marvel that could address some fans’ concerns.
“Doing the Hip-Hop covers (many of which were illustrated by creators of color) has no direct bearing on the state of African-American representation among our creative teams,” Brevoort wrote. “What it does do, hopefully, is to showcase an appreciation for this respected art form, and by extension create an environment that’s maybe a little bit more welcoming to prospective creators.”
Neither Brevoort nor Brothers could be reached for comment.
It isn’t hard to see why Marvel chose this specific theme to work into the limited edition covers. While the company may have the world of superhero movies on lock, it’s not often that a publisher’s able to generate this much buzz around a series of covers that most people will never see in person.
After years of declining revenue throughout the entire market, comic book sales saw a distinct uptick last year and Marvel’s doing its job to make sure that its titles continue to tops sales lists.
J.A. Micheline a contributor at Women Write About Comics, still thinks that there are still better options if Marvel’s goal is to court a more diverse readership. For all the supposed good will the publisher might have gained from a black audience by evoking the spectre of Biggie’s, Marvel’s art fell short of actually bridging a cultural gap.
“Because in the face of these variants [covers], in the face of this very one-sided dialogue, in the face of this horrendously imbalanced relationship, one thing is crystalline,” she wrote. “My ‘swag’ is welcome. My voice is not.”
Editor’s note: Fusion is a joint venture between Univision and ABC; ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Company, which also owns Marvel Entertainment.
@SpeaktotheMods
@dora_da_destroyer
@Rapmastermind
Marvel's hip-hop inspired variant covers aren't sitting well with some black nerds
This fall, Marvel’s releasing a series of variant covers to a number of its newly re-launched titles like Spider-Man/Deadpool, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Amazing Spider-Man. You’ll notice that each of the covers is styled after a different hip-hop album from the past 30 years or so.
“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog,” Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso explained in a widely shared press release. “Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces.”
While the covers are undoubtedly eye-catching, a number of Marvel’s fan’s felt as if the company’s decision to use hip-hop to promote its new books was tone-deaf considering that none of the writers for its new series appear to actually be black people. Rap and hip-hop, two art forms born out of the black American experience, have long-since become integral parts of the larger pop cultural conversation.
To some, however, Marvel’s variant covers were an attempt at appealing to their black readers, something that could have been done just as effectively by featuring more voices of color in its editorial staff.
“One issue with Marvel publishing hip-hop-themed covers in the wake of not hiring black creators is that…a dialogue goes two ways,” David Brothers, former journalist turned staffer for Image Comics, wrote in a Tumblr post. “Axel Alonso said Marvel has been in a long dialogue with rap music, but that isn’t true. It’s a long monologue, from rap to Marvel, with Marvel never really giving back like it should or could.”
Brothers was speaking in direct response to a flippant post made by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, who dismissed a fan’s question about Marvel’s decision to mine hip-hop culture for a little artistic flair.
“Can you explain why Marvel thinks that doing hip hop variants is a good idea, when absolutely no announced writers or artists on the new Marvel titles, as of now, are black,” the fan asked. Wouldn’t correcting the latter be a much better idea than the former?”
“What does one have to do with the other, really?” Brevoort asked in response.
Hours later, Brevoort returned to his blog to elaborate on his previous statement, insisting that there was plenty more to be seen of the All-New, All-Different Marvel that could address some fans’ concerns.
“Doing the Hip-Hop covers (many of which were illustrated by creators of color) has no direct bearing on the state of African-American representation among our creative teams,” Brevoort wrote. “What it does do, hopefully, is to showcase an appreciation for this respected art form, and by extension create an environment that’s maybe a little bit more welcoming to prospective creators.”
Neither Brevoort nor Brothers could be reached for comment.
It isn’t hard to see why Marvel chose this specific theme to work into the limited edition covers. While the company may have the world of superhero movies on lock, it’s not often that a publisher’s able to generate this much buzz around a series of covers that most people will never see in person.
After years of declining revenue throughout the entire market, comic book sales saw a distinct uptick last year and Marvel’s doing its job to make sure that its titles continue to tops sales lists.
