With Axel Alonso gone as Marvel Comics EIC, and Bendis bailing as well, also gone is their diversity replacement plans which irked a lot of fans are retailers.
It’s just a fact the comics never sold well.
Last week saw a slew of Marvel Comics titles canceled including Luke Cage, Generation X, Hawkeye, Iceman, Jean Grey, and The Unbelievable Gwenpool, with it thought Secret Warriors and Defenders is canceled as well, and earlier today saw confirmation that She-Hulk is canceled.
The cancellation of the comics saw a small numbers of fans take to Twitter to complain to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, Joe Quesada, who unleashed a fury of tweets, which confirms that Marvel Comics is going back to basics, and once again, that selling titles matters.
Sorry you feel that way but like it or not Marvel is a business. We keep titles going for as long as we can but there are times, regardless of who the character is that we need to shut it down. Unfortunately we can’t make every fan happy with these decisions. https://t.co/5UaqLNC50j
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
But this is not the first time Marvel has canceled titles, it’s been going on since the dawn of comics because not every book can be a success. So if you feel this is reason enough for you to leave I’m sorry we disappointed you and hopefully you’ll come back sometime soon. https://t.co/5UaqLNC50j
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
But be forewarned, DC cancels titles too. https://t.co/5UaqLNC50j
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
Agreed, but assuming that that’s all we take into account is assuming a lot. We take it all in. We’re not in the business of canceling books that have a strong readership. https://t.co/QkCkJleOtS
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
Yes it is and we do the very best we can. A books failure can rely on many different circumstances. It could be marketing, it could be creative team, it could be story. There’s plenty of blame to go around and we certainly accept our share of it. https://t.co/bccjGf60fa
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
But… there is no way that every single book is going to be successful. https://t.co/bccjGf60fa
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
We don’t EXPECT fans to do the marketing for us, but fandom does have a lot of power especially when it comes to spreading the word if they dig something. However, If you feel like I’m being disingenuous then there’s really nothing I can say to that. https://t.co/2mT7dEHetz
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
You make it sound like there is no marketing behind the books. And while Kelly Sue’s idea seems like a cool one (first time I’m hearing about it), do you have empirical knowledge that that’s what worked? Can you quantify by what percentage? https://t.co/GtlnlxoIKi
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
Again, these are incredible generalizations on your part like the one about me being disingenuous. At some point in our lives all of us have had our favorite title canceled. https://t.co/9ni5L0yl8v
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
Okay, got it, so you don’t have access to the data, you’re just saying it worked. You can see where I’m having a disconnect. But look I get it, we’re all passionate about this stuff and I get yours totally. https://t.co/nZybU2VhkM
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
In my fantasy world I want everyone to succeed and want as many new readers as possible. Ultimately the readership decides what survives and what doesn’t. https://t.co/FPr7zjmG5p
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
Totally get it, I love the passion of Marvel fans that’s why I try to be straight up with you guys. And yes, I’m an AWESOME guy! https://t.co/vNVOFUhrvm
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 20, 2017
You guys are already dong that and we do listen. But what you may not see is that there’s another fan just as passionate as you who is telling us the exact opposite. So in that position what does a creative or publisher do? https://t.co/JGHY2SX4i4
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
Totally get that. But creators and fans have more access to each other than ever before. I’ve seen cases where creators changed storylines midway because of perceived online fan revolt. The inevitable changes made things worse and the stories weaker. https://t.co/q4sfayLakV
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
The only thing creators ultimately can and should do is go with their creative instinct and the story they want to tell that they feel will be the most entertaining to their audience. This is what they were hired to do. https://t.co/JGHY2SX4i4
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
Sometimes we hit it out of the park sometimes we don’t. https://t.co/JGHY2SX4i4
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
Totally get that but that is clearly not the intent. There are also canceled titles that don’t have LGBT or female leads. https://t.co/2QwhxqSup9
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
If a comic finds an audience it will stick around regardless of the lead character or creator’s gender, ethnicity, sexual preference or identification. You can claim we’re tone deaf but we PUBLISHED those books but you guys ultimately decide what survives. https://t.co/Uvw9pNiaXL
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
I can see how it might look but if you look at sales numbers then you see the reality. But you’re coming at this all wrong. Cancellation is not the end. There will be other books down the road with diverse characters. https://t.co/DH01LkM6wZ
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
And maybe the books not catching on had nothing to do with diversity. Maybe we didn’t do a good job editing? Maybe the story or art wasn’t right for the book? Maybe the character itself isn’t strong enough to carry its own title? Maybe the timing wasn’t right? Tons of factors. https://t.co/DH01LkM6wZ
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 21, 2017
If you’ve been reading my tweets you’d understand that I’m not blaming readership. I’ve said the issue could be on the character, editorial or creative end. However, customers decide when we get it right and when we get it wrong. That’s not blame, that’s giving you guys power! https://t.co/IOTjG0jnVz
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 22, 2017
To me these are books that got canceled because of low sales, just like books that got canceled in prior years got canceled. It is the circle of life in comics. For a retailer or fans to put the emphasis on diversity as the cause is doing diversity a disservice. https://t.co/42kouc7BOI
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 22, 2017
While I’m not EIC or an editor at Marvel, what we can commit to is what we always commit to, doing our very best to bring you guys the very best Marvel Super Hero stories possible regardless of a character or creator’s gender, ethnicity, preference or identification. https://t.co/f2QY6YHJzu
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 22, 2017
I absolutely see that, how could I not, but we also have to deal with the cold hard reality that what sells sells, what doesn’t doesn’t. Here’s something for you to think about. Lets say we have a character that you truly see yourself in https://t.co/N7auAsORIO
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 22, 2017
but the book is dropping in sales, steadily. We keep it going until circ hits rock bottom and retailers don’t order it anymore because they have to keep the lights on. How much damage does that do to that character and the creative? https://t.co/N7auAsORIO
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 22, 2017
There is nothing that says that somewhere down the line we don’t come back and try again but it doesn’t help anyone to see something crash and burn to the point where it does damage. https://t.co/N7auAsORIO
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) December 22, 2017
