Is #ComicsGate Wrong? (Part 4) - End Game

you [Music] once upon a time on the first of November 1955 specifically the Vietnam conflict began in March of 1965 America finally went full in when American combat troops officially entered the fray the conflict raged determine the future of Vietnam it was a battle between the communist government in the north in the constitutional republic in the south on the surface it was just another battle just another country undergoing violent change like so many other countries had undergone countless times before but what made the conflict in Vietnam so unique was what it represented it's true that Vietnam became the stage for the vicious rivalry between communist Russia and the United States and the politics were clear to the onlooker it might have seemed like yet another bloody struggle between two powerful countries each determined to overpower the other but it was fundamentally a battle of culture and ideas because isn't that what war tends to be one culture one set of ideas and principles asserting itself over another set the scene in any other country other than Vietnam and the fight would have been over the same reasons in other words remove Vietnam and we would still leave the true battle unobscured the question is Comics gate wrong represents a similar conflict between values and ideas with anteye Comics gate rapidly overtaking the industry with their version of how comics should be and then comics gate asserting their own set of principles in opposition and in this scenario Marvel has been their metaphorical Vietnam and perhaps that fact has been a detriment to finding a clear answer behind the question perhaps fighting on the battleground of Marvel Comics was keeping us from exploring the real conflict and the real ideas behind them anti comics gates claim that exploring perceived social issues should be the dominating factor of every comic versus comics Cates claim that story characterization and adventure should take priority the soapbox versus the story time chair so let's move things to the indies sphere where story characters writers and their ideas must stand completely on their own two independent creators creating comics outside the mainstream two works constructed from the ideas of the respective artists and writers let's eject Marvel from the equation altogether this final battle will take place in a metaphorical no man's land No more brand names no more baggage no legacy to weigh down the creative potential of either work let's peel away all the pomp and circumstance all the flashy logos all the controversial hashtags and politically charged opinions let's have what we've likely needed all along a pure raw naked clash of ideas Kwanzaa ocfo relatively notable voice on the side of anti comic skate Richard Meier arguably the man who sparked kama skate as a movement for independent creators the sides have been taken the weapons have been chosen the stage is set combatants to your corners and let's get started with black AFS America's Sweetheart by Kwanzaa ocfo before getting into this comic it should be noted that America's Sweetheart is actually a spin-off comic of oh say UFOs main series black which explores the world where only black people have superpowers you'll see why this is important in a moment we're introduced to Elly Franklin who's like totally nacho or hashtag typical girl lol smiley face smiley face why well because she's adopted and has superpowers powers that she needs to keep secrets which comes with double the pressure since her dad has a vague and mysterious job at the White House Ellie tells us how despite being raised in a loving family she still felt alone since no one else in her life had superpowers then something called the negro muerte video dropped on the internet revealing to the world that black people had superpowers suddenly Ellie saw people all over the world show off superpowers of their own things seemed great for Ellie until we see the political fallout America is plagued by rampant prejudice against people with powers that police become more aggressive and are quicker to resort to violence and Richard Spencer is calling for government crackdown on empowered blacks all the while Ellie wants to help but her dad doesn't want her getting involved despite knowing that she's practically invincible then our introduction is over Ellie suddenly has a magical metal ball that gives her a costume and then a mask then pow the perfect American superhero she's just missing one thing there we go now armed with the costume Ellie flies off and becomes a superhero her good deeds start building a profile she calls herself good girl she commits one good deed after another all while keeping her superhero activities secret from her adoptive dad Ellie soon graduates from battling Street criminals to fighting super-powered beings fortunately and could rival Saitama when he comes to superpowers and takes on all comers fairly easily unfortunately super battles tend to be pretty noisy so it wasn't long before a good girl gets cornered by the police suddenly Elly finds herself face to face with her dad then some guy pops up but he doesn't really matter Elly gets a scolding then after a short conversation with her father decides to compromise he lets her be a hero as long as they work together from there good girl's profile skyrockets her father helps her find missions while also doubling as her public relations agent good girl gets invited to talk shows and even gets her approval rating track like a presidential candidate she starts training with the other superheroes working for the government to easily outpacing all of them of course and continued fighting crime and performing one good deed after another then things take