by Matthew Russell - Posted 3 years ago
Welcome back my vigilant crowd. It has been a while since we chatted about anything sketchy (not pencil work but shady...you get what I mean).
As many of you know the new New Warriors title has been canceled. There was plenty of online controversy concerning this title, but hopefully it is behind us now. Disney has been pretty silent about the cancelation but the internet and Marvel has a ton to say.
Before we go on any further, let’s take a quick look at the controversy surrounding the title.
Safespace - The burley nonbinary stereotypical jock dressed in a pink outfit matching Safespace’s. He created shields around people, hence the name.
Snowflake - A psychic twin (according to Marvel.com “All twins are psychic, but we’re psychic-er.” Can create snowflake-shaped shurkin for throwing. This is the yin to Safespace’s yang. Where Safespace’s powers are decidedly defensive, Snowflakes are offensive. (Not offensive as in causing someone to feel deeply hurt, upset, or angry, offensive as in attacking.)
Trailblazer - This is a plus sized kid who is given a magical backpack by god (not the uppercase God). She is able to pull out random objects that are needed at any time. This makes her the deus ex machina of the group so they are never in any real danger or need to figure out a plot because Trailblazer can always pull something out that will save the day.
Many on Reddit are calling Trailblazer a blatant “rip-off” of Fat Chance. As a former fat-kid (and current card carrying member of the plus sized community), this doesn’t inspire me personally. Then again, neither did the typical Superhero body-type or real-life Olympic Gold medalist.
ScreenTime - A meme obsessed Asian who inhaled “internet-gas”. What!?! I have been around computers a while and as far as I know, the internet does not produce gas. I guess it isn’t as bad as the original Flash who got his powers by being sprayed with “hard water”, yes, water with sediment gave him the power to run fast. All it gives me is clogged pipes. I need a water softener.
B Negative - The “goth” child that was exposed to Morbius’ blood as a kid. He is a vampire who (once again) according to Marvel.com “he definitely drinks blood (or does he?)” He is most known for pink hair and pink wings which contrast his pale white skin and black leather.
Most people (fans alike), can see where they are going with this. I commend them for their efforts. However, it is so outrageous in their delivery that when I explain the characters, most people think that it is either a joke, or that Marvel is trying to mock non-binary, Asians, and obesity. No one seems to be talking about B Negative other than his name is a little too “One the Nose” as my local comic shop owner says.
Forbes Magazine has spoken out saying that they are a “Perfect solution to a problem.” Disney has remained quiet but not Marvel. They have come out blaming fans for low sales and the cancelation of the book.
Blaming the consumer seems a risky endeavor for any business, so I wanted to take a look at the past to see if any other times in the past that a studio or company blamed its audience for the failure of a movie or comic. I was surprised to find out that this is a commonplace thing.
I was always taught in schools that if I made a poor script or a lousy piece of art, the fans will let me know. At that point, the blame is on me. A lousy movie and a lousy comic are just that, lousy.
This is just a word of advice for creators out there; Your audience is your lifeblood. If you have to burn a bridge for your lack of success, make sure it’s not that bridge!
Brett Ratner publicly blamed the failure of movies such as God’s of Egypt, or Bay Watch on Rotten Tomatoes. I could tell you the problem with those movies right now. God’s of Egypt cast a Scottish actor and a British actor in the rolls of Egyptian gods. The Scottish actor refused to learn his lines and was rumored to be drunk on set most days. Hence the movie wasn’t that good.
Baywatch was never meant to be taken as anything other than a parody of itself. It was a slapstick comedy’s excuse to show abs and boobs. It spent it’s $69 million dollar budget on actors such as Dwayne Johnson and Zack Efron. It only made back $58 million domestically.
Director Karyn Kusanma blames moviegoers for not going to see the movie Jennifer’s Body. During an interview, she stated “People constantly talk about how underrated it is now, and I’m like, 'Why didn’t anybody go see it at the time?' I’m salty... I could have made more movies like Jennifer’s Body if people had actually f***ing gone or had been positive about it.”
Let's take a look at the marketing. The movie poster had a scantly clad Megan Fox (dressed in the typical Catholic Schoolgirl attire) licking blood off her lips. This is obviously marketed to men. That being said, the movie was written from the female loner’s perspective. Therefore they were marketing to the wrong audience.
Sorry, but men were going out to see Avatar, Inglorious Bastard, 2012, The Blind Side, Star Trek (reboot), and Watchmen at that time. Come to think of it, 2009 was a great year for movies. Everything from Up to Hangover in theaters, Megan Fox’s sexy poses just wasn’t going to do it. It all comes down to marketing and competition.
