I am Kicking Television

starkexpos:

Hi Tumblr comics fans,

Let’s accomplish some social good today. The organization One Million Moms, who describe themselves as “a network of Christian mothers and grandmothers taking a stand for our children who are exploited by the entertainment industry”, have recently released a statement…

I have my own antipathy towards these two companies for entirely different, legitimate reasons regarding the treatment of past creators.  However, it doesn’t at all conflict with mounting a counter write-in campaign against One Million Moms mount a cultural attack on human dignity.  And if necessary I’ll buy Astonishing X-Men #50 since LGBT rights is something I feel much, much more strongly on.

And just so everyone knows, One Million Moms is a front campaign for noted hate group the American Family Association (AFA) a group dedicated to peddling rhetoric about gay people akin to Nazis talking about Jews.  And as if to drive the point home, (warning, this is an AFA link) some of its members are claiming, contrary to any and all facts, that the Nazi regime was primarily gay including Hitler himself.

One Million Moms came to my attention when their attempt to boycott an Archie comic being sold in Toy’s’Rus failed spectacularly.  In the article, Cracked describe’s Kevin Keller, a newer Archie character, as being the centre of the controversy.  What did he do?  ”Kevin loved his friends, respected his parents, served his country, did his duty, returned home and married his true love.”  Of course, his true love is also a man so this was a horrible, horrible awful thing in One Million Mom’s eyes so they called for a boycott that ended with the comic completely selling out in a major national toy store.

I’m not sure if Marvel and DC are so well positioned though despite being subsidiaries of major entertainment companies.  Over the years they’ve shown an incredible lack of savy and business sense, DC in particular apparently done their best to alienate any and all female readers with their most recent line-wide relaunch.  On the other hand, superhero comics are such a niche market that primarily lives in specialty stores that primarily caters to a devoted core audience.  So maybe One Million Moms won’t have much effect on the bottom line, but since they called for a write-in campaign both companies could easily get spooked.  The most natural response is to get people writing in support of these decisions so neither publisher is inclined to feel that this would hurt their bottom line.  And yes, maybe even buy the comic if necessary.

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I do also want to comment on one point: One Million Moms’ incredibly inane objection to these planned stories is premised on the idea that, “This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don’t but do want to indoctrate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. ”  Speaking as a long-time comic reader from childhood to adulthood, mainstream superhero comics’ main audience, for better or ill, has long since predominantly been adults.  Though even if that was the case, because I actually know and have talked to people of queer sexuality I’ve heard from many that they knew they were gay or had feelings towards the same sex even before puberty (such as little kid crushes).  Webcomic artist Jess Fink, a bisexual woman, mentions in an interview that she struggled with having feelings for both sexes as a kid when she only ever encountered the word “gay” in the context of it meaning loving someone of the same sex and being an insult used by other kids.

So even if it was still kids predominantly reading comics, yes there would be a need for such role models.