a turn when a storm ravages a city good girl starts getting criticized heavily when the media notices that most everyone she's been saving recently in the storm had been minorities they accused her of being racially prejudiced then apparently someone's mom had one too many bloody marys and goes driving down the street with her eyes closed and he stops her and it turns out the lady wasn't someone's drugged-out mom but a drugged-out pop star whose career la just ended good girls approval rating plummets lower than Justin Trudeau and Elly's looking at forced early retirement until a new unstoppable villain shows up how convenient Ali's father sends her home where it's safe but Elly has other plans especially when she notices that the villain has the same symbol on her super suit as Elly's big metal ball and that's when we learned that this new villain is actually Elly's big sister turns out Elly and her sister had come from a distant future when black people are enslaved again the Empire used their superpowers for purposes of conquest however their father rebelled and since she and Elly back in time and while Elly was happy to help the world her sister was determined to change it so that the future they came from never happened Elly and her sister fight while her sister pulls what I like to call the Joker gambit trying to convince her opponent to join you by pointing out what they're fighting for is a lie Annie's sister brings up all the times the people had turned against her and how Elly is just being used the conflict intensifies when Elly sister threatens to kill her quote unquote masters which includes her father so they fight and they fight and they fight then the guy pops up again from before but he still doesn't matter and Ellie continues to fight her sister and it's clear that neither will back down from their convictions Ellie punches her sister into the Sun which of course doesn't kill her at least not right away her sister gets one more good punch in before disintegrating good girl saved the world but Ellie ended up in a coma then that guy shows up again but he met her so little at the moment he does the story just decides to end from start to finish America's Sweetheart game was a relatively traditional superhero story it calls on the same themes as a Saturday morning superhero cartoon so that switch gears and dive into the delicious insanity of the 90s Richard Meyers jawbreakers is the story of several superheroes he retired and became a mercenary group jawbreakers lost souls was the book that more or less sparked the wave of comics gate created books and it also included two jawbreakers stories the first jawbreaker story that launched in 2015 and jawbreakers lost souls when he opened the cover the book immediately pushes you right in the face with jawbreakers team running from their latest victory which was apparently solving the problem by unleashing a ghostly monstrosity that thinks the Eiffel Tower looks more like a baguette and evading the local authorities by jumping into the river waiting a bit and getting picked up by a star-spangled ice-cream man next thing we know our team has relocated to Africa where they set up a new base of operations and get a new mission this is where they meet Zack see who hires them to find and subdue a giant gorilla which they promptly find and fight the gorilla is eventually defeated but two of the crew devil dog and Hill priest were separated from the others during the fray and then they were captured by a cyborg cowboy warlord our main villain for the evening this is where it's revealed that sexy has been an undercover agent for the evil warlord the whole time back with the main group silkworm cuffs knife hand and Zack see get to loot the boss kill and the gorilla literally bleeds gold so a shaman shows up and informs our heroes that the gorilla was once a normal creature until he wandered into a vortex as you do the vortex transformed the once normal gorilla and toward the soul from his body the creature had been wandering looking for his soul ever since the shaman had sort of placed himself in the role of caretaker and uses magic to absorb the gorillas injuries a shaman points out that silkworm 2 is a wanderer in his own way which makes him compatible for a spell so the shaman does the Voodoo the he do and mentally linked silkworm to the gorilla using the creatures blood mean while devil dog and Hill priests make their move and escape before quickly finding the way back to the others where they reveals Zach sees secret and break her cover Zach C runs off Zach sing cuffs had been getting close so he lets her go despite everything though the jawbreakers crew decided to help reunite the gorilla with his soul he bled a mountain of gold on them after all the gorilla had been wondering because he hadn't been able to find the vortex that holds his soul fortunately hella priest has the power to see what others can't and that includes souls so the shaman steps up to summon the vortex gates but magic takes a huge toll on his body a toll the shaman was unable to pay by the time the vortex gates opened the shaman had disintegrated into dust which means they only have one last chance is at the gorilla on the right track and that's when the warlord arrives at the gates with his entire army looks pretty bad for our heroes but that's when knife-hand shows up with his knife hands and starts slashing the Warlord's army into deli meat cuffs and silkworm jump into battle to buy enough time for hella priests to find the correct portal on the battlefield kuffs confronts the warlord who instantly takes Zach C hostage the warlord offers is actually the cuffs in exchange for his life cuffs says yes warlord runs away is actually thinks cuffs and then takes