In one of my rebuttals to one of the idiotic racist postings on The Beat yesterday, I almost….ALMOST made a reference to Glenn Beck along the lines of, “Glenn Beck should start a line of comics just for all the angry white men; sales would soar.”

And then I thought, oh that’s too knee-jerk.

What was I thinking?

In the above clip, Beck indeed goes after the new “half black, half hispanic, half gay” Spider-Man, saying he doesn’t care, but “A lot of this is being done intentionally,” because of Michelle Obama’s sinister comments on “sacrifice” and “changing our traditions.”

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New Ultimate Spider-Man is NOT gay, btw. No one has said he is. Except Matt Drudge, who misread a comment by artist Sara Pichelli in USA Today:

Italian artist Sara Pichelli, who was integral in designing the new Spider-Man’s look, says, “Maybe sooner or later a black or gay — or both — hero will be considered something absolutely normal.”

You have to wonder how Marvel/Disney is taking all the controversy. After Ed Brubaker ran afoul of the Tea Party and Fox News a while ago, Marvel freelancers were told to cool it with the politics. Is being mixed race really a political statement, though?

As for parent company Disney, they have their racist skeletons like everyone, but these days are usually pretty careful not to piss off their minority customer bases. And there is a HUGE gay presence within Disney, with several divisions run by gay execs in the past.

At any rate, creating a character who is non-white seems like the kind of thing that everyone can stand up for and feel good about.

Via

1 COMMENT

  1. So what Glen Bleck is saying is that when Michelle Obama was talking about changing traditions pre-election, she was really referring to Ultimate Spider-Man! LOL! Wow… that’s just too funny.

    I think this is really just more free publicity for Marvel. They shouldn’t be concerned about it and just ride it to the bank.

  2. “Is being mixed race really a political statement, though?”

    Well, yes. To people like Glenn Beck, it certainly is, because first we set them free and then we let them drink from our water fountains and then we let them marry our white women and so on and so forth and then HOLY SHIT ONE OF THEM GOT ELECTED PRESIDENT.

    By making it okay to be something other than a straight white male, we are slowly eroding the straight white man’s monopoly on, well, everything. He doesn’t see himself everywhere he looks now–whether it’s on a movie screen or a comic book page or in a political office, and that is completely effing terrifying to some people.

    To some of us, it seems like there is a little diversity in American entertainment and politics, but to people like Glenn Beck it’s already gone way too far. They see any additional attempt at diversity as a threat to an already weakened position.

  3. Why am I not surprised that all the racists all have to say “he looks just like Obama”.

    I BOUGHT the book. I’ve looked at the kid. Aside from being half black, how does he “Look like Obama”? Seriously, it’s one of the most instantly obvious “tells” with these folks.

  4. “By making it okay to be something other than a straight white male, we are slowly eroding the straight white man’s monopoly …”

    Oh, Geez … Comic fans are dumber than I suspected.

  5. Okay, I admit it. I am shocked, dumbfounded, and bold over at what an issue this has become. I just keep thinking, “Really? In this day and age? Really?” After playing with black, Hispanic, Jewish and Christian kids alike in my suburban neighborhood, and never a one of us thinking anything of it. I was really razed to believe our country had made more progress than this. I really didn’t think anything of the new Spider-Man when I first heard of him. I didn’t think anything of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones when they had a kid together. I loved the two of them, and it never crossed my mind that they were “mixing” or anything like that. I just thought they were cool together, and I bet that’s what BMB was thinking, too. This is not an issue that troubles me. It’s the people who make it an issue who trouble me.

  6. A chunk of race-baiting, a soupçon of irrelevant scorn for the First Lady and a dash of random gay-baiting for taste. Stay classy, Glenn Beck! My Republican friends will be headdesking once again tonight.

  7. I knew The Real World would misinterpret all this. I knew knuckleheads would say the wrong things. I knew there would be controversy in the media…

    What’s weird for me, tho’, is this:
    As a longtime comic reader, one of my first reactions was “Oh cool! I can hardly wait to read the Marvel/Ultimate Marvel crossover series where the Avengers meet the Ultimates! That Ultimate Spidey/Spidey match up would be a hoot!” because I see this Ultimate Universe thing as Marvel’s take on DC’s old multiple Earths from the Silver Age. But then I remembered that the two universes were never supposed to mix. THAT is what I was concerned about the most! :)

  8. I love how Glenn Beck knows nothing of what he is talking about, but just keeps going on putting his foot in his mouth.

    “He looks just like President Obama”

    “I guess there is two Spider-Mans? How does that happen?”

    “Another kid has been bitten by a spider, I guess.”

    “do i care?”

    “I don’t care”

    “I REALLY don’t care”

    and yet, he apparently seems to care enough to make statements showing his complete ignorance of the character, the comics, and society at large.

