#he fucking better cause DC have learned how spiteful their fan base can be

[salarta]

Okay. fuck it. I’m done playing nice.

Since 2015, @marvelentertainment​ has excluded 616 Polaris from everything. They’ve proven me 100% correct about why they gave her so much attention during Secret Wars: they fully intended to throw her away despite massive interest in her that kept managing to overcome every bit of undermining and sabotage done against her by the company.

Which is probably spearheaded primarily by Brevoort. He’s the one who has such a hate-on for her that he had her excluded from Children’s Crusade, Avengers vs X-Men, and Axis. He’s the guy that made up bullshit excuses about how Polaris couldn’t be Magneto’s daughter because of “genetics breeding true” and claimed she couldn’t be in Avengers vs X-Men because it’s “only for A-listers and B-listers.” He’s the guy who tried to replace Enchantress with Polaris during Axis, and tried to replace her as a sister to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver with Luminous post-Axis.

He has a history, is what I’m saying. And he’s the only person at Marvel who would be so spiteful and hateful of Lorna’s potential that he would go out of the way to make sure she’s excluded from Generations.

He’s the only person involved in Secret Empire who would have an agenda of involving Enchantress but leaving out Polaris.

As senior vice president of publishing at Marvel, Brevoort has the power to demand that she not be used while promoting characters like Agent Brand in stuff like this.

I’ve avoided specifically naming him for the past couple years, while complaining about his past actions and attitudes, for a couple reasons. I didn’t want to risk people harassing him, since nobody should be harassed (and I stick by that even as I write this; it’s why I didn’t tag him, but tagged the company because it’s a company and not a person). I also figured he could change his mind, and it would be unfair to hold the past against him if he’s open-minded.

But I’m done with that. For one thing, if he does happen to get harassment? He gets it already. He expects it. He probably gets turned on by it, judging by how gleefully he’s touted the idea of causing “controversy” to boost sales.

And by “controversy” I mean this is the same guy that 1) loved having Havok try to tear down the X-Men franchise’s entire reason for existing on one of his Avengers books, and 2) serves as key editor of the whole “Captain America was a Hydra spy all along” storyline.

For another: it’s clear he’s never going to change his mind about Polaris.

Brevoort is stuck in his ways. He’s stuck in the mindset of someone that absolutely refuses to see what Polaris has to offer. He’s someone who will go out of his way to try to destroy good things or make sure they’re never pursued all for the sake of his personal vendettas and interests.

I thought back during Secret Wars that maybe, just maybe, he was finally open to exploring Polaris and how she could benefit Marvel as a whole and her family (Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Magneto, etc) specifically.

But that’s not the case. He’s stubborn and blind to what could be, and absolutely giddy at the merest thought of ensuring the potential fans see in something he doesn’t respect never gets realized.

Will I regret writing this? Yes. Not because of retaliation from Brevoort which I’m sure he’s already mapping out in his head, but because once the rush of righteous anger washes out, I feel bad for these sort of rants. Which happens no matter who I’m talking about or what the topic is. At the end of the day, I’ll even feel terrible for Donald Trump because some part of me wants to believe there’s a good person somewhere lost in there.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past year, it’s that empathy is both a strength and a weakness. People who have no respect for empathy will exploit it whenever possible.

And as long as I’m writing this fuckhuge rant, let me point out something else.

http://jordandwhiteqna.tumblr.com/post/156136090325/marvels-whole-policy-of-creating-comics-to-make

http://jordandwhiteqna.tumblr.com/post/155488877525/looks-like-marvel-annoyed-their-fan-base-one-time

These were both reblogged by Brevoort.

The logic behind both of these posts is: “pissing people off boosts sales.” The first one uses the argument that it’s why Marvel outsells DC. The second one claims that Marvel doesn’t set out to piss people off, only tell interesting stories, but if they happen to piss people off, it only helps.

This is wrong. They want it to be right, but that’s not the case.

They sell better than DC because 1) they’re better at marketing to make the potential of what they have look more appealing (something DC is failing to do), and 2) DC largely sucks ass lately. For all my complaints about Marvel, even I can admit that Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, Jane as Thor, etc are all interesting (even if it looks like I’ll never read any of it because Marvel hates Polaris, and by extension me personally).

DC’s got virtually nothing. They have an overused Batman, a completely messed up “Harley Quinn,” a Superman they’ve gone out of the way to treat like shit since Man of Steel, and a Wonder Woman they’re begrudgingly letting have a film only because they realized Marvel getting Captain Marvel up first would look bad for DC. The two most high profile things DC has anywhere are Arkham games (which are done) and the Supergirl TV show. Arguably, you could say the Injustice games are a third.

I say all of this as someone who was exclusively a DC person until I discovered Polaris existed, and grew up wondering what the hell anyone could see in Marvel.

More importantly, they’re mistaking a sales boost due to more attention for sales boost due to pissing people off, and they’re assuming all ways to piss people off are created equal.

Comic books generally start from a base of nobody knowing anything about them, and nobody giving enough of a shit to drive out to get one or even buy a digital copy online. Pissing people off gets them engaged enough to look deeper and find out what a comic book is about. That’s it. That’s all it is. You can do that without pissing people off, and the success of Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel proves that.

In other words: Marvel is being stupid with this attitude. Every case of doing something to piss people off risks those people refusing to touch Marvel products.

Don’t believe me? Look at what's been happening with the #GrabYourWallet campaign against Trump and Breitbart. Companies aren’t dropping Trump and Breitbart for the fun of it. They’re doing it because Trump and Breitbart have pissed off way too many people.

But, then again, Marvel is a company controlled by Ike Perlmutter, who happily endorsed Trump and had hopes of getting a position from him. So who knows if the broader company ethos even has the capability of real assessment of what is and isn’t possible.

Aaaand I’m actually done this time. Rant over. This is where someone comes in to attack me for the rant because they haven’t seen what I’ve seen and don’t understand why 8 years of dealing with Marvel’s constant refusal to truly support Polaris after literal decades of refusing to support her can result in my current attitude. Enjoy this new bit of rage porn if you see it, Brevoort.