off to redeem herself meanwhile the gorilla is terrified by all the bullets and refuses to move and that's when the spiritual link kicks in silkworm takes control and moves the giant gorilla to the middle portal which helped priest has identified as the correct one and it looks like the plan will succeed though the Warlord's army might overwhelm the jawbreakers team at any moment but the gorilla takes back control of his mind and instead of going to the portal he turns around to help and begins attacking the Warlord's army unfortunately the fight takes far too long and the middle portal closes things look dire but then the Calvary arrives in the shape of a stunning and brave attack helicopter and swings in han solo style to wipe out the Warlord's entire army including the warlord who gets reduced to a fine red mist the fight isn't over yet however the team detects enemy reinforcements which means they need to leave which also means the guerrilla needs to pick a portal anyway silkworm sends a reluctant gorilla off to wander again and team jawbreakers laments on the losses like the death of zack see who has died at the hands of the warlord but celebrates their small victories like being alive and that in the end there is hope for all those who wander and that ends the story of jawbreakers Souls in stages sent no brand names no decades of established legacy two sides to different schools of thought both open and exposed anti comics gates belief that comics should be used as tools to commentate on politics and social issues comics gates belief that comics should be used to tell stories in to entertain so is Comics Gate wrong the first thing that should be taken into consideration is the fact that America's sweetheart and jawbreakers lost souls are fundamentally different they deliver to different kinds of promises to their respective readers America's Sweetheart promises more of a typical superhero story while jawbreakers promises us a high-octane running an Expendables style adventure with superpowers in magic but here's the twist I actually liked America's Sweetheart somewhat yes even the political angle somewhat it hits many of the points I'm looking for in a superhero story right from the first panel were introduced to the main character Ellie Franklin we even get a hint of her personality when we see her selfie taken with a horse from there the introductions flow smoothly adding more information with each panel we were told and then shown that she's adopted were shown not told that she has super powers like super-strength power breath flight and super strong hair we see how isolated she feels due to her powers and having to hide them we also see that her adoptive father works in the White House all essential elements set up from page one an effective first page other than the last panel not being interesting enough to get the rear to turn the page since it's already established that she has superpowers but that's an easy fix there we go and he also meets many of the standards I've said she pays for her powers with her feeling of isolation something that the readers can see is eating away at her why two reasons because despite having a loving home life she felt alone to quote God blessed me with the best family ever but I still felt alone it's very human to seek out others like ourselves to meet people who can relate to our own experiences whether that be an occupation a hobby or having superpowers and for the longest time Ellie thought she was the only one I always thought there was no one like me in the world she's introduced as a two dimensional happy-go-lucky girl but her internal struggle gives her a very human complexity the second reason why her powers act as a burden to her is because unlike riri Williams Ellie has an easily identifiable drive she wants to do good to help people help stop the madness that erupted after the revelation of superpowers to quote a lot of other people weren't happy they were scared I just wanted to help she's driven to produce a better world an aspect which will become crucial later on were shown the chaos and violence the same way Ellie sees it it's easy to relate to her desire to jump in and help except Ellie actually can she's practically invincible remember she only decides not to because her parents don't want her getting involved and although she eventually does disobey her parents like I critiqued Kamala Khan for unlike Kamala Khan she does so driven by selflessness rather than selfishness it's a bit of difference between disobeying one's parents to go to a party and so being one's parents to help save lives the final confrontation with her sister Zion is written like it should be this is where the stakes are raised sky-high and why Ellie's desires saving lives helping her family combat hostility by setting a good example are put to the test including her desire to fight for a better world and why they become so important both Ellie and Zion are unimaginably powerful but the tension of the fight doesn't come from who will beat up the other it partly comes from the looming threat promised by Zion it's made clear that if Ellie cannot stop Zion everything she loves will die but the heart of the battle is about Ellie's final choice Zion reveals a powerful truth Ellie that Zion and Ellie are both from the future then everything comes together the audience can see how impactful this revelation is the future Ellie has been fighting for will eventually end in slavery for super-powered beings and sins ion is from that future this isn't speculation this is confirmed fact the idea of a better world was essentially nothing but a product of a naive child's imagination and remember Zions entrance came when Ellie's resolve was at its all-time low the approval