Side note: The first 8 minutes of Up is hands down the greatest love story of all time. If you don’t agree, fight me.
Nope, not the Trolls movie starring Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake. Ron Howard got into it with Internet Trolls and blamed them for the fall of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
I will fully admit I loved Solo. I personally thought that Alden Ehrenreich made an amazing Young Harrison Ford. I was so excited to go see anything Star Wars related. It had a decent plot (nothing on the level of Citizen Kane, but I didn’t expect that).
Director Ron Howard (Opie) blamed “aggressive internet trolls” for the poor box office results. Fans blame Star Wars fatigue and troubled production which shifted the movie’s release date so often that no one knew when it was coming out until it hit theaters.
Jim Sheridan blames your intelligence levels before you were even given a chance! Jim Sheridan directed the war drama “Brothers” which was released in 2010. This underrated piece of cinema never even got the chance to shine.
In November of 2009 Jim in an interview stated that "I think the American people just don't think there is a war on, so why should they have to go to a movie about something that doesn't exist? Their state of denial is hard to overcome."
Yep, he said that.
Keep in mind, this was before the movie even came out. This turned a lot of people off to his movie thinking that he would become “preachy” or condescending during the film.
If the creator of something told me that I will probably hate it, yeah, I probably wouldn’t even try it out.
In 2007 the Heartbreak Kid released to very lackluster box office returns. The film executives placed the blame purely on the shoulders of one man; Bill Gates. They said that his X-Box was ruining cinemas and in this case, everyone was home playing Halo instead of out watching Ben Stiller playing the exact same role he plays in every movie.
I personally can only think of a few roles where he was funny. I know, humor is subjective. I totally agree. My wife hates the Ben Stiller movies that I actually like and adores the ones I despise.
Either way, Halo and Bill Gates are to blame for the Heartbreak Kid’s poor opening.
Ok, this one, I had to do a little more research on. To tell you the truth, I had never heard of it. That was the problem with it.
Starring both Ann Hathaway Matthew McConaughey, Diane Lane, and Djimon Hounsou is a mystery thriller that came out in 2019.
The problem was that the distributors watched it and realized, everyone is going to hate it. So there was almost no marketing budget. It flew under the radar. When the cast and director heard about this they were understandably outraged but the Production company stood their ground saying “All audiences hated it.”
The Goldfinch was (in my opinion) a boring movie. It was late when I watched it and I was snuggled up on the couch. As a result, I got about an hour into it and nothing happened. I took this as a great opportunity to close my eyes for a few hours.
I apparently wasn’t the only one who had this issue. According to the director, Audiences just aren’t ready to see Literary Excellence in cinemas. Yep, that was said. We just don’t appreciate art basically.
Brian Singer has stated several times that the reason that no one wanted to go see Superman Returns was a lack of female audiences.
This one is slightly different from the others on this list because it wasn’t a full-on flop. It did ok in the box office. Critics said it wasn’t bad. It did alright in theaters.
It also came out the year after Batman Begins which really connected to audiences. It just never lived up to the hype.
Now, what does this have to do with women?
Brian Singer stated that at its core it is a romantic movie, therefore it should have brought in female audiences by the droves. In reality, it is a superhero film with a love interest, nothing more, hence guys go see it.
Movies aren’t the only ones to blame audiences for a critical failure. I’ve talked to several comic writers, artists, and editors that blamed the audience. Unfortunately for you, that was in the confines of a one-on-one conversation and there is nothing more sacred than artist-writer confidentiality. (Yes, that’s a thing. You can look it up.)
This one was very public and very loud, so I can tell you about it.
Way back in the day there was a great story that spanned all comics made by the publisher called Armageddon 2001. This crossover event told the future of EVERY hero during Waverider’s search for the villain Monarch. All that was known was that this was a former hero turned bad who takes over the world.
It was leading up to something great until hackers were able to obtain the true identity of Monarch as Captain Atom. Now Captain Atom is one of DC’s most powerful heroes and at the time the foreshadowing wasn’t that impressive. Most readers could see the twist coming a mile away.
DC decided to change up everything and make Monarch’s true identity be Hank Hall of Hawk and Dove. You might remember him from the Titans show on the DC app. Yep, some guy with no powers and little brains becomes the most powerful villain able to destroy superman and Green lantern at the same time!?!
DC just basically stuck it to audiences and then shifted the blame on them for knowing who was going to be the bad guy. Bad Form, DC, bad form.
Stay tuned because we have tons more on the way. Make sure you check out the CryptoComics couch videos on your favorite social networks. Frey and I always have a laugh. Join in.
I’ll see you soon and remember to stay safe and much love.
