Dissecting Comicsgate (Prologue): The Comic Book Industry Rises

Several years ago, I wrote in the introduction of my MS. MARVEL (VOL. 1): NO NORMAL review that one of the biggest problems that has plagued the comic book industry throughout its history has been its tendency to cater primarily to white adolescent males. I elaborated on how this type of catering has contributed to negative portrayals of women and minority groups within comics, but another problem related to this that I neglected to touch upon was how it has unfortunately contributed to the myth that comics are exclusively a “white boy’s medium,” that women and minority don’t read comics. This idea couldn’t be further from the truth, however. Not only have there been comics specifically targeted towards girls dating all the way back to the 1940s, such as CALLING ALL GIRLS, but feminist comic book writer Kelly Sue DeConnick has stated that two of the earliest comics she read were WONDER WOMAN and VAMPIRELLA, i.e. a superhero and a horror-anthology comic. Furthermore, the late Stan Lee (may he Rest In Peace), not only conceived of the X-Men and mutants as being an allegory for oppressed minorities, but he also created characters like Daredevil and Black Panther to appeal to blind and African American readers respectively. And although Stan Lee and Marvel were somewhat ahead of their time in their efforts to appeal to other demographics during the 1960s, the company was still far from perfect, as there still existed racist caricatures of Asian peoples like with the North Vietnamese warlords in TALES OF SUSPENSE #39 (the first appearance of Iron Man). 

Wong-Chu, the Red Tyrant. From Tales of Suspense #39 (Mar 1963). Art by Don Heck. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

Furthermore, Stan would often write his female characters with overly pushy or submissive personalities like with the Wasp and the Fantastic Four’s Invisible Girl (later renamed to the “Invisible Woman”). These hints of slight bigotry and sexism existed because the company was still mostly run by white men, who made up the majority of writers and artists working on the books. Consequently, even comics like Chris Claremont’s legendary run on UNCANNY X-MEN from the late 70s to the early 90s, which were designed to portray women and minorities in a sympathetic positive light, were still affected by the biases and perceptions held by white men, thereby reinforcing the myth that comics are a “white boy’s medium.” 

In the 2010s, however, Marvel had begun to undergo somewhat of a reform in order to escape this mindset. Marvel began making significant efforts to diversify its cast of characters (the majority of whom were overwhelmingly white males) when writer Brian Michael Bendis killed off the Ultimate Universe incarnation of Peter Parker and replaced him in 2011 with a new Spider-Man in the form of Miles Morales, an African American and Latino teenager.

Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man. From Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man Vol. 2 #2 (Sep 2011).
Art by Kaare Andrews. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

While some people criticized Miles as being a publicity stunt for the sake of political correctness when he was originally announced, the character proved to be massively popular with readers and was critically and financially successful. But it was with the debut of Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel in 2014, the first Muslim American super heroine to be the main character of her own book, that the company really began to make headway. Kamala Khan is easily one of the most important comic book characters created in recent memory. Kamala’s creation not only demonstrated that Marvel not only was willing to try and appeal to one of the most marginalized and misunderstood groups in American society, but also the character herself was presented as genuinely authentic, possible since her co-creators G. Willow Wilson and Sana Amanat are both Muslim women. 

Kamala Khan, the Magnificent Ms. Marvel. From Ms. Marvel Vol. 3 #3 (Apr 2014). 
Art by Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson. Copyright © Marvel Entertainment.

Just like with Miles Morales, Kamala’s series was also a critical and financial success, thereby proving to Marvel that having diverse characters and creators was both necessary and profitable. As such, the company not only began churning out more new diverse characters like the lesbian Latina America Chavez (Miss America) and the African American Riri Williams (Ironheart) and diversifying older characters by making Iceman gay and Thor a woman, but Marvel also began hiring new diverse talent in order to provide additional layers of authenticity to their characters. Not only do you have Wilson and Amanat working on MS. MARVEL, but ICEMAN was given reign to Middle Eastern gay author Sina Grace, AMERICA was written by lesbian Latina young adult novelist Gabby Rivera, and the BLACK PANTHER books are currently being written by African American journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates. Marvel still does have hurdles to overcome since controversies like Nick Spencer making Captain America a Nazi for the SECRET EMPIRE crossover or the current editor in chief C.B. Cebulski being revealed to have used a Japanese pen name a decade prior (which he has apologized for) still arise occasionally. Nevertheless, I would personally argue that Marvel has overall done an effective job in attempting to appeal to demographics outside of the stereotypical heterosexual white male.

Unfortunately, it is some of those very same heterosexual white males who made up Marvel’s original audience that are trying to reinforce the myth of comics being a “white boy’s medium.” Recently, comic book fans who have shown dissatisfaction towards Marvel’s attempts to be more inclusive have banded together to form a countermovement known as Comicsgate.

Comicsgate. Art and editing by Anna Boyle. From https://thetartan.org/2018/4/30/forum/comicsgate.

For those who are unaware, Comicsgate is an online harassment campaign led by far-right fans who seek to silence what they perceive to be an intrusion of forced diversity and left-leaning politics in comic books. The movement’s purported platform, according to a wiki page entitled “What is Comicsgate?,” is as such:

“ComicsGaters believe the following are problems that pervade the comic book industry:

1. The adoption of art styles influenced exclusively by Progressive politics, & by the awkward, stilted injection of said political messages into stories regardless of whether context demands it or not.
2. The hiring of people based purely on their surface traits and ‘oppressed demographic’ status (Women, Minorities, LGBT) rather than hiring based on merit, affinity or enthusiasm for craft.
3. The change or outright replacement of beloved classic characters to pander to Progressive and/or Leftist politics instead of creating new characters for this end.
4. The elitist purge of anything that is ‘not progressive enough.’ 
5. The rejection of honest criticism, swept aside as harassment or discrimination.”

The members of Comicsgate have repeatedly expressed their grievances by harassing female, minority, LGBTQ, and left-leaning creators. Unsurprisingly, the movement has been met with widespread criticism from comic book fans and creators, many of whom have denounced it as a hate movement. I’ve already briefly discussed Comicsgate in my reviews of MS. MARVEL (VOL. 8): MECCA and Sina Grace’s ICEMAN run, but there’s so much about this movement that frustrates and infuriates me that I’ve decided to dedicate a six-part essay to discussing Comicsgate before finally burying the hatchet on the subject once and for all. And while several media outlets have already analyzed and deconstructed the controversies surrounding Comicsgate, I feel that it’s my responsibility as a comic book fan to add my own two-cents to the table. Before we begin, however, I feel that I should provide a warning that the following articles will be discussing some fairly controversial material that some people may find unsettling. However, it is unavoidable since Comicsgate is in and of itself a movement based on generating controversy. Other than that, welcome ladies and gentlemen, to “Dissecting Comicsgate!”