rating of her heroic persona had dropped into the negatives fake news media was smearing her America had turned on her the people she fought so hard for no longer wanted her the average person would likely give in turn their backs on everything and join Zion but superheroes shouldn't be average people not when it comes to inner strength and Ellie passes that test too especially when she fights her sister to the death for the sake of everyone she stayed loyal to her home her principles and fought a battle for which she had every indication that she would lose overall Elly's story is one of a naive young girl who was gifted with extraordinary power and used that power for good but was tested when things change from smiley Saturday morning cartoon and she was hit by the ugly reality of humanity she learned that not every stop crime would be rewarded she learned that good deeds could be punished and that she would be hated for performing the wrong kind of good deeds too many times in the final test came when Elly was at her lowest and then she was put lower and lower but even then still chose to protect the world she loved the political angle helped give the story a bit of depth as it explored the concept of a superheroes ability to affect the community and reflect how easily people could forget old good deeds when faced with a fresh new outrage good girl was treated like a politician while Elly was just out to help anyone in need the bigger picture was constantly changing it touches on a leaders potential unwillingness to act for the greater good because often times it isn't what you see as right or wrong it isn't even about saving lives or saving the world it's about what the public sees as right and wrong good girl had saved countless lives and stopped catastrophe after catastrophe but her approval rating dropped into the negatives when she saved too many people with the wrong skin colour over a short span of time and accidentally ended a white pop star's career the whole aspect plays on the fickle gratitude of the people and presents the same question to readers that superheroes face every day should I continue to fight and Elly is eventually challenged to answer that question when all her incentives to say yes are nearly all gone how can a hero freely do what's right when that hero must also answer to the whims of an outraged hungry people is it important for hero to be loved does it matter should it suddenly what's good becomes what the chosen demographic thinks is good suddenly what is good becomes saving only the right kinds of people or fighting only the right kinds of bad guys these are just some of the questions America's Sweetheart brings up and does so in a character relevant way so what does this mean for comics gate anti comics gate produced an effective work and they did it with politics how comics get lost were they wrong after all perhaps but before we put the final nail in the coffin of comics gate let's take a look at jawbreakers lost souls the first page gives the reader a powerful action scene and expertly sets the stage for the oncoming story jawbreakers chooses to make its initial impact with one powerful visual as opposed to the panelled summary rundown found in America's Sweetheart though it should be noted that both openings are fine but both opening pages also perfectly encapsulate their principles of the respective side jawbreakers is first page uses personality from cuffs low powerful stature as if he's ready to ram into the next obstacle to knife hands swiping karate chop hinting at his slicing and dicing abilities to silkworms outstretched arm at the head of the group signifying his leadership position running ahead and giving us the feeling as if he's reaching out for the next adventure even while the last crazy adventure is still finishing behind him and let's talk about that even though we as readers have no idea what just happened the scene opens our expectations the giant monster they leave impaled on the Eiffel Tower opens the possibility of monsters existing in this world knife hands glowing hands show us that people with special powers also exists in other words page 1 sets the reader up with the basic elements of what the reader needs to know that this is a world similar to our own but far more extraordinary excitement personality wonder humor a promise of adventure all are present right from page 1 and the following story doesn't disappoint everything given to us on the first page remains consistent throughout the work and yet despite its simplistic premise a group of guys having a straightforward expendable style adventure jawbreakers Lost Souls adds a layer of underlying complexity with its very last page the story involves a giant gorilla wandering time and space searching for his lost soul and while the giant gorilla wasn't able to follow the right path hope still exists that one day he might and the last page ends with silkworm looking down at a picture of what appears to be a long-lost daughter and saying if he can regain his lost soul then there is hope for all who wander so when you look back at all the events from the first page until now you can see everything come together and connect on those two last panels moving from country to country at a moment's notice fighting for money taking on giant gorillas and cyborgs warlords without a moment's hesitation get still showing signs of positive morality it shows us that the jawbreakers crew are unattached they're a group of aimless directionless people constantly looking for the next big thing the next big score with no clear end game they're a group of talented and powerful individuals with no ultimate destination were shown that the members of jawbreakers crew too are Wanderers and the