Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics in Whippany, New Jersey saw our recent article on Mark Waid's departure from Fantastic Four (see 'Waid Off Fantastic Four') and sees the situation as symptomatic of a larger trend:

 

Ilan here again from Fat Moose Comics.  I find I have to speak out about the 'creative differences' alluded to between Mark Waid and Bill Jemas.  If there is any truth to the proposed suburban dramedy concept that was mentioned, then the future of all Marvel retailers is in dire jeopardy.

 

One only has to look at the nosedive in sales for Thunderbolts since the recent changes to that title to see what happens when you totally change everything about the characters and the storyline.  One (one!!!) of my customers has said that the new storyline is actually quite good, but even so, most customers won't stay with the book long enough to find that out when everything else familiar to them is instantly gone.  Over 50% of my subscribers dropped the book by issue #77.  I cannot be the only retailer who saw significant drops in Thunderbolts sales recently.  Do Jemas and Quesada not bother with the sales data for the books they change?  Do these self-appointed wunderkinds care anything for even a fraction of the Marvel tradition?

 

If Marvel eventually changes every title to be hip, contemporary, edgy, sexually charged, etc., etc., etc., they will find themselves without a readership or retailer base.  Why?  Because the majority of people shopping in our stores are the remnants of the 60's and 70's fans, now in their mid-30's, 40's, and beyond.  And while they might enjoy an occasional attempt at something totally new, they mostly like to have a sense of continuity and familiarity with the books they purchase and read.  It's not impossible to write intelligent, coherent, engaging and even self-contained stories like the ones we old-timers grew up with.  It's just that Marvel chooses to take the easy way out and stimulate sales through shocking and pandering.

 

Therefore, the biggest question of all -- are we doing all that we are doing today to interest children in comics so that one day they can walk into whatever a comic store might be in their not too distant future -- so that they can find all their favorite 'heroes' engaging in anal (Alias) and oral (The Eternal) sex, ritual and gratuitous violence, misogyny, sadism, and generally psychopathic behavior?  God, I hope not.

 

I guess comics are becoming part of the mainstream after all -- just like most pro athletes, movie and music stars, and all your everyday basic sycophants -- most comic characters no longer 'behave as', meaning they are no longer portrayed as role-models and heroes.  What happens when society no longer concerns itself with providing its youngest citizens real models and heroes as a framework for personal and cultural ideals?  I'm afraid we're going to find that out sooner than later, and I am ashamed that some elements within the field I work in, the comics I have felt so impassioned about for so many years, have fallen into the same moral morass that the rest of society has.