J.A. Micheline a contributor at Women Write About Comics, still thinks that there are still better options if Marvel’s goal is to court a more diverse readership. For all the supposed good will the publisher might have gained from a black audience by evoking the spectre of Biggie’s, Marvel’s art fell short of actually bridging a cultural gap.
“Because in the face of these variants [covers], in the face of this very one-sided dialogue, in the face of this horrendously imbalanced relationship, one thing is crystalline,” she wrote. “My ‘swag’ is welcome. My voice is not.”
Editor’s note: Fusion is a joint venture between Univision and ABC; ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Company, which also owns Marvel Entertainment.
@SpeaktotheMods
@dora_da_destroyer
@Rapmastermind
On a libra scale, the covers are still a dope idea.
So...when and/or where is the black comic book company?
So...when and/or where is the black comic book company?
pimpineasy
Superstar
How much are they paying the rappers they're paying "homage" to? I bet if a rapper put out an official album with a Marvel Character, they would have lawyers at their concerts serving them legal papers. :ill:
More culture vultring from cacs.
dude like seriously can you just chillax .......its a pretty dope homage ..........you like the dude at the party ice grilling every guy dancing with afly honey
download artist music and then complain about culture vultures brehs
On a libra scale, the covers are still a dope idea.
So...when and/or where is the black comic book company?
Milestone Media - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1 of the Black nerds I follow on twitter & listen to his podcast wrote this piece
"
Marvel’s Hip Hop Covers are NOT Cultural Appropriation
Posted July 16, 2015 by Kriss in Editorial
Earlier this week Marvel announced that part of it’s relaunch of the All-New All-Different Marvel universe would include variant covers based on Hip Hop album covers. The covers looked great. Most people I saw where very excited about the covers and really looked forward to trying to get some. I really liked the Ant-Man “Ready to Shrink” one.
But then things took a predictable turn. Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort was answering questions on his Formspring and someone asked this and he responded:
Now, I will be the first to say that even if I understood where Brevoort was coming from, his initial response wasn’t very wise. I went back and looked at some of his other Formspring question/answers and I do get why he responded that way. Bottom Line: He gets a lot of white nerds complaining about the new diverse characters Marvel has coming out. One of them even asked when Marvel was going to have a strongly Christian Heterosexual character. Apparently Daredevil/Matt Murdock doesn’t exist. As someone who gets fed up with stupid questions from trolls, I can totally understand how one could read the original question and just be fed up and go “What does one have to do with the other?” Because honestly, it’s not an either-or situation. But that doesn’t mean it was wrong for people to hold him accountable to follow up and explain. Thankfully, he did:
That should have cleared up anything right there. The “what does one have to do with the other?” is about turning this into an “either-or” is situation. So that should be the end of it right?
Wrong.
What followed was a small vocal minority claiming Marvel doesn’t care about diversity. That the Hip Hop covers were “cultural appropriation”. I even saw one person claim that Marvel stole the idea from them…even though doing parody or homage drawings based on Hip Hop album covers has always been a thing…for decades. Hell, several years ago I did a Photoshop for a frat brother’s comedy album that spoofed 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying cover. Come on people. Stop it. This is probably some of the laziest critiquing I’ve ever seen. These are harmless variant covers that are reaching out and resonating with not just white readers but also black readers as well. How many black people saw those covers and thought “That’s dope, maybe I should check those out”? Considering how diverse the character line up is for these books, isn’t that a great thing? Used to be when Marvel would do something like this years ago, they’d be promoting books that were surface level diverse and that’s it. Storm (or some other black character) would be a background character and that’s it. Or they would do some obvious gimmick like the marriage of Storm and Black Panther (Let’s have the two Africans marry). But in 2015, that’s not what’s happening here. I’m reading a lot of these books and non-white or non-male characters are taking major roles. How in the world is that “appropriation” and not just good marketing to the demographic that matches your characters?
Also can we stop immediately moving the goal posts once we reach a milestone? Can we take a moment to enjoy a victory? I grew up reading Marvel where the choices for black heroes were slim. Storm, Luke Cage, Bishop and Black Panther were the biggest names and given the most attention. Outside of that the pickings were slim. Not saying there weren’t others (War Machine, Falcon, Monica Rambeau, etc.) but they never got top billing. And even the ones that were (Storm, Luke Cage, etc) still felt like they were afterthoughts compared to some other characters. That’s the reason I was skeptical when Marvel first announced they were killing off Ultimate Peter Parker and replacing him with a Black/Latino kid named Miles Morales back in 2011. I thought for sure it would be yet another temporary gimmick like so many before it. Four years later, I’m so happy to have been wrong. Miles Morales is an amazing test case for bringing us a more diverse Marvel. Not only did he stay THE Ultimate Spider-Man but the character is so popular he’s one of the only characters from the Ulitmate universe to make the cut and survive Secret Wars. He’ll be THE main Spider-Man come this Fall. And he won’t be alone. Sam Wilson will be back as Captain America, Thor will still be [redacted],Kamala Khan will be back as Ms. Marvel, Monica Rambeau will join Black Panther and others in Ultimates and there’s many more that STILL need to be announced. Sure, I want more diversity in the writing room and more diverse artists, but getting a diverse line up of characters was the #1 most important thing for many of us who read comics. Picking up a book that has Kamala Khan on the cover is inspiring for all of us. That’s what draws a lot of us in. When I saw that Rae Sremmurd cover for All New Captain America with Sam Wilson, I went out to buy it immediately. Then I read it and the book was great. I bought the Secret Wars tie-in Infinity Gauntlet solely off of seeing the beautiful artwork depicting the main characters: A black family. Not only was the artwork great but so was the writing. I didn’t look up who wrote and drew the book until after I finished issue #2. Why? Because the most important thing to me was seeing and reading quality blackness.
And that’s the most important part here. If the book is good, I honestly don’t care who is writing or drawing it. Yes, I believe Marvel needs to give more opportunities to diverse writers, however I think it’s just as important that in a white male dominated field, white males learn how to write and draw people of color better. Their whiteness isn’t an excuse for drawing black characters to look like monkeys (Look at the artwork in Issue #3 of Storm). It’s not an excuse for having a strong black character like Storm always needing a man she’s had a relationship with pop up in every issue of her solo books. I know it’s not an excuse because I’ve read books written and drawn by white men who treat black characters excellently. Rick Remender wrote Misty Knight into a few issues of All New Captain America and she was written better in those few issues than Storm has been written in her own book for 11 issues. The ethnicity of the writer and artist isn’t an excuse for shytty quality. Even if a book is given to a person of color to write or draw, eventually the characters in those books will be written and draw at some point by a white male. Mighty Avengers, Thor, All New Captain America, hell even the spotlight Hickman put on T’Challa and Wakanda in his Avengers/New Avengers run have all been great. Brian Michael Bendis created Miles Morales and helped propelled that character to the point that folks want to see him in a movie. To make this point larger than Marvel, Brian K Vaughn has written Saga and Y the Last Man and the women in his book are written so well. Does that take away the fact that we need more women writers? Absolutely not. But I’m also going to give props to those writers and artists who are talented enough to not be one trick ponies and only be able to draw and write whiteness.
No one is saying this is the end of the conversation. No one. Truthfully, its really just the beginning of the conversation and we’re finally starting to have it. But that doesn’t meant the conversation has to be contentious. Honestly, most of us just want to be nerds. We want to read, watch and consume our favorite forms of medium and be excited about them. I grew up reading comic books and loving them even though there were so few characters that looked like me. Now I’m back to reading comic books and every where I turn there’s a popular character that I can relate to. It’s nerd heaven to me.
I do not believe in the term “outrage culture”. It’s too broad of a term and it’s most often used to shout down those trying to shed light on a legit issue. What I’m saying is that there are levels to this shyt. Some things might not seem like a big deal because we’ve allowed them to go on for so long they seem normal. We NEED folks out there bringing attention to these things. The Joker variant cover for Batgirl was deemed “outrage culture” but there was validity to the issue there. The cover was wrong and even the artist himself admitted that. The ridiculous Spider-Woman cover from a while back was also a valid issue and showed the double standard in overly sexualizing female characters. I also think Marvel dropped the ball HARD with Storm’s solo book. It was a disgrace to have the #1 black female character in Marvel with a book so terribly written and drawn. Storm’s book was flat out offensive. Even movie-wise while I love what Marvel Studios is doing and the plan they are laying out, I’m still aware of the fact that they are not perfect. I’m still a little unsure of how to feel about this Tilda Swinton casting as the Ancient One in Dr. Strange. I get that Marvel is trying to balance between diversity and not casting stereotypes but an Asian woman being cast in that role probably would have been the best choice. It also goes without saying that Marvel does need to do more to bring on more diverse artists and writers. I eagerly await to see who they are tapping as writers and artists for the rest of their fall line up (remember, we don’t have all the books yet). I’m also anxiously awaiting the announcement of who will direct and write the Black Panther movie. We’re all hoping they go with a person of color. That’s just a fact that no one will argue against. However, none of these things take away from the giant leaps forward we’ve seen being made in the medium we all love. Many of us see something that was not clear before and that’s an actual path to sustainable diversity. Yes,that gets me excited and happy.
These Hip Hop covers aren’t “Cultural Appropriation”. They’re just really dope covers that can draw people to a fall line up full of diverse characters. If Marvel was doing these covers and then treating these diverse characters like crap, I’d be the first one in line talking about how much of a gimmick and terrible decision this is. But that’s not the case. I’m reading a lot of these books and I love the care that they’re taking with these characters. You can actually tell these characters matter to them and I love it. It would be something different if Marvel was releasing these Hip Hop Covers and then releasing work the quality of Storm (again, what a horrendous book). But Storm was an outlier. Honestly, it was really the only book I couldn’t get into. Marvel is actually catering to minorities. Doesn’t mean they’re 100% there yet. It doesn’t take away from what DC is doing with Milestone 2.0 (I’m looking forward to this as well). It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t demand more diverse creators. However, to make a leap from what great books we’re getting now to claim they don’t care and this is cultural appropriation is just ridiculous and absurd. Fighting for diversity is needed and appreciated. But refusing to take a moment to enjoy the fruits of those labors seems pretty depressing.
Marvel's Comics and Cultural Appropriation
"
"
Marvel’s Hip Hop Covers are NOT Cultural Appropriation
Posted July 16, 2015 by Kriss in Editorial
Earlier this week Marvel announced that part of it’s relaunch of the All-New All-Different Marvel universe would include variant covers based on Hip Hop album covers. The covers looked great. Most people I saw where very excited about the covers and really looked forward to trying to get some. I really liked the Ant-Man “Ready to Shrink” one.
But then things took a predictable turn. Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort was answering questions on his Formspring and someone asked this and he responded:
Now, I will be the first to say that even if I understood where Brevoort was coming from, his initial response wasn’t very wise. I went back and looked at some of his other Formspring question/answers and I do get why he responded that way. Bottom Line: He gets a lot of white nerds complaining about the new diverse characters Marvel has coming out. One of them even asked when Marvel was going to have a strongly Christian Heterosexual character. Apparently Daredevil/Matt Murdock doesn’t exist. As someone who gets fed up with stupid questions from trolls, I can totally understand how one could read the original question and just be fed up and go “What does one have to do with the other?” Because honestly, it’s not an either-or situation. But that doesn’t mean it was wrong for people to hold him accountable to follow up and explain. Thankfully, he did:
That should have cleared up anything right there. The “what does one have to do with the other?” is about turning this into an “either-or” is situation. So that should be the end of it right?
Wrong.
What followed was a small vocal minority claiming Marvel doesn’t care about diversity. That the Hip Hop covers were “cultural appropriation”. I even saw one person claim that Marvel stole the idea from them…even though doing parody or homage drawings based on Hip Hop album covers has always been a thing…for decades. Hell, several years ago I did a Photoshop for a frat brother’s comedy album that spoofed 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying cover. Come on people. Stop it. This is probably some of the laziest critiquing I’ve ever seen. These are harmless variant covers that are reaching out and resonating with not just white readers but also black readers as well. How many black people saw those covers and thought “That’s dope, maybe I should check those out”? Considering how diverse the character line up is for these books, isn’t that a great thing? Used to be when Marvel would do something like this years ago, they’d be promoting books that were surface level diverse and that’s it. Storm (or some other black character) would be a background character and that’s it. Or they would do some obvious gimmick like the marriage of Storm and Black Panther (Let’s have the two Africans marry). But in 2015, that’s not what’s happening here. I’m reading a lot of these books and non-white or non-male characters are taking major roles. How in the world is that “appropriation” and not just good marketing to the demographic that matches your characters?
Also can we stop immediately moving the goal posts once we reach a milestone? Can we take a moment to enjoy a victory? I grew up reading Marvel where the choices for black heroes were slim. Storm, Luke Cage, Bishop and Black Panther were the biggest names and given the most attention. Outside of that the pickings were slim. Not saying there weren’t others (War Machine, Falcon, Monica Rambeau, etc.) but they never got top billing. And even the ones that were (Storm, Luke Cage, etc) still felt like they were afterthoughts compared to some other characters. That’s the reason I was skeptical when Marvel first announced they were killing off Ultimate Peter Parker and replacing him with a Black/Latino kid named Miles Morales back in 2011. I thought for sure it would be yet another temporary gimmick like so many before it. Four years later, I’m so happy to have been wrong. Miles Morales is an amazing test case for bringing us a more diverse Marvel. Not only did he stay THE Ultimate Spider-Man but the character is so popular he’s one of the only characters from the Ulitmate universe to make the cut and survive Secret Wars. He’ll be THE main Spider-Man come this Fall. And he won’t be alone. Sam Wilson will be back as Captain America, Thor will still be [redacted],Kamala Khan will be back as Ms. Marvel, Monica Rambeau will join Black Panther and others in Ultimates and there’s many more that STILL need to be announced. Sure, I want more diversity in the writing room and more diverse artists, but getting a diverse line up of characters was the #1 most important thing for many of us who read comics. Picking up a book that has Kamala Khan on the cover is inspiring for all of us. That’s what draws a lot of us in. When I saw that Rae Sremmurd cover for All New Captain America with Sam Wilson, I went out to buy it immediately. Then I read it and the book was great. I bought the Secret Wars tie-in Infinity Gauntlet solely off of seeing the beautiful artwork depicting the main characters: A black family. Not only was the artwork great but so was the writing. I didn’t look up who wrote and drew the book until after I finished issue #2. Why? Because the most important thing to me was seeing and reading quality blackness.
And that’s the most important part here. If the book is good, I honestly don’t care who is writing or drawing it. Yes, I believe Marvel needs to give more opportunities to diverse writers, however I think it’s just as important that in a white male dominated field, white males learn how to write and draw people of color better. Their whiteness isn’t an excuse for drawing black characters to look like monkeys (Look at the artwork in Issue #3 of Storm). It’s not an excuse for having a strong black character like Storm always needing a man she’s had a relationship with pop up in every issue of her solo books. I know it’s not an excuse because I’ve read books written and drawn by white men who treat black characters excellently. Rick Remender wrote Misty Knight into a few issues of All New Captain America and she was written better in those few issues than Storm has been written in her own book for 11 issues. The ethnicity of the writer and artist isn’t an excuse for shytty quality. Even if a book is given to a person of color to write or draw, eventually the characters in those books will be written and draw at some point by a white male. Mighty Avengers, Thor, All New Captain America, hell even the spotlight Hickman put on T’Challa and Wakanda in his Avengers/New Avengers run have all been great. Brian Michael Bendis created Miles Morales and helped propelled that character to the point that folks want to see him in a movie. To make this point larger than Marvel, Brian K Vaughn has written Saga and Y the Last Man and the women in his book are written so well. Does that take away the fact that we need more women writers? Absolutely not. But I’m also going to give props to those writers and artists who are talented enough to not be one trick ponies and only be able to draw and write whiteness.
No one is saying this is the end of the conversation. No one. Truthfully, its really just the beginning of the conversation and we’re finally starting to have it. But that doesn’t meant the conversation has to be contentious. Honestly, most of us just want to be nerds. We want to read, watch and consume our favorite forms of medium and be excited about them. I grew up reading comic books and loving them even though there were so few characters that looked like me. Now I’m back to reading comic books and every where I turn there’s a popular character that I can relate to. It’s nerd heaven to me.
I do not believe in the term “outrage culture”. It’s too broad of a term and it’s most often used to shout down those trying to shed light on a legit issue. What I’m saying is that there are levels to this shyt. Some things might not seem like a big deal because we’ve allowed them to go on for so long they seem normal. We NEED folks out there bringing attention to these things. The Joker variant cover for Batgirl was deemed “outrage culture” but there was validity to the issue there. The cover was wrong and even the artist himself admitted that. The ridiculous Spider-Woman cover from a while back was also a valid issue and showed the double standard in overly sexualizing female characters. I also think Marvel dropped the ball HARD with Storm’s solo book. It was a disgrace to have the #1 black female character in Marvel with a book so terribly written and drawn. Storm’s book was flat out offensive. Even movie-wise while I love what Marvel Studios is doing and the plan they are laying out, I’m still aware of the fact that they are not perfect. I’m still a little unsure of how to feel about this Tilda Swinton casting as the Ancient One in Dr. Strange. I get that Marvel is trying to balance between diversity and not casting stereotypes but an Asian woman being cast in that role probably would have been the best choice. It also goes without saying that Marvel does need to do more to bring on more diverse artists and writers. I eagerly await to see who they are tapping as writers and artists for the rest of their fall line up (remember, we don’t have all the books yet). I’m also anxiously awaiting the announcement of who will direct and write the Black Panther movie. We’re all hoping they go with a person of color. That’s just a fact that no one will argue against. However, none of these things take away from the giant leaps forward we’ve seen being made in the medium we all love. Many of us see something that was not clear before and that’s an actual path to sustainable diversity. Yes,that gets me excited and happy.
These Hip Hop covers aren’t “Cultural Appropriation”. They’re just really dope covers that can draw people to a fall line up full of diverse characters. If Marvel was doing these covers and then treating these diverse characters like crap, I’d be the first one in line talking about how much of a gimmick and terrible decision this is. But that’s not the case. I’m reading a lot of these books and I love the care that they’re taking with these characters. You can actually tell these characters matter to them and I love it. It would be something different if Marvel was releasing these Hip Hop Covers and then releasing work the quality of Storm (again, what a horrendous book). But Storm was an outlier. Honestly, it was really the only book I couldn’t get into. Marvel is actually catering to minorities. Doesn’t mean they’re 100% there yet. It doesn’t take away from what DC is doing with Milestone 2.0 (I’m looking forward to this as well). It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t demand more diverse creators. However, to make a leap from what great books we’re getting now to claim they don’t care and this is cultural appropriation is just ridiculous and absurd. Fighting for diversity is needed and appreciated. But refusing to take a moment to enjoy the fruits of those labors seems pretty depressing.
Marvel's Comics and Cultural Appropriation
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My whole stance is that any relationship has to be a two way street. Cac-porations love throwing black people trinkets while they reap the lion share of the benefits. This is no different than record lables in the 60's buying a black artist a cadalac and keeping his/her publishing.
Marvel is throwing black artist some shine by throwing them on these covers but any revenue generated by this will go completely to Marvel.
My man @Soundwave just posted a write up that talks about this but from a different perspective. (It is quoted below.)
People are saying if Marvel wants to cross promote with rap (black culture) then they should reciprocate by adding black writers/creators.
If it was me, I would say let the cacs keep their bullshiit comics...but they will have to share the revenue stream generated by comic sales. :camron:
Well, looks like the posters in here giving Marvel the side eye for this were right
Marvel's hip-hop inspired variant covers aren't sitting well with some black nerds
This fall, Marvel’s releasing a series of variant covers to a number of its newly re-launched titles like Spider-Man/Deadpool, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Amazing Spider-Man. You’ll notice that each of the covers is styled after a different hip-hop album from the past 30 years or so.
“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog,” Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso explained in a widely shared press release. “Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces.”
While the covers are undoubtedly eye-catching, a number of Marvel’s fan’s felt as if the company’s decision to use hip-hop to promote its new books was tone-deaf considering that none of the writers for its new series appear to actually be black people. Rap and hip-hop, two art forms born out of the black American experience, have long-since become integral parts of the larger pop cultural conversation.
To some, however, Marvel’s variant covers were an attempt at appealing to their black readers, something that could have been done just as effectively by featuring more voices of color in its editorial staff.
“One issue with Marvel publishing hip-hop-themed covers in the wake of not hiring black creators is that…a dialogue goes two ways,” David Brothers, former journalist turned staffer for Image Comics, wrote in a Tumblr post. “Axel Alonso said Marvel has been in a long dialogue with rap music, but that isn’t true. It’s a long monologue, from rap to Marvel, with Marvel never really giving back like it should or could.”
Brothers was speaking in direct response to a flippant post made by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, who dismissed a fan’s question about Marvel’s decision to mine hip-hop culture for a little artistic flair.
“Can you explain why Marvel thinks that doing hip hop variants is a good idea, when absolutely no announced writers or artists on the new Marvel titles, as of now, are black,” the fan asked. Wouldn’t correcting the latter be a much better idea than the former?”
“What does one have to do with the other, really?” Brevoort asked in response.
Hours later, Brevoort returned to his blog to elaborate on his previous statement, insisting that there was plenty more to be seen of the All-New, All-Different Marvel that could address some fans’ concerns.
“Doing the Hip-Hop covers (many of which were illustrated by creators of color) has no direct bearing on the state of African-American representation among our creative teams,” Brevoort wrote. “What it does do, hopefully, is to showcase an appreciation for this respected art form, and by extension create an environment that’s maybe a little bit more welcoming to prospective creators.”
Neither Brevoort nor Brothers could be reached for comment.
It isn’t hard to see why Marvel chose this specific theme to work into the limited edition covers. While the company may have the world of superhero movies on lock, it’s not often that a publisher’s able to generate this much buzz around a series of covers that most people will never see in person.
After years of declining revenue throughout the entire market, comic book sales saw a distinct uptick last year and Marvel’s doing its job to make sure that its titles continue to tops sales lists.
J.A. Micheline a contributor at Women Write About Comics, still thinks that there are still better options if Marvel’s goal is to court a more diverse readership. For all the supposed good will the publisher might have gained from a black audience by evoking the spectre of Biggie’s, Marvel’s art fell short of actually bridging a cultural gap.
“Because in the face of these variants [covers], in the face of this very one-sided dialogue, in the face of this horrendously imbalanced relationship, one thing is crystalline,” she wrote. “My ‘swag’ is welcome. My voice is not.”
Editor’s note: Fusion is a joint venture between Univision and ABC; ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Company, which also owns Marvel Entertainment.
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My whole stance is that any relationship has to be a two way street. Cac-porations love throwing black people trinkets while they reap the lion share of the benefits. This is no different than record lables in the 60's buying a black artist a cadalac and keeping his/her publishing.
Marvel is throwing black artist some shine by throwing them on these covers but any revenue generated by this will go completely to Marvel.
My man @Soundwave just posted a write up that talks about this but from a different perspective. (It is quoted below.)
People are saying if Marvel wants to cross promote with rap (black culture) then they should reciprocate by adding black writers/creators.
If it was me, I would say let cacs have their bullshiit comics...but they will have to share the revenue that they generate by comics sales. :camron:
so racial segregation?
so if anything whites invent is wholly for the use of the white race?
it sounds rather stupid if u ask me
i believe you are mixing up the flaws of capitalism (exploitation of the working class) with racism ( belief of inferiority of another race)
think about it a bit more my nig
What are you talking about?
I'd rather have seen a cover for "It was Written".So where's the Illmatic cover, Marvel?