question that looms over the entire story is why do people wander and the answer were given by the end is because they're searching for something something missing something lost we see this in silk room at the end we see this with cuffs love for Zack see rather than painting Zack see as a meaningless conquest for cuffs as fitting with the genre he's shown to be deeply hurt when she dies cuffs was quick to latch on so strongly to Zack see some might argue that this is bad writing but it fits with the overarching theme it shows that cuffs despite his confident and unshakable exterior that he is searching for something to desperately searching searching for something Zack C obviously provided some long-lost fantasy that constantly eludes him action drama characterization comedy excitement jawbreakers lost soul delivers on everything Mayer promised to give and a bit more jawbreakers to was good an interesting story just like America's Sweetheart was an interesting story but is comic skate wrong well let's remember each premise anti comic skate asserts that good comics are those dense with politics and with stories that tackle relatively relevant social issues by putting story and characterizations second comic skate on the other hand claims that comics should be first and foremost entertaining as I stated both stories provided something interesting and enjoyable but here's the thing if we take a closer look at the elements that make these stories enjoyable one of these premises begins to break down there are two major differences that separate jawbreakers Lost Souls from America's Sweetheart and I mean beyond differences in sub-genre even beyond story and characterization while jawbreakers lost souls chose to abstain from politics America's Sweetheart stands as an interesting example on both writing politics correctly and how to use politics incorrectly oh so UFOs use of politics was executed well when it remained as a kind of critique on politics itself when good girl was least to an approval rating there are no sides being pushed this bit of politics isn't centered on one particular issue it isn't about race or gender or sexuality it isn't about right wing or left it was just a pure commentary biting into the basis of a system ruled by popularity and more importantly this little factor plays a big role in both Ellie's career as a superhero and changing her mindset leading up to the final confrontation the approval rating was key to shattering Elly's sense of romanticism about being a hero it allowed the tension of the final confrontation to exist at all unfortunately it's only a part of the politics ocfo decided to use in the construction of this story while interesting political commentary is present it's far overshadowed by the forced inclusion of biased racial politics story begins with Ellie being adopted by a white family when she ends up working for her father in the White House as a superhero her once loving relationship between father and daughter seems to degrade into less of a parent and child and more akin to an agent and client or master and slave love and warmth seem to vanish between Ellie and her father and suddenly he's setting good girl up for missions and interviews suddenly he seems to care more about the benefit she can provide rather than worrying about Ellie herself the public begins to turn on Ellie when she starts saving too many black people refocusing the story from a young optimistic girls journey into super heroism into a commentary on racial prejudice and remember the public supposedly turned on good girl because when she started saving all those brown and black people he was following a terrible hurricane that struck an area densely populated by black people let me say that again ocfo is telling us that the majority of the American population began hating Ellie because she was helping survivors in the aftermath of a natural disaster because they were black it's too extreme not only can most people see with their own eyes that we tend to band together during natural disasters but even sites like the Huffington Post and the Scientific American have written articles on why natural disasters bring people together so strongly not tear them apart if anything Ellie would have been universally praised for her work not condemned this calls to a common NPC assertion and presumed general assumption that America is highly intolerant and racist that its people put hatred and bigotry even above common sense or their own self-interest this is emphasized when Ellie accidentally injuring a drunk white woman was a death blow to her career a 2013 Washington Post article asked people around the world who would they not want as neighbors the article recorded the number of people who responded people of another race meaning they covered how many people in each country would hate living next to someone of a different race America fell into the zero 24.9% category even in 2018 when America's own press had constantly tried to smear their own country as irredeemably bigoted and intolerant findings released by the Guardian yes that Guardian found that America only competes with Canada as being the most accepting tolerant and inclusive country in the world to immigrant citizens to quote a 2018 article published by the National Review by no plausible objective standard as America the most racist or bigoted country in the world even just among industrialized countries on a 2014 list of countries ranked by opposition to having a racially different neighbor America ranked 47th with 6% of the population saying they were opposed and wrong numbers we admit more immigrants than any other country and as Amy Chua notes in her new book political tribes no other major power in the world has ever