The comics industry went woke long before Hollywood did.
Both Marvel and DC Comics used their signature titles to cheer social justice, push progressive themes and, in the process, alienate untold number of readers.
The proof for the latter? Just look at the numbers.
While select segments of the industry are thriving, like graphic novels for the pre-teen set, superhero fare is taking a beating.
…kid-oriented comics and graphic novels account for a whopping 41% of sell-through at bookstores; manga is 28%. Superhero content is less than 10%, down 9.6% year-over-year.
One can point to several factors causing weak superhero sales, including eyeball competition from streaming services. YouTube and robust video games like Fortnite. Still, at a time when Hollywood spends so much time, and money, promoting the MCU and related franchises, it’s bewildering.
Meanwhile, right-of-center critics point to woke bullet points in comic narratives that leave less room for storytelling excellence or nuance. The issue seemed to reach its zenith earlier this year, a subject that spread all the way to podcasting king Joe Rogan.
DC Comics’ latest project makes no effort to include roughly half of the country.
“Wonder Woman of History,” hitting shelves Dec. 1, celebrates real life female “superheroes” in comic book form. The young adult graphic novel embraces some of the most abrasive figures on the modern Left, including two Congresswomen known for behavior evoking anti-Semitism.
The anthology will present tales of real-world heroes who take up Wonder Woman’s iconic mantle and work in the fields of science, social justice activism, politics, and more….
Women change the world—they’ve been doing it for centuries. Now, New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson has gathered women and non-binary writers and artists to reveal the women making our world better day by day. Real-world heroes from the fields of politics, business, activism, science, and pop culture are making tough decisions every day and we celebrate them here!
Among the featured women include Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, comic Tig Notaro, actress/singer Janelle Monae, Beyonce and gun control devotee and Parkland High School shooting survivor Emma Gonzales.
Who’s missing? Anyone remotely right of center. Think Candace Owens, Nikki Haley, Condaleezza Rice or Kellyanne Conway, to name just a few.
It gets worse.
Both Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, charter members of the far-left “Squad,” bring a history of anti-Semitism to their Beltway work.
Ocasio-Cortez famously threw her support behind Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has a long history of anti-Semitic comments.
Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, for example, openly advocate for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, Movement, an international effort to boycott products made by Israeli companies in an open effort to hurt Israel’s economy. The BDS movement is founded on the principle that Israel, as a nation, has no right to exist.
Plus, Ocasio-Cortez routinely defends fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, “who believes Israel has “hypnotized the world” to hide its “evil doings” and who issued a non-apology for saying Republican support for the Jewish state is “all about the Benjamins” and that there is “political influence” in the United States “that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Tlaib’s recent past includes spreading blood libel propaganda, and worse.
Yet both made the “Wonder Women of History” cut, while right-leaning figures didn’t.
Note: Last month DC Comics unleashed a staggering amount of layoffs, a decision partially tied to the pandemic’s fallout. Did other factors play into the situation?
[Cross-posted from Hollywood in Toto.]
