Diseased #Comicsgate - The Culture Wars Hit The Funny Books!

[Elwood P. Dowd]

One infamous rule known to fans is that if DC ever stops publishing the original watchmen, it reverts back to Alan Moore (hence why they're always keeping the book in print).

This surprises me. I'd think DC would have better lawyers; it isn't like there were many places for Moore to go when this was produced.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

You both need to think of something else: copyrights. I was talking to someone else once and he pointed out that a lot of the classic comic characters are old enough to be entering public domain.

In twenty years or so, barring any copyright extensions - and God knows that'll happen...

 

[Flexo]

This surprises me. I'd think DC would have better lawyers; it isn't like there were many places for Moore to go when this was produced.

Why would they need better ones? Watchman continually sells so right now DC has it in the bag. It wouldn't surprise me if they were the ones to suggest this.

And I wouldn't count Moore out. He is the one who went and did his own comics before our boi.

In twenty years or so, barring any copyright extensions - and God knows that'll happen...

Some of these are already on copyright extensions. Heck some of them are old enough to have had the copyright laws changed once or twice within their lifetimes.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I think he'd probably have a mental shut down if he realised I was doing a Zach impression or gave any hint I support D&C. I'm a non white woman and theoretically higher on the progressive stack than him.

I might just try to slip in Its Ya Boi into conversation...But oddly my friend seemed upset when I told them I'd seen his comic and it sucked. They were all 'He's a nice guy! Blah blah'. But nice guys doesn't mean it's a good comic dammit.

This is the core of the problem we're having, both with CG and GG. Creators making mediocre (at best) content (and usually it's much worse), and then throwing temper tantrums when their stuff tanks and/or gets panned.

So they sling around the usual buzzwords, and insist it's YOUR fault for not buying their shitty comic or game.

I am weirdly reminded of commentary from Ann Coulter, regarding how left-leaning talk radio always seemed to suffer failure to launch save in a couple cases (and even those died swiftly). She compared it to a dog food company meeting, where the CEO's complaining. 'We have the best ads, the best packaging, the best placement! Why aren't we selling?'. And one of the execs hesitantly holds up his hand, and says, 'Well sir, the dogs won't eat it.'

And that's what haunts these fuckers. We may be dogs, but we're not eating their shit, not when there's perfectly good kibble being cranked out by our boi Zack or by EVS. And hey, maybe we'll even get a side of bacon in the bargain!

 

[Mola Ram]

Some of these are already on copyright extensions. Heck some of them are old enough to have had the copyright laws changed once or twice within their lifetimes.

Current copyright law (we're due for a revisit in 2023, which is when Mickey Mouse is scheduled to enter the public domain) grants the copyright for life of the artist + 70 years. Who on earth is close to that?

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

Current copyright law (we're due for a revisit in 2023, which is when Mickey Mouse is scheduled to enter the public domain) grants the copyright for life of the artist + 70 years. Who on earth is close to that?

Pretty sure Disney hit the original limits and got them upped and also made the stroke around the characters a little thicker so that they counted as new creations.

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

That's what I adore about these articles, always "Why comic creators need to put a foot down on misogyny and racism!" and never dealing with the objective fact their industry is going into the toilet. Then we can all pat ourselves on the back and say how it was inevitably going to die, it couldn't be stopped, when they purposely speed towards that cliff.

It's like dealing with a friend/relative who's dying of some addiction except instead of cocaine, they're addicted to fat black lesbians.

At least it's funny to watch tho.

It's the great part where they slam their feet on the collective gas too because "RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORYYYYYYYYYY" rather than stopping and asking if shoving their badly drawn and written shit down the customers throats and calling them racist cunts when some finally speak out and call their crap, crap might have something to do with them not having a job by the end of it.

Pretty sure Disney hit the original limits and got them upped and also made the stroke around the characters a little thicker so that they counted as new creations.

Disney reups and reissues the copyrights for a lot of their stuff on the regular.