democratically elected a racial minority as head of state in other words the political commentary strays away from an interesting critique on the nature of humanity to a frankly masturbatory of victimhood fantasy you can feel the bitterness in hatred coming from these scenarios it becomes biased preachy incredibly heavy-handed it's kind of like that Family Guy joke where a guy would pop up as a subliminal message and just order you to smoke when it comes to the racial politics oh so UFO displays the same comedic bluntness in exaggeration but plays it seriously and this is all skimming over the fact that Ellie and the other super-powered black people who work for the government are literally part of an organization labeled Hoss a not-so-subtle connection to the obedient house slaves rather overtly signifying that Ellie isn't free that she's nothing but a slave nothing but a tool for her white family story-wise this all comes to a climax when the dreaded future Ellie and her sister had come from is not simply a tyrannical warlike dystopia but an era when white people had Rhian slaved black people somehow because if you recall in this world only black people have superpowers and doesn't that premise give you an eerie yet familiar feeling that we've seen this exact mindset before except a little different oh right and what's even worse these politics are more heavily stuffed into the parts I chose not to cover because they at best at nothing and at worst actually hurt the story to summarize everything I liked about America's Sweetheart including some of the politics came from an interesting story fitting characterization and political commentary that critiqued our real-life political systems and general human behavior but unfortunately the entire work was held down considerably by preachy biased social commentary all the parts anti comics gate says should come first however poisonous politics is only the second biggest tragedy of America's Sweetheart but the biggest isn't something present within the story it's something absent one crucial thing jawbreakers lost souls clearly has but also UFOs work does not passion oh it's obvious ocfo is passionate about something it just isn't a story or characters because America's Sweetheart is an interesting story as probably because the core of its plot was carefully constructed by someone else just before they made that plot into a movie Man of Steel a movie from which ocfo stole the plot and promptly cut it with politics at its base every major development is the same adopted orphan being raised by a loving family with wholesome morals a strong sense of isolation the father figure who doesn't want their super-powered orphan using their superpowers for their own sakes orphan becomes superhero helps people public opinion turns against them orphan finds a connection to their origins connection threatens to destroy the world orphan is forced to choose between building a brighter future for their people or saving the people they love orphan ultimately chooses to defend loved ones by killing the last link to their origin there are a few differences certainly but there's also a difference between being inspired in an outright ripoff let's compare this to Myers jawbreakers lost souls jawbreakers has been criticized for being nothing but a GI Joe ripoff but that isn't the case as mentioned America's Sweetheart was nothing but a refurbished Man of Steel ordered down with heavy-handed politics now let's take a look at Meyers work jawbreakers is part GI Joe part Expendables part king-kong part Rambo and part Jackie Chan movie let me put it like this when creating America's Sweetheart the creator's said let's just do Man of Steel but reshape it to fit our agenda when creating jawbreakers lost souls Meyer said what would happen if you combined a super-powered Expendables team King Kong a super-powered Rambo villain and humorous fight scenes with funny dialogue see the difference one just does the old copy and paste while the other takes pieces from several different sources to create something entirely new and that difference is the defining reason why it's clear that ocf was work Lexx passion while myers work is filled with it I mean what would you think of someone who copies tests to get bhai oh say yes was work lacks passion and in its place lies nothing but bitterness and lazy writing no care went into America's Sweetheart it's clear that the creators just needed a prepackaged vessel to strap their agenda on to Myers work is the Expendables it's GI Joe it's King Kong and Jackie Chan and it's also none of those things jawbreakers has several clear inspirations but Myra took those inspirations and created something with its own unique identity it's easy to take a story gut it and slap on your own stuff it takes work to build something on your own Myer put in that work it has its own world its own rules its own themes its own characters and their own backgrounds and personalities so that when you pick up jawbreakers you weren't picking up a GI Joes story you're not picking up King Kong or The Expendables you're picking up jawbreakers and you're about to read a jawbreakers story because despite everything setting aside all the traumatic moments all the betrayals lies twists turns romances great heroes vile villains and sappy happy endings remember that one's creative BIGBANG begins long before you write a single word because the heart and soul of creation tends to begin with wonder and excitement as the littlest spark of a child's imagination when I used to leave the theater after seeing an Errol Flynn movie I'd be about 12 years old I don't know I'd walk down the street with a crooked little grin on my face and thinking it was the way he grinned and I had an imaginary sword at my side and I'd be looking around hoping to see some bully picking on a little girl so I could defend her it seems that along the way the once great comic book industry became so fixed on writing moral stories that they forgot what it took to write a good one a good comic book story has what any good adventure story has except that's illustrated that's all but it's or it has to have all the elements good characterization believable dialogue and exciting situations in a world filled with so much hostility it seems to be forgotten where the comics community had come from the big heart that helped create it and the great man who shared that heart with all of us how his passion brought so many people from so many backgrounds in so many different walks of life together I tried to inject a feeling of warmth in all the books occasionally they'd run a letters page and it would be like this dear editor I registery and I liked it signed Charles Smith and the answer would be dear Charles thank you very much v editor well I decided to run lettuce pages but I wanted to make them friendly I wanted the kids to feel a part of Marvel so even if somebody wrote a letter that said dear editor to me when I printed it I wrote dear Stan I changed the word that it is dead and when I answered the letter instead of saying dear Charles I'd say something like hey thanks a lot charlie you know and I tried to keep the tone friendly as if I'm a guy they know and we're just talking together and after a while it became very natural and after a while all the letters hey Stan I loved his story hey Stan I hated your story whatever it was but it was like they knew me and I knew them is easy to forget that comics were never really about politics and most great comics just wanted to make the world better I never I don't like to preach I hate people to preach to me and I don't like to preach to other people but at the same time I feel they're kind of universal truths that nobody could quibble with like to me the most important mantra in the world is do unto others would you'd have them do unto you I mean I don't see how anybody could take issue with that and I try to follow that and I think if everybody followed it this would be a the world would be paradise and so it comes down to this the question that's not only important for one single movement but for everyone so for the final time riddle me this is comics gate wrong my-my-my all this talk about comics has been rather inspiring as promised at the beginning I will be revealing two announcements the first is that I've made a dedicated livestream channel called the first edition where I talk about topics relating to writing movies TV shows and other delicious gems of modern pop culture new episodes typically come out on Friday nights at 8 p.m. Central if you're interested a link to the channel will be in the description and the second announcement well I have decided to switch gears from being a consumer of comics I try my hand at creating one set in the superhero genre of course or in this case the supervillain genre dr. alpha is one of the most dangerous supervillains in the universe he's what much you get if Tyler Durden became a mad scientist and Anna just a pinch of Joker the art is done by the very talented Jay Paul chic a link to his website will also be in description if you want to check out his other work I've taken heavy inspiration from the pulps which means I've made sure the story is fast paced and packed with twists turns and plenty of drama I kind of wanted to explore what might happen if I took a world set in the Golden Age we're villains pull schemes like turning rivers into jell-o when heroes make witty puns after capturing bad guys and then tossing in the Dark Knight's Joker like watching the Superfriends face off against jigsaw and yes there are plot reasons for this in the first story dr. alpha miracle child alpha has already committed decades of super villainy but his story takes place during a pivotal moment in his career and it kicked off when his arch enemy a super hero known as glorious came to visit him the lowest level of Icarus prison a Guantanamo for supervillains and reveals a secret that instantly changes the direction of alphas life a secret so powerful it will be the one factor that drives the entire series shouldn't succeed but there isn't much time to think as the world is placed under the gun of a massive alien invasion led by molvi on the Martian mastermind after all who better to unite glorious with his arch enemy dr. alpha then a villain who was once thought dead and nearly conquered the world dr. alpha is a series that will explore the world of super villainy a look at the other side no modern day politics no addressing Trump and no NPC nonsense just a plot driven drama with aliens super battles and a character who's nothing less than deliciously toxic the project isn't currently ready for launch on IndieGoGo but it's being worked on it I'll make another announcement when it finally officially launches in the meantime keep an eye on the first edition channel I'll be setting up a doctor alpha Q&A stream there shortly and that's it that's all for the announcements thank you very much for watching [Music]

Channel: Literature Devil

Views: 80,342

Rating: 4.9510489 out of 5

Keywords: Comics, Marvel, Indie Publishing, Richard C. Meyer, Jawbreakers, Jawbreakers Lost Souls, America's Sweetheart, Kawna Osajyefo, Black AF, ComicsGate, Anti-ComicsGate, creative writing, self-publishing, Diversity&Comics, D&C, Splatto Comics, NPC Marvel, politics in comics, stan lee, stan lee quotes, stan lee tribute, indie comics

Id: VTC0Mng1gHs

Length: 37min 10sec (2230 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 15 2019