  9. I actually went into a comic shop today to buy this series because I’m so jazzed about a minority Spider-man. Sadly, they were sold out of #4, so I haven’t read it yet, but…

    All this outrage is stupid. Anyone who has a problem with Spider-man’s skin color is an idiot. It’s not a reasonable difference of opinion, it’s hate.

  10. You mean he wasn’t bitten by a radioactive Muslim and now has Sharia sense…

    Seriously, Beck needs a visit from the Midnighter.

  11. Geez. I mentioned this to a roommate.. Actually, he heard me cursing Glenn Beck’s name. He asked if it was about the Norway thing.

    Then he told me Beck had compared the shooting victims to Hitler youth.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8660986/Norway-shooting-Glenn-Beck-compares-dead-teenagers-to-Hitler-youth.html

    Holeee crap.

    The man is clearly hitting levels of paranoid schizophrenia. Was it Stewart that said that he ad Tourettes, but instead of cursing he compulsively calls someone Hitler.

  12. “Is being mixed race really a political statement, though?”

    I’m old enough to remember a time when just having a black supporting character was considered sort of a political statement. That said I think it’s the context, a brand new character of mixed race probably wouldn’t hit anyone’s radar. A character who is an American pop culture icon being replaced by someone of mixed race is a statement and is going to be noticed and is going to cause controversy and anyone at Marvel/Disney who thought differently is just being naive.

    That said Glenn Beck is still an idiot.

  13. This Glenn Beck fellow obviously enjoys getting people stirred. The thing that always gets me about these “golly gee, look what they’re doing to our country now” guys is that they simplify, amplify and imply so much with innuendo.
    Talk about spinning webs…

  14. Free publicity for Marvel. Stupid idiot Beck talking about it puts it on people’s radar that might not have known about it. I wonder, though, if the comics really matter anymore? Seems to me the real money is in the comic book movies these days.

  15. Also,….free publicity for Beck, who doesn’t give a damn what falls out of his mouth, as long as it stirs up enough people to repost his absurd comments or click on his name somewhere. Money in the bank, baby!

  16. “At any rate, creating a character who is non-white seems like the kind of thing that everyone can stand up for and feel good about.”

    I think amid all the racial angst and stupid commentary this quote that ends the article sums the whole thing up and illustrates the problem as it should really be viewed.

    Marvel is not “creating a character who is non-white” here….they are manipulating the Spider-man “brand” (if you will)…in hopes of controversy that leads to comic sales.

    If Marvel wants to create strong, minority based characters I am all for it. I’m all for any kind of great character being created if it leads to great storytelling.

    The problem here is they aren’t creating anything…they are taking a beloved character of nearly a half century and tweaking it for numerous selfish reasons including and most importantly a big sales bump.

    Look at it from this perspective…Spider-Girl and Spider-woman are Spider-man knock offs…no one complained then. Why? Because they were a supplemental with no real threat to the original beloved character.

    This new knock off is replacing said beloved character…not supplementing. This is where the outrage really stems from. Not from hidden racists who bided there time until pasty skin Parker was replaced by a darker skinned knock off….but fans (and albeit, idiot fans who may not know how to choose or articulate words properly without sounding stupid or racial)who simply want great stories told about their favorite character….not a sales bump replacement.

    Notice they did this with the ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN and not the true original from 1963 (so they are replacing a knock off with a knock off).

    This is there out. Their chance to say “well…it was the Ulitimate character that got bumped…not the REAL Spider-man if the character is poorly recieved after a dozen issues or so.

    Back to the racial point of this story…the reason Marvel (and any other company for that matter) takes these established characters and creates knock off characters with them is they already have an established fan base to introduce the character to….this is at the heart of the create-the-character-for-a-sales-bump-mentalitiy. It has nothing to do with actual diversity or creating minority characters.

    What will sell more comics? A new half black/half hispanic hero no one has ever heard of or a half black/half hispanic Spider-man?

    A terribly drawn, poorly written version of a minority Spider-man would sell ten times as many books as a superbly written, perfectly drawn comic of a non-brand name minority hero. Marvel is banking on this.

    What would everyone be saying if they replaced Luke Cage with a homosexual black man? Or Cyborg with a red-headed Irish line dancer? Would people be up in arms? Absolutely…because these are beloved characters and no one wants them to be messed with.

    No take into consideration that Spidey (Ultimate or otherwise) is arguably the most beloved comic character and super hero of all time. Are the so called haters out there being racist or just plain passionate?

    Are their some stupid racial or racist folks out there spewing stupidity in place of common sense when it comes to this Spidey situation?

    Sure.

    But most folks are just not that well spoken (or written) and they can’t get out their feelings without sound racial or dumb.

    No…don’t even get me started on how dumb DC’s new Superman in blue jeans and a t-shirt is. Now that deserves some hate speech.

    Thomas Wayne

  17. >>>A terribly drawn, poorly written version of a minority Spider-man would sell ten times as many books as a superbly written, perfectly drawn comic of a non-brand name minority hero. Marvel is banking on this.

    You had me going there until this. I know ten times is an exaggeration but come on. I think you issed my point in the prev ious pot about how Marvel has nothing to lose here.

    Comics sales need all the help they can get.

    LOTS of Ultimate characters are different from the 616 characters. It’s a line for change and experimentation — or else why have a separate line?

  18. Great, I had a big response written up and had forgotten to put in my name and it all got eaten.

    It’s not Ultimate Spider-Man fans who are getting upset over this, as far as I can tell. It’s people who’ve seen the most recent movies and maybe read a few Spider-Man comics as a kid.

    They’re upset over a perceived status quo being changed (even if that status quo is only 11 years old) and reacting more than that to anything. Judging by comments on multiple news sites, it’s a lot of “Now Spider-Man loves fried chicken!” and “He looks like Obama!” comments.

    Tomorrow they’ll go back to not thinking about Spider-Man again until they see the preview for the next Spider-Man film. Seeing that a white man is playing Spidey they’ll probably think “We won!”

  19. Don’t take anything Beck says seriously. He knows his fan base, he knows how to become extremely rich off of them. He doesn’t deserve to let us become angered.

  20. Thomas Wayne does have a point about Marvel emphasizing the brand, less of a point about causing controversy, since short-lived controversy doesn’t promote good long-term sales. If a writer wanted to do a story about a person who happens to be a superhero, instead of a story about a superhero who happens to be ________, how could he produce anything that Marvel or DC would publish?

    SRS

  21. “darrylayo” prefers to label anyone who dares criticize the idea of being lazy and making a known entity a minority character instead of creating new characters a plantation-owning slave whipper who obviously HATES black people and wants them where “he doesn’t have to ever risk seeing them.”

    YES, that’s exactly what he took the time to write that long thought out reply to say. And people wonder why there can’t be a meaningful dialogue on race in this country. That and the prevalence of any white man who DARES speak up and criticize anyone other than other white men for any reason an ANGRY WHITE MAN. And we all know how silly and stupid those ANGRY WHITE MEN are… how racist, sexist and homophobic they are for wanting the right to to be able to speak freely without the IMMEDIATE knee-jerk label of ANGRY WHITE MAN being slapped upon them.

    Right, “darrylao”?

  22. p.s. Glenn Beck… yes, racist fool. Please don’t judge us all on the color of our skin and sex based on idiots like him.

    Still, he’s not as big a d-bag as Sean Hannity.

  23. Just a couple more quick thoughts…

    >>>A terribly drawn, poorly written version of a minority Spider-man would sell ten times as many books as a superbly written, perfectly drawn comic of a non-brand name minority hero. Marvel is banking on this<<<>>>You had me going there until this. I know ten times is an exaggeration but come on. I think you issed my point in the prev ious pot about how Marvel has nothing to lose here.<<<>>>>>“Thomas Wayne” prefers his black characters in a separate place where he doesn’t have to risk ever seeing them.<<<<<

    I would like to thank him for proving my point about the nonsense and ignorance being posted by people who can't or don't truly understand what is going on with this Spiderman deal or the reaction of the fans who are for or against it.

    He implies that from my first statement I would prefer black ( and presumabely all minority characters ) to be out of sight and out of mind. Where in the world from reading my original post did he ever come away with that notion? He read what he wanted to read…created what he thought was a negative out of a positive and responded to it without properly thinking his response through because if he had he would have realized his statement has no merit or value based on what I said.

    This is what some of these " so called " racists are doing. They arent thinking their comments through and they come out sounding much worse than originally intented. Now I'm not defending the brain leakers who want to spew ignorant hate speak. I'm talking about the truly misunderstood who make racial statements that come off as racist.

    I talked with a kid at my local comic shop yesterday who told me he was mad and upset because he doesn't want a black Spiderman….he wants Peter Parker.

    Now…is this 11 year old boy ( who was wearing a Kobe Bryant t-shirt at the time ) a racist?

    No…he's just very passionate about his favorite character of all time and given his age he probably knows more about the Ulitimate Spidey than the original. To him..this is…WAS…Spiderman.

    And that Spidey is gone…replaced presumably for a bump in sales. I'm all for diversity and bumps in sales…but Marvel may have lost a lifelong customer in that young boy because of this. Is losing customers in the face of attempting to gain customers smart? Again, I'd love to hear the BEAT's thoughts on this.

    So thanks darrylayo…you helped prove a point I wasn't sure if I highlighted well enough in my previous post.

    TW

  24. My previous post….for some reason…didn’t make it all the way to the posted comment phase…so here it is again…sorry for the mix up….

    Just a couple more quick thoughts…

    >>>A terribly drawn, poorly written version of a minority Spider-man would sell ten times as many books as a superbly written, perfectly drawn comic of a non-brand name minority hero. Marvel is banking on this<<<>>>You had me going there until this. I know ten times is an exaggeration but come on. I think you issed my point in the prev ious pot about how Marvel has nothing to lose here.<<<>>>>>“Thomas Wayne” prefers his black characters in a separate place where he doesn’t have to risk ever seeing them.<<<<<

    I would like to thank him for proving my point about the nonsense and ignorance being posted by people who can't or don't truly understand what is going on with this Spiderman deal or the reaction of the fans who are for or against it.

    He implies that from my first statement I would prefer black ( and presumabely all minority characters ) to be out of sight and out of mind. Where in the world from reading my original post did he ever come away with that notion? He read what he wanted to read…created what he thought was a negative out of a positive and responded to it without properly thinking his response through because if he had he would have realized his statement has no merit or value based on what I said.

    This is what some of these " so called " racists are doing. They arent thinking their comments through and they come out sounding much worse than originally intented. Now I'm not defending the brain leakers who want to spew ignorant hate speak. I'm talking about the truly misunderstood who make racial statements that come off as racist.

    I talked with a kid at my local comic shop yesterday who told me he was mad and upset because he doesn't want a black Spiderman….he wants Peter Parker.

    Now…is this 11 year old boy ( who was wearing a Kobe Bryant t-shirt at the time ) a racist?

    No…he's just very passionate about his favorite character of all time and given his age he probably knows more about the Ulitimate Spidey than the original. To him..this is…WAS…Spiderman.

    And that Spidey is gone…replaced presumably for a bump in sales. I'm all for diversity and bumps in sales…but Marvel may have lost a lifelong customer in that young boy because of this. Is losing customers in the face of attempting to gain customers smart? Again, I'd love to hear the BEAT's thoughts on this.

    So thanks darrylayo…you helped prove a point I wasn't sure if I highlighted well enough in my previous post.

    TW

  25. Okay…it did it again…so I will post the missing piece seperatly…again…sorry for the duplicate posts…

    >>>A terribly drawn, poorly written version of a minority Spider-man would sell ten times as many books as a superbly written, perfectly drawn comic of a non-brand name minority hero. Marvel is banking on this<<<>>>You had me going there until this. I know ten times is an exaggeration but come on. I think you issed my point in the prev ious pot about how Marvel has nothing to lose here.<<<<

    Perhaps ten times is a bit of stretch on my part…but then again…over the long haul..it may not…regardless I agree with you that Marvel has nothing to lose…which is always a good thing when selling comics….however…it doesn't diminish my point which is they are using Spider-man and controversy to sell a Spider-man book…it has very little to do with advancing minority characters.

    If it did Bendis (who has many a cool character in his creator owned stable) would have created Milo Morales as a young man who was born/given/irradiated/infused or whatever with insert-power-here and hoped that it made its way into the hearts and minds of readers everywhere without the Spidey attatchment. Create him as a masked hero that the world loves and assumes his white and play off the dynamic of a young hispanic/black man who loves being this hero but has to hide his real identity…in more ways than one. By hiding he is protecting the masked character but he is also being untrue to his racial heritages…through in some troubles with family and friends and you have a truly interesting story.

    I would read that story…hell…I should write that story…lol. The concept is compelling and in the right hands it could be hugely popular. However… sadly…that popularity (and in turn, sales numbers) are not guaranteed.

    However…Spiderman…in just about any form…is a seller for at least a good six months to a year even if its poorly done. Agreed? At least compared to any creator owned book no matter how well done.I'd love to hear The BEAT's thoughts on this.

    TW

  26. I have no clue why this is an issue. I think it’s a great idea to reboot the Spiderman comics by adding a twist that will no doubt intoduce new villians, and alliances. The hype is just going to boost sales. It’s a WIN! WIN! situation.

    Totally agree with this statement from BINDI!

    ” “Is being mixed race really a political statement, though?”

    Well, yes. To people like Glenn Beck, it certainly is, because first we set them free and then we let them drink from our water fountains and then we let them marry our white women and so on and so forth and then HOLY SHIT ONE OF THEM GOT ELECTED PRESIDENT.

    By making it okay to be something other than a straight white male, we are slowly eroding the straight white man’s monopoly on, well, everything. He doesn’t see himself everywhere he looks now–whether it’s on a movie screen or a comic book page or in a political office, and that is completely effing terrifying to some people.

    To some of us, it seems like there is a little diversity in American entertainment and politics, but to people like Glenn Beck it’s already gone way too far. They see any additional attempt at diversity as a threat to an already weakened position.