 

[Mola Ram]

Pretty sure Disney hit the original limits and got them upped and also made the stroke around the characters a little thicker so that they counted as new creations.

Disney is at the head of the column of lobbyists who chivvy Congress into upping the copyright limits every time Mickey gets close. I don't expect 2023 to be any different -- I'm guessing we're going to see it changed to life of the artist + 100 years.

 

[Jaimas]

This is the core of the problem we're having, both with CG and GG. Creators making mediocre (at best) content (and usually it's much worse), and then throwing temper tantrums when their stuff tanks and/or gets panned.

So they sling around the usual buzzwords, and insist it's YOUR fault for not buying their shitty comic or game.

I am weirdly reminded of commentary from Ann Coulter, regarding how left-leaning talk radio always seemed to suffer failure to launch save in a couple cases (and even those died swiftly). She compared it to a dog food company meeting, where the CEO's complaining. 'We have the best ads, the best packaging, the best placement! Why aren't we selling?'. And one of the execs hesitantly holds up his hand, and says, 'Well sir, the dogs won't eat it.'

And that's what haunts these fuckers. We may be dogs, but we're not eating their shit, not when there's perfectly good kibble being cranked out by our boi Zack or by EVS. And hey, maybe we'll even get a side of bacon in the bargain!

Or they fuck up in some entirely different fashion. Check this out.

Up here in NY, Air America Radio was initially doing quite well both in terms of ratings and success when it first launched. This was also a time when progressives hadn't collectively lost their shit yet, and there was a lot of moderate dems on their launch lineup, so at first, it was decent. Operative word being, of course, first.

When it launched there wasn't really anything like it and it wasn't surprising it did as well as it did, since despite all the hullabaloo about Liberal media, pretty much every major radio show available was at the very least conservative at the time with a sprinkling of moderates. Up here in NY, you could listen to that, Rush and company, or a few thousand top 20 stations because anything remotely interesting or fun had already either left.

It didn't last. The 2004 elections took a big chunk out of the network's sails when the more entertaining shows left, either because members of their staff moved on to other things (Sirius, actually being in government, etc) or left the network. In about 6 months after the elections, we went from a pretty robust lineup to having the same shows in like 20 time slots. Anyone who is familiar with the name "Randi Rhodes" up here knows exactly what the fuck I'm talking about with how much of an acid suppository this fucking network became.

Suffice to say, listenership dwindled faster than a concert where AC-DC was supposed to show up and had to cancel, but they got Winger. The entire network wound up being sold off to Al-Jazeera at some point afterwards and nobody missed it. From at least entertaining and interesting to complete ass cancer in the span of two years, and all it took was some of its best shows collapsing under it.

I'm glad it died on retrospect, though - if it had survived to this day, you fucking know it'd be overrun with the same asshole ideologues spewing about how Trump was super quadruple space hitler and how Russia stole the election.

 

[Starscreams Cape]

... As in having a Riri so you can do the exact same Iron Man movies as the first 3 without having to recast for Tony Stark...

Oh man, you just reminded me of the dark future we're all going to face. And when people reject her in movie form the same way they did in comic form it'll be blamed on general "comic book movie fatigue". In no way could it be her shitty character. Impossible.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Oh man, you just reminded me of the dark future we're all going to face. And when people reject her in movie form the same way they did in comic form it'll be blamed on general "comic book movie fatigue". In no way could it be her shitty character. Impossible.

If her movie depiction is 'in name only' and they rewrite her entire character into something that isn't a thieving cunt, it could work.

Here's an idea. Riri's a girl growing up in oh... let's say the projects. She's got big dreams, and is trying to keep out of the gang cycle of failure. She's clever and good with her hands; a budding engineer. And she comes across the original designs for the Iron Man suit. The Mark I -- the hilarious, clanking monstrosity that got Tony Stark out of that cave.

Well, she's not Tony Stark, but she's got more than a box of scraps to work with, even in ghetto hell.

See, THAT'S how you plug Riri in as a sympathetic protagonist. Someone trying to not fall into the same traps that claim so many of her friends, maybe even improve things for the better. Eventually, Tony is going to notice someone stomping around Queens in a Mark I knockoff, and there's how you get them to meet.

Sadly, that'll never happen, because all they want to write about is how she's black and female, rather than reaching for the stars instead of sitting in the mud.

 

[Done]

Oh man, you just reminded me of the dark future we're all going to face. And when people reject her in movie form the same way they did in comic form it'll be blamed on general "comic book movie fatigue". In no way could it be her shitty character. Impossible.

I think a lot of the embarrassing stuff will be taken out anyways, and Riri will end up resembling the comic character in a very minor way.

 

[damian]

Yup. Brexit, Drumpffff (who btw IMPEACH AND IMPRISON NAO!) and some guy on youtube calling zero-sale woke comics stupid are all part of the same evil bigot conspiracy and unless people in the industry shriek "NAZZIII! YOU AM NAZIIII!" at them even louder they will take over, and also calling somebody whining about how comics are a hate crime

This needs to be a ride on Six Flags.

I gotta hand it to the writer, I barely get through most of the articles talking about CG since they recycle the same crap over and over again. But this one had it all, Trump, Brexit, the usual buzzwords, that ‘Never Enough’ attitude and smug.

I haven’t checked but the writer must be a super WOKE sistah.

 

[knightlautrec]

If her movie depiction is 'in name only' and they rewrite her entire character into something that isn't a thieving cunt, it could work.

Here's an idea. Riri's a girl growing up in oh... let's say the projects. She's got big dreams, and is trying to keep out of the gang cycle of failure. She's clever and good with her hands; a budding engineer. And she comes across the original designs for the Iron Man suit. The Mark I -- the hilarious, clanking monstrosity that got Tony Stark out of that cave.

Well, she's not Tony Stark, but she's got more than a box of scraps to work with, even in ghetto hell.

See, THAT'S how you plug Riri in as a sympathetic protagonist. Someone trying to not fall into the same traps that claim so many of her friends, maybe even improve things for the better. Eventually, Tony is going to notice someone stomping around Queens in a Mark I knockoff, and there's how you get them to meet.

Sadly, that'll never happen, because all they want to write about is how she's black and female, rather than reaching for the stars instead of sitting in the mud.

This is a way better origin than the comic one. Stealing a bunch of stuff from a tech school cuz 'fuck Dem white privilege people' is not sympathetic start to a character. Thieves in general aren't sympathetic unless it's Aladdin and we liked him despite his theft because he shared his bread with poor orphans who needed it more.

I honestly think Marvel has forgotten the base reason why people like heros in the first place. They need a hero personality other than 'like omg such a Science and Sci fi nerd amiright? Netflix. And internet and science and geek references!' Which is the characteristics of pretty much every NuMarvel character and it comes across as childish and projecting.

 

[Flexo]

Disney is at the head of the column of lobbyists who chivvy Congress into upping the copyright limits every time Mickey gets close. I don't expect 2023 to be any different -- I'm guessing we're going to see it changed to life of the artist + 100 years.

Ok I double checked my numbers, turns out I was a little off and had mixed up some laws.
http://www.arl.org/focus-areas/copyright-ip/2486-copyright-timeline#.W5fE7OhKjIU

Looks like the original rule was 28 years with option to renew for another 28. Let's combine those for 56 total years. Take for example, Superman. First published in 1938, 56 years later would be... 1994. 1976 is when they made the revision to life of the author + 50 (or 75 in some case apparently). Turns out the creators of both Superman & Batman died much sooner than I realized ('92, '96, '9.

For those curious, @Mola Ram is probably right. Mickey was made in 1928. +56 brings us to 1984. Under the new system, since Walt died in '66, the new copyright would have run out in 2016, 2041 if they have it classified under the work for hire thing (which I have no doubt Disney has managed to do).

So now I have a picture in my head of Disney keeping Stan Lee on life support just to keep the Marvel rights in their hands. Look for suspended animation to be tested real soon...

Oh man, you just reminded me of the dark future we're all going to face. And when people reject her in movie form the same way they did in comic form it'll be blamed on general "comic book movie fatigue". In no way could it be her shitty character. Impossible.

What sucks more is that there's always been a "black replacement" for Iron man that the fans accepted: Rhodey.

None of these efforts seem to ever grasp that part of the problem fans have is that these replacements always seem to be the same thing.

I was talking to my buddy who's a firestorm fan and he was talking about a time when Jason Rausch joined the firestorm team. According to him, at first it was kind of annoying with his "super tough life in the hood" schtick but as they moved away from that and made Jason be a real character it improved and he grew to like Jason. It also helped they brought back the "old character" for a brief issue and treated him with respect. He gave some pointers to Jason, acknowledged the kid has his heart in the right place, and went out like a true hero and gave Jason a chance to be a hero too. In his words, it was a perfect realization of handing off a torch. But for these new replacements? They have to be absolutely perfect and have the old characters get worse while shilling for them.

It's just bad writing.

EDIT:

Here's an idea. Riri's a girl growing up in oh... let's say the projects. She's got big dreams, and is trying to keep out of the gang cycle of failure. She's clever and good with her hands; a budding engineer. And she comes across the original designs for the Iron Man suit. The Mark I -- the hilarious, clanking monstrosity that got Tony Stark out of that cave.

Heck I'll admit that had they made her the kid that found Tony in Iron Man 3 I'd be a lot more ready to accept her in the movies.

 

[Mola Ram]

For those curious, @Mola Ram is probably right. Mickey was made in 1928. +56 brings us to 1984. Under the new system, since Walt died in '66, the new copyright would have run out in 2016, 2041 if they have it classified under the work for hire thing (which I have no doubt Disney has managed to do).

As it turns out, neither of us is completely right. This is a good primer on the issue: https://alj.orangenius.com/mickey-mouse-keeps-changing-copyright-law/

 

[Flexo]

As it turns out, neither of us is completely right. This is a good primer on the issue: https://alj.orangenius.com/mickey-mouse-keeps-changing-copyright-law/

Thx for the info.

BTW, on the link I posted, can I just say how weird it is to see "Cartoon Network" on the name of one of the listed important copyright Supreme Court cases? Not kidding! (I would have killed to see them send someone cosplaying Harvey Birdman to argue before the SCOTUS.)

 

[Mola Ram]

Thx for the info.

BTW, on the link I posted, can I just say how weird it is to see "Cartoon Network" on the name of one of the listed important copyright Supreme Court cases? Not kidding! (I would have killed to see them send someone cosplaying Harvey Birdman to argue before the SCOTUS.)
View attachment 538982

Nothing will ever top the fact that one of the most important 1st Amendment SCOTUS cases is Hustler v. Falwell. Yes, Hustler Magazine; and yes, Falwell as in Jerry.

 

[damian]

I'm both impressed and disgusted by this revisionist history:
Pete Simeti and Alterna Comics Comicsgate’s Latest Victim
BY TOM GUILFOYLE · PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It’s been an eventful week in the comic-sphere as Comicsgate has been on the tips of every creator’s tongue, but not all for the same reason. For a refresher on Comicsgate checkout my previous rundowns here and here.
I’ve been treating the events of Comicsgate as a trilogy and hopefully, this will be the ‘movements’ conclusion but it seems unlikely. Comicsgators claim their mission statement is to rescue comics and retrospectively comic book stores, however, they are doing more harm especially to the indie-publisher.
Their latest victim is Alterna comics and the publisher’s founderPeter Simeti.

How did Alterna get caught in the crossfire?
Alterna comics are a small publishing house that has created a library of hits including, The Chair, Amazing Age, and It came out on Wednesday. The publishing house has a motto ‘Comics for everyone’ and Alterna and Peter stick to that no matter who you are which has angered a lot of people.
Last week the fightback against Comicsgate began whenWidow Marsha Cooke denounced the Comicsgate claim Darwyn Cooke would be a Comicsgator. This lit the fire in creators to finally stand up to Comicsgate. These ranged from Bill Sienkiewicz to Tom King.
With this new fire, they began taking names of all the professionals siding with Comicsgate and urging them to denounce Comicsgate. One of those professionals were Peter Simeti and his publishing house Alterna comics.

What Did Peter do?
Now if you’re familiar with Comicsgate and the pros associated you’re probably thinking Peter did something that was racist, homophobic, or both. No Peter loves when people show him and Alterna support and one way he shows that love is to retweet them.

A retweet doesn’t sound that bad however, it’s the people behind those tweets and what a retweet represents. A substantial number of those tweets included the hashtag #MovetheNeedle which may seem innocent and a positive for the industry overall. It would be if not for the hashtags origins. ‘Created’ by Richard C. Meyer to help the industry by promoting ‘good’ (His objective opinion of good) books. With Peter Simeti retweeting these tweets while positive about his work indicated an endorsement of the movement overall even if that wasn’t his intention.

It gets worse for Alterna
The industry launched a Twitter campaign asking Peter Simeti to explain why he retweets them and if he’ll denounce Comicsgate. His response, however, didn’t go down well with them and that’s when things got worse.

Alterna's issued social media policy​

Never worked w Alterna before, but I have been targeted by comics gate trolls, and block chaining D&C was the only thing that stopped me waking up to HUNDREDS of abusive messages daily. They're basically requiring their creators to endure this pic.twitter.com/CNa8WfyjF0
— Tamra Bonvillain (@TBonvillain) August 31, 2018

While researching more about Alterna people found an interesting policy regarding social media. Those affected by Comicsgate have been pushed to the edge online and for many the only relief claim from adopting block-chains. Alterna has a policy regarding block-chains in that they don’t condone the use of them. Another blow came when creators and ‘fans’ found out that they don’t pay page rates. Click here to see what their policies are in their own words.

The blockchain policy didn’t sit well with a lot of creators as they couldn’t justify not using them after the abuse they’ve faced. This is understandable, I’ve even considered using them and it’s unfortunate when you must use them.

The risk with Block Chains
The use of block chains and block bots come with some risks not only for creators but ‘innocent fans’ and something Mark Waid hits upon perfectly in his FB statement. Nobody likes using block bots, nobody likes blocking genuine fans who’ve followed the wrong person. However, as Mark states access to creators is a privilege, not a right which some ‘fans’ have abused.

Mark Waid​

on Saturday
On block chains and blockbots:
Comics ARE for everyone, regardless of your political affiliation or personal beliefs. They're even for trolls. They're for decent folks, but they're also for "fans" who enjoy referring to transgender creators as "men in wigs," accuse professionals in comics of "sucking their way into the industry," and harass women for the crime of toasting a milkshake in honor of a late friend.
Unbridled, unfettered, 24/7 ACCESS to the people BEHIND the comic...
See More

​

Alterna Comics’ Block Chain Ban for Creators Courts Controversy
Alterna Comics has updated its social media code of conduct guidelines to forbid the use of block chains, which has left some creators frustrated.
CBR.COM

While Mark Waid’s post was directed at Alterna and Peter Simeti, I don’t see it as an attack on Alterna but a conversation on why block chains are used, and the risks and backlash associated with them. I am also of the opinion that Alterna is trying to have a policy that sticks to their motto of ‘Comics for Everyone’ but when it comes to social media not everyone has the same experience even if you are the same race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Effect of Alterna’s Block Bot policy
Once this policy was made public to the casual audience creators came forward with their stories of how it affected their work. This revelation, however, has been met with controversy.
Comic book letter Micah Myers revealed on Twitter that he was ‘forced off’ a book he was working on for Alterna.

I need to get something off my chest. A few weeks back, I was forced off a book that I was lettering for Alterna when Peter Simetti told the writer that I had to unblock Comicsgate members or the book may be in danger of cancelation. I did this quietly and without hesitation.​

— Micah Myers (@micahmyers) September 1, 2018

His tweets were then made public to a wider audience thanks to CBR who published an article on the matter which was met with backlash from Peter Simeti himself who claimed the accusations were false and the article was slander.
From Micah’s tweets, It looks like he was advised to unblock those he had block chained. This is something he could have done and just re-block them individually as permitted in the social media policy. However, that is an enormous amount of time and effort for peace of mind and a job that could be better spent.

There’s no end to Alterna’s torment
Alterna’s misery doesn’t end there as those who oppose Comicsgate ended up co-opting their tactics and harassing anyone working for Alterna along with Peter Simeti. This lead to some of Alterna biggest and brightest creators pulling their books and terminating any future work with the publisher.






This became a sad day for everyone involved as creators had to now choose. Whether to stand with a guy and publisher associated with Comicsgate and by proxy be associated themselves and put their careers/ personal wellbeing at stake. Or sever all ties and hope to find a new home for work people love and have a clear conscious they are not profiting off hate.

I'm stepping away from twitter for at least a day.​

There's too much going on right now and it's been completely mentally and emotionally draining. I have to regroup. But I promise I'll be back stronger.
So much love to all of you… your kindness has helped more than you know. pic.twitter.com/JlI8MpbIhI
— peter simeti loves comics (@petersimeti) September 3, 2018

All this has had its toll on Peter who had to leave twitter due to the harassment. This also showed how those opposed to Comicsgate can take the higher ground and help those they disagree with when they need help.

Hey guys? Whatever our issues with Alterna, can we lay off Peter today? Dude's clearly not in a great place and if we're gonna take mental health seriously, let's take it seriously. Nobody should be suicidal over comicsgate.​

— Magdalene Visaggio (@MagsVisaggs) September 3, 2018

Closing
This is by no means the end of this saga, but it has shown that comics are ever still divided. There are pros and cons to Alterna’s practises and the only one who knows what’s right for Alterna is Peter. This new revelation has shown the destructive power Comicsgate are having on the industry with their hate. It has also revealed that some of those opposed will stoop to Comicsgate level of harassment.
There are no winners in Comicsgate as publishers are being tainted and cannibalised by ‘fans’ and crowdfunding sites becoming breeding grounds for Comicsgate. The state of comics my not be what you want but if your #movetheneddle posts are true that means there are comics you like. Read them, enjoy them and let those who enjoy the ones you don’t alone. After all comics are for everyone.
It must also be noted, don’t @ anyone who appears in this piece.

This became a sad day for everyone involved as creators had to now choose. Whether to stand with a guy and publisher associated with Comicsgate and by proxy be associated themselves and put their careers/ personal wellbeing at stake. Or sever all ties and hope to find a new home for work people love and have a clear conscious they are not profiting off hate.

All this has had its toll on Peter who had to leave twitter due to the harassment. This also showed how those opposed to Comicsgate can take the higher ground and help those they disagree with when they need help.

https://archive.fo/cYdoB

He posted a Tim Doyle Twitter post on his Facebook a few weeks back that was obviously about CG but didn't straight up mention it. I almost filled him in on how much of a shit Doyle is but I bit my tongue cause I really didn't feel like getting into that fight with him. Oh and he's a fan of Assigned Male too... so yeah.

I'm pretty much expecting sometime within the next year or so for somebody to decide he did a wrong think and for them to start coming for him. When that happens I'll laugh my ass off at him, do a "I told you so" and give him a hug. Cause dude is still my friend even if he did fall in with the crowd of idiots, I still know he means well and just got played.

Friends don’t let other friends make total asses of themselves.

Spoiler: Power Level

Years ago one of my irl college friends thought getting into gender studies would get him laid faster, he was already far left leaning but still not a mental patient. Immediately told him he was being an idiot, he got offended at me for it and we started drifting apart. Saw him again 2 years ago, wearing a pussy hat during Trump’s inauguration next to what I assume was his girl(?)friend (a literal whale). He had completely changed, he used to look like the average neck beard, now he looked like the stereotypical goonie beard soy cuck. His eyes looked dead to me.

