Or My Thoughts On Creators Rights and Boycotts
DC comics, owned by Times Warner, and Marvel comics, owned
by Disney, are soulless corporations with dubious track records. DC comics is
notorious for screwing over their comic book creators from Siegel and Shuster
of Superman fame to, more recently, Alan Moore of Watchmen renown. Marvel has a
similar track record of being unethical in its dealings with creators, notably
the with their treatment of Jack Kirby, a comics legend who co-created the
majority of their properties.1 Let
me be clear, this kind of behaviour is deplorable and is a big part of why I
try to spend the majority of my comics budget on creator owned-er-ish books. That
said, large corporations are phsychopathic hive-mind organisms designed only
for profit2 so this kind of behaviour is to be kind of expected, not
okay, but expected.
So in response to the fact DC and Marvel are
unapologetically kind of horrible, people have decided that the best response
is to boycott all association with these companies. Writers Chris Roberson and Roger
Langridge have very publicly broken all professional ties with DC and Marvel
comics. Similarly, I have encountered a number of people online who have
decided to boycott these publishers as well the consumer side.3 To a
certain extent, I think these are laudable decisions: making principled
judgments and being conscientious of your spending habits are pretty impressive
things. It’s especially ambitious for the Roberson and Langridge, as their principled
choices may have long term consequences for their careers.
Also, and I can’t
state it enough, it’s very much not okay what Marvel and DC have done, and
vocal advocacy for creator rights is important to ensuring a future of great
comics.
But here’s the thing, I’m not convinced boycotting Marvel
and DC is the best solution. And here’s why:
