Since I buy comic books (dollar bin/back issues) I have them stacked and don't put them in a long box til I read them. Currently have about 300 to read. Today I was reading a Spectacular Spider-Man (in my opinion the most underrated comic book series ever and the first Spider-Man series I ever read) from 1977 and in the section where Stan Lee has his soapbox he was hyping an upcoming special comic book highlighting the female super-heroes of Marvel and he listed some of the big names that would be included in the comic.
Stuff like this along with the 80s/90s ads showing a group of boys along with one or two girls playing video games always annoy me because there seemed to be a modern day script where any female/minority in the gaming, comic book, or any other nerdy IP says that when they were growing up they didn't see anyone who looked like them or didn't feel "welcome" and they act like women/minorities have never been in anything until woke Hollywood came along. I call BS on that every time because while you may have someone be rude to you, 99 times out of 100 if you know your stuff or show a genuine interest in something nerds will welcome you with open arms. The vitriol over men (especially white men) enjoying a hobby is off the charts in the last decade especially.
Ironically a comic book company, gaming company, or any studio today would never hire a woman or a minority who actually is interested in the material. They would rather hire people who can't shut up about diversity.
I learned Spanish in high school and I went to a Summer Camp before senior year where you had to speak Spanish 24/7 and were kicked out if you were heard speaking English. As an adult I've had some jobs where I had to speak Spanish all or most of the time and on the way to becoming fluent I started listening to the music. One time I went to a spanish music store (was working in a heavy hispanic area) and the owner told me that there wasn't anything there I would like. I spoke to him in Spanish and explained I liked the music and he immediately started showing me what he had and what was on sale and I bought quite a few cds that day. Nobody in the store "looked like me" but that didn't stop me.
I guarantee you it is.
I think the most obvious example that has happened recently involves The Witcher on Netflix. We have learned from one of the show writers who left to go work on something else (X-Men '97, and he instituted a rule that you have to be a fan and/or respect the original for him to hire you), and indirectly through Henry Cavill, that the writers are exactly the nerd haters you grew up with. They hate Geralt, they wanted to make Yennifer into a Girl Boss even though Ciri is already a good "strong female character", and they thought it was hilarious in a condescending way that Henry kept trying to use the original works to tell them they were wrong in how they were making the show.
YaBoiZack has talk about this a lot on his Youtube channel where he discusses the modern comic industry as someone who has one foot in the door. The people writing not just comics, but a lot of entertainment, are broken people who for one reason or another never got past high school. So they still are obsessed with clichés (which of course means bullying the nerds), they still hate their dad, and they really hate that they have to pretend to be a nerd now for social clout. But they are miserable and made even more miserable by the fact that no one is really playing along with this (especially now that apathy is setting in and killing their careers), and they write that bitterness and hatred into their stories.
They are then shocked that normal people dont share that bitterness and hatred and think they need help. They dont need help! They used to be POPULAR damn it!!
And they would rather watch it all burn, and even pour kerosene to make it burn faster, than let go of the past and move on with their lives.
Amen! I subscribe to yaboizack but am behind on his videos. I plan on buying the Witcher books soon. You would think that the showrunner would love the fact that the lead actor is such a fan and has so much knowledge. I heard about the x-men 97 writer. So happy to see that. There were so many good female characters before and all they have done is make ppl less likely to watch something with a female lead now.
If only Ya Boi Zack hadn't been forced to delete some of his videos, including at least two on Kamala Khan.
Thanks a lot, Mark Waid. Jackass.