An anonymous reader poses a timely and vitally important question for anyone who is torn between not giving money to people who hate him and supporting innocent creatives who might be harmed by a boycott.
Diversity and Comics and others have argued that we should support the few unconverged titles to encourage a shift to Marvel/Disney making more of those and less of the poisonous ones. He roasts bad comics, but recommends the ones he finds to be good.
I’ll stand by the Infinity War movie’s quality, but I’ve had a debate about whether it’s better to pirate the movie or reward it with money as a sign to do more of the same.
Your take?
Author JD Cowan beats me to the punch:
I’m not Brian, but I will say that when it comes to the MCU that it doesn’t really matter at this point. Avengers 4 is basically the grand finale of this whole thing (even if Marvel will fight tooth and nail against it) and there is little anyone can do to deter one from watching it after a decade’s investment. After that? I expect many will be walking away, especially with the rumor of them heading to SJW territory. That’s when they should be hit hardest by withholding wallets.
That is sort of the same thing with DC and Marvel. There are a few titles that aren’t in the toilet, and some hold out hope that DC isn’t converged (at least they do not allow their writers and artists to insult customers, so there’s that) but it would probably do better to find other companies or creators that are more willing to cater to their audiences. I have no problem supporting a book if the writer and artist do not hate me despite never meeting me.
Also, D&C is a good guy, but he also recommended the new Dr. Strange comic as it was good. But it was still written by Mark Waid, and he knows known of his viewers will buy it.
I second what JD said. Since he covered the practicalities from the consumer angle, I’ll give you my take from the POV of the talent.
It’s certainly important to consider the effects of a boycott on innocent parties whose wallets may take a hit in the crossfire.
But consider this, too: Ethan Van Sciver recently gave his fans a glimpse into working conditions at DC, by many accounts the less converged of the Big Two, and he described stealth Republican talent hiding under desks.
EVS also shed light on the dire state of creator compensation. The legacy comics industry is already a business where only a handful of rock stars are making decent money while most of the guys in the bullpen have trouble making ends meet. And that’s without us boycotting.
My question to you is, why would you want the comic writers and artists you care about to keep working for publishers where they don’t earn a living and must endure abuse from their SJW coworkers?
Richard and Ethan have shown that going back to a modified patronage model is a viable way to thrive in comics. Going indie is the best option for comic artists and writers. The Big Twos’ demise would give them excellent encouragement.
A lot of folks have asked me for practical advice on how to navigate the minefield that is clown world culture without going full Uncle Ted or stepping on honest, hardworking artists. I’m not the grand inquisitor of consumer media. Don’t give money to people who hate you is an exhortation, and everyone decides his own level of involvement.
Here’s my advice: Sit down and draw up a written monthly budget. It’s a good idea for everybody to have a budget, anyway. Once you know where each and every one of your dollars is going, it’s time to do some research. Look up the corporations that produce the entertainment you consume to find out if they’re SJW-converged. If so, how deep does the rot go? This information is easy to find in the internet age. Just browse authors’, artists’, and directors’ Twitter feeds.
Once you’ve determined how much the media companies you patronize hate you, it’s your call on how to proceed. Some readers tell me they take a gradual approach like easing into a hot tub. They do their budgets each month and pick one pozzed outlet to cut from their lives. Others have cannonballed into the chilly lake and gone cold turkey.
Whichever approach works best for you, don’t forget to keep supporting independent creators who want to tell you entertaining stories instead of lecturing you. My reader-acclaimed Soul Cycle series is on sale in eBook and paperback for just one more day. Buy it now!
I will say this personally. I have no ill will towards anyone wanting to pick up past titles of decades gone bye.
As for contemporary works, there is one comic I pick up from a company that otherwise I'd have no dealings with. The only reason I do is because the license holder came in behind them and told them not to f with the material. Asides that I have no dealings with this company. (The series is ending soon anyways)
Otherwise I would try to seek out alternatives. Foreign entertainment offers much the same enjoyment we used to get from western media. One Punch Man, Tiger&Bunny and My Hero Acadamia pretty much replicate the genre to a t. There are also a lot of great mid tier and smaller companies to support. I've seen quite a few supportive of ComicsGate, Alterna Comics while not Marvel or DC does great stuff and they love #movetheneedle.
Fighting a Culture War isn't an easy task, but it isn't as much of a burden as it initially seems. Have faith.
I don't have ill will per se toward anyone, either. I take SJWs and cucks to task because I want them to repent and rejoin the side of Western civilization.
But like the Inquisitor of yore, I can't help people who obdurately persist in their errors.
It was secular rulers who burned heretics at the stake. It's the fans who are metaphorically burning down tradpub, Marvel, and Disney.
