An Open Letter to DC Comics

A personal opinion and plea:

First of all, let me say that I love collecting comic books–especially your Batman series–and I love a lot of other nerdy and geeky things. I have a lot of it in my playroom (my “happy place.”)

Because I have a love for these types of things, I want them to be readily available so that I can enjoy them, but if you don’t learn a lesson from Marvel Comics (owned by Disney), I fear you will end up down the same path of failure.

For the last 2 or 3 years, Marvel Comics has experienced a significant drop in sales of their comic books. Do a web search for “marvel comics sales down” and look at what pops up.

According to ICv2, a Marvel-hosted meeting between Marvel Comics, retailers and distributors got ugly and had to be shut down, during last October’s NY Comic Con. The reason? From what I have seen posted on marketwatch.com, breitbart.com, comicvine.gamespot.com, bleedingcool.com, hollywoodreporter.com, etc., and from talking with other comic book fans, it seems I’m not the only one feeling that Marvel Comics has been shooting themselves–and their business partners–in the ‘foot’ by engaging in the practice of embedding biased, political messages in their stories, along with unnecessary–and unwanted–character changes, simply for diversity and political correctness.

We get bombarded by political crap from every direction, every day. We get it from cop shows, nightly news, sitcoms, radio, magazines, comedians, billboards, movies, street signs, books, newspapers…you name it. Most of the comic books fans I have spoken with don’t want politics, indoctrination and preaching in their comic books.

Comics are escapism. Leave it that way!

Disney also experienced backlash with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Box office receipts were down by a few percentage points, and Chinese theaters even pulled the movie after only two weeks, because of poor ticket sales.

Personally, this is the first time I did not go to see a Star Wars movie multiple times–and I am saddened, and a little angered, by that.

In the Star Wars movie, there were quite a few PETA-style embedded messages, along with what seemed to be “evil rich people get what they deserve” kind of nonsense. The setting even felt like they shoehorned it into the movie, with obvious intent.

Marvel Comics is now about to do a reboot on their comics, called “Fresh Start,” from what I’ve been told. Apparently, they plan to try to fix things and bring “lapsed readers” back to their books. (I’ll believe it when I see it!)

I used to spend a LOT of money on comics, each week. For the last couple of years, I have bought just a few books, here and there. I dropped every single one of my subscriptions for Marvel Comics–and most of my DC Comics subs, too. Now, I mainly collect the Batman title, and one or two other books that might catch my eye once in a while–and I know of others who have done the same. That’s a big loss, for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

Now, I’m rethinking my Batman subscription–and that’s painful!

In the last couple of DC Animated movies I watched, there