Sometimes I wonder ‘What if?’, would he at least dating within the same species? If he had social media he’d most likely have a thread here in the future.

If her movie depiction is 'in name only' and they rewrite her entire character into something that isn't a thieving cunt, it could work.

Here's an idea. Riri's a girl growing up in oh... let's say the projects. She's got big dreams, and is trying to keep out of the gang cycle of failure. She's clever and good with her hands; a budding engineer. And she comes across the original designs for the Iron Man suit. The Mark I -- the hilarious, clanking monstrosity that got Tony Stark out of that cave.

Well, she's not Tony Stark, but she's got more than a box of scraps to work with, even in ghetto hell.

See, THAT'S how you plug Riri in as a sympathetic protagonist. Someone trying to not fall into the same traps that claim so many of her friends, maybe even improve things for the better. Eventually, Tony is going to notice someone stomping around Queens in a Mark I knockoff, and there's how you get them to meet.

Sadly, that'll never happen, because all they want to write about is how she's black and female, rather than reaching for the stars instead of sitting in the mud.

REJECTED
Not WOKE enough.

 

[The Doktor]

/sigh... okay look... We need to explain a few things regarding what everyone thinks of as "Marvel Comics". There is No Marvel Comics. There is Marvel Entertainment, which is the division out of New York that includes the comic publishing arm, and Marvel Studios, which make the billion dollar movies.

Marvel entertainment is the New York operation that is run by Ike Perlmutter. It includes the comic publications. It also includes the licensing and merchandising arms for all Marvel IP and the TV production arm. The new comic publication business is doing exceptionally poorly. But alongside the billion dollar movies, the Merchandising is booming. Marvel toys have achieved "Evergreen" status on toy aisle shelves. This is a special designation which means a given toy line has earned a permanent place on the shelves, unrelated to a media tie in or a cyclical release schedule. Barbie is an Evergreen product. Star Wars is an Evergreen product. Of comic book stuff normally only Spider-Man and Batman had that status. Not even Superman has it, although he is a frequent cycle. Transformers are one that has been around awhile and finally largely achieved the status. Marvel's stuff has been edging up. They have had Spider-Man as evergreen since the 70's. But everything else was come and go. Finally Iron Man made it to the show. Then between Black Panther and Guardians 2 the dam seemingly broke and their whole line is pretty well permanent. Hasbro's Marvel Action figures have supplanted their Star Wars toys as the top draw.

Marvel Enterprises also controls the TV shows including the successful and fully funded Netflix shows, and is getting subsidized by the new upcoming Disney Streaming Service.

So Marvel Enterprises is NOT in the red. In fact Ike Perlmutter is much happier. He was at heart a toy maker. He owned Toy Biz prior to acquiring Marvel in the most amazing stroke of luck and balls in human history. Every toy sold pays them. Every pair of Groot Underoos. Every Iron Man Bed sheet or Black Panther night light. At this point the comics division is not simply a rounding error on Disney's spreadsheets. They are a rounding error on Marvel Enterprises. They can't shit can the comic book division for the look of the thing. But Ike is literally Scrooge McDuck an insane penny pinching miser (Marvel Employees must supply their own office supplies including toilet paper!) So he's not throwing money at them. Thus they are the unwanted step children at Christmas Dinner. Nobody is throwing them out, but nobody is feeding them. Marvel Comics are a loss leader just so they can say they still have a comic company. Heck the even sadder thing is as the old farts get fed up with the Purple Haired Screaming Snowflakes currently contaminating the comic industry. They tend to fall back on the things they love, and rebuy all the old classic stories. The good stuff. From the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's In digital form. See where this is going?

FYI, Marvel Studios has been a wholly separate company from Marvel Entertainment since 2015. They don’t report on the same earnings report. So the Comics division cannot prop itself up on movie revenue. Tv, comics, games, consumer products are all part of marvel entertainment but they are wholly separate from marvel studios since 2015.