Its amazing that people find disconnecting from industries that obviously have contempt and disdain for them so difficult.
Especially since many of these industries have drastically gone down in quality. They're drug fiends, but not even for good drugs.
You said it. I've been subject to the SJWs' two minutes hate, but nothing has come close to the flak I've taken from copper tops rushing to defend the system.
The most common reason I get from people when I recommend disconnecting from the Big Media Thugs is pressure from their children and their peers. Real or weak? You be the judge.
Social proof is definitely real.
Still, how do you hate your kids enough to knowingly expose them to diabolists out to propagandize them?
^ This. How many parents allow the abuse of their children because they are too weak to cut the supply? It amazes me how many normies look at me oddly when I say we don’t have cable, we don’t have Nerflix, we don’t watch modern films at the movie theater, and we don’t play games from converged companies (may EA’s SJWs burn in the 9th circle of hell for eternity). Meanwhile my grad Catholic friends all get it, because they have done the same.
Battered wife syndrome is a hell of a thing to watch from outside of the relationship. Be patient with consumers and keep reminding them that less hateful producers are out there.
That's an important reminder, Jon. Patience can be a difficult virtue to cultivate in this environment. I have to keep telling myself that the people defending TPTB are essentially victims of a century-long propaganda campaign.
Fandom might also have a part to play in that. If you are in a group of friends all re revolving around an activity you might feel pressured to stick with something you no longer care for simply for the social connections you've made.
Fandom can be a hell of a drug.
Another reason nerd culture must die.
Battered wife syndrome is a great way to describe fandom’s behavior.
@ Shepherd – agreed. Heartiste had a post last week about his theory that with people having lost their identity via the destruction of their family and neighborhood networks, and having to move all the time for work, that many use ideology for a shallow proxy for identity. His hesis matches my own experience when I was in my 20’s living in various cities. I’d say fandom also fits as a surrogate idenitity proxy.
I am off the propaganda. Even got my mom to cancel netflix.
Now its all indie authors, alterna comics, few movies from amazon, and youtube.
Outstanding work!
I have a very peculiar advantage of sorts. I live in a quite small Asian country. It has an authoritarian democracy so the local media culture sucks really sucks. My family shares a Netflix subscription with a another family member but Netflix has been localized and must conform to the rather strict censorship laws. So a lot of the popular American shows are either unavailable or have some of their content censored.
We don't watch that much Netflix and TV. So it's not so bad.
O and I loathe with a chemically pure inquisitorial for Cartoon network. How the animator can draw ugly cartoons that are terribly written is unfathomable. I'm to the point I try to severely limit that channel. The Spiderman cartoon on Disney XD isn't too bad if campy at times.
xavier
Brian is way nicer than me. My take, if the company is converged enough that the SJWs get their way and their message into the product, walk away from everything the co pang produces. While I feel for the so called innocent artists on the right, they are tacitly assisting evil. Yes, many do so because they need the paycheck and the work experience, and they are too weak to walk away. So I say help them out by letting the converged corps die, support the non converged corps, and said corps as they grow will hire the non-SJW artists.
As for strategy, I think what’s best is to support a company until they show their hand, and then cut cold turkey. Take Mouse Wars. They saw what TFA brought in, so they know the demand, and then they watched the numbers tank on TLJ and Soylo. They know why. But now, if they try to pack pedal, it won’t be because of repentance, it will be to test the threshold of what amount of poison the original fans will accept to get their drug. This is why you have to walk away from the SJWs, because their hearts are too hard to ever repent, hence why they always double down.
Accept that StarWars is dead, and Indiana Jones, and Marvel and DC universes. We are adults now, and as St Paul said, once an adult, it’s time to put away childish behavior. Let’s go build up new works, new universes, new worlds and characters who exemplify truth, goodness and beauty. And never ever forget, what the children of the devil will do to such universes if we fail to keep them out, and fail to suppress their wickedness.
"Brian is way nicer than me."
That's what I keep telling people.
Let’s just say that when the Inquistion is reestablished, many will prefer Inquistor Niemeier over Inquistor Asturias
Wanna team up on the "good cop, bad cop" routine?
Haha, absolutely.
I have already pulled the plug on the mcu and since the last jedi killed the Star Wars brand for me (outside the Legends brand that is.) Still have Netflix but it's hardly used. The only DC and Marvel comics I buy are classic I find at used book stores. As for books, I find that it's easy to dismiss certain authors *coughScalzicough* when I have so many great indie authors and Castalia House cranking out awesomeness. Also, in regards to movies Castalia Studios will be a thing in the very real future. We'll have our own movies soon too. I can't wait.
Testify!