The Big D

Anonymous asked: How do you not see the connection between appropriating iconic Black American imagery the lack of Black American representation on Marvel's creative teams?

guardianofscrewingup:

leseanthomas:

afroofknowledge:

sonofbaldwin:

brevoortformspring:

Okay, fair cop, I spoke quickly and curtly and may have given the wrong impression. So I apologize for that.

I think that anybody who’s been reading this page for the past month or so should have a pretty good idea of where I stand on the issue of representation in our comics—and that goes for creators as well as characters. We can always do better, and we continue to work on it.

There are still plenty more titles to be announced as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, and as they continue to roll out, I believe that you’ll see the evidence of our commitment to creator representation among the creative teams as well as our characters.

My point, such as it was, is that this isn’t an either-or situation. Doing the Hip-Hop covers (many of which were illustrated by creators of color) has no direct bearing on the state of African-American representation among our creative teams. What it does do, hopefully, is to showcase an appreciation for this respected artform, and by extension create an environment that’s maybe a little bit more welcoming to prospective creators.

“Fair cop” is code for “I don’t actually see the value and merit in what you asked, but because I fucked up so publicly, I’m going to be defensive and but-I-have-black-friends my way out of culpability and make this about your perception and not about my actions.”

Miss me with the bullshit, Mr. Brevoort. You’re only fooling white supremacists with this response.

So is he essentially saying in the last paragraph that (code translation:) we have every right to appropriate black culture in spite of our unwillingness to actively and aggressively discover and recruit black artists??

Let’s not act like this problem is that difficult to resolve for a company with this size, influence, and cash flow.

I would think if there was significant good intention and understanding of the issue at hand, then the paragraph that begins, “What it does do… hopefully…” would have actually read “What we want from this is to showcase an appreciation… and create an environment that is profoundly more welcoming to prospective creators of color.”

This is a company forecasting, planning, casting, and marketing multi-million dollar budget movies years into the future… But your HR department is confused and useless when it comes to diversity??

Bullshit is an understatement.

Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort’s amending response to his initial tone-deaf approach  regarding racially sensitive hiring practices at Marvel comics, the lack of cultural diversity and it’s 1-way relationship with the minority dollar.

See WIRED.COM article for reference: http://www.wired.com/2015/07/diversity-in-comics/

Honest to God, Marvel needs to 1) Get their shit together and fix the problems that were laid out to them, and 2) Hire a fucking PR person, Jesus Christ. This isn’t the only thing Brevoort has been an obnoxious bluntfuck over. Even some normal character questions he’s been terrible at answering. 

In a lot of his responses he sounds like one of those neckbeards that insists being blunt and obnoxious is okay because they insist that they’re just being “logical.”