Marvel Comics may own the big screen, but in comic stores, it’s a very different story. The inundation of social justice storylines has significantly hurt the comic book brand, a fact that even Marvel executives have been forced to face. That was then topped off with a Muslim artist inserting anti-Semitic, anti-Christian messages in his artwork.
Yet, through it all, Marvel Comics has always had a bit of a social justice leaning. After all, even the incredibly popular X-Men was originally a proxy for racial discrimination in this country.
But don’t worry. According to comic book site Bleeding Cool, most Marvel writers are conservative.
Conservatism is, and can be, a broader church than it is sometimes defined, especially in the USA. But does it encompass Marvel writers? Well, most of them, I would argue, yes. Certainly anyone, like Nick Spencer, who supported Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, is a shoo-in. Hell, he even used to be a card-carrying Republican. And even Frank Miller, a right-wing comic creator ideal for some, supported Clinton over Trump.
But then I also don’t see Dan Slott arguing for unionised labour. Or Jason Aaron pushing for workers rights. Or Cullen Bunn suggesting sick pay or holiday pay for colourists. The kind of things that were discussed a lot in the seventies and early eighties, are gone from the landscape. The absence of a worker’s party may even even explain Trump. Everyone is for individual negotiation, which can raise an individual’s potential pay but, as a whole, lowers everyone’s pay. That is a very conservative notion, and the kind of thing that can keep poorer people voting for low taxes for the rich, in the belief that one day they could be rich too and benefit. It’s the American Dream, writ as a conservative ideal. Those — like Ales Kot or Steve Gerber — who end up having a real problem with the way fellow creators are treated, leave. Or shut up. Or become Neal Adams.
Many seem to be pro-ACA or similar. But there is nothing specifically anti-conservative about universal healthcare, in that it’s an efficient way to create a healthier workforce. And you don’t see many conservative voices against Medicare either. Same-sex marriage, again, over here, has been redefined as a conservative ideal to preserve the integrity of the institution of marriage. While increased gun control is a measure of maintaining law and order, another conservative ideal.
Spot the conservative. You’re doing it wrong.
First, anyone who supported Hillary over Bernie — and not just saying, “I think a GOP Congress can keep Hillary in check better than Trump” — isn’t even close to conservative. Someone’s support for their own ability to negotiate their wage hardly makes anyone a conservative. Hell, it’s amazing the number of people who are conservative when it comes to something that impacts them but want progressive policies everywhere else.
The problem is that the dipstick who wrote that lives in London. He’s equating British so-called conservatism with American conservatism, but he knows whom he’s addressing. All of this was triggered by a tweet by an American science fiction author. In other words, he was challenged to address this from an American perspective.
In the process, he’s proven to be as poor a writer as is humanly possible, shifting the context so as to prove himself right, rather than admit that Marvel — an American-based company — does, indeed, have few to no conservative writers on staff.
To state it succinctly, he’s lying. He’s lying and pretending that British-style conservatism is the only viable measure of conservatism, despite it often taking positions to the left of some Democrats in this country.
Based on his writing, he knows they’re not the same, but he tries to equate them anyway.
Then again, saying a leftist is lying is a lot like saying the sky is blue. No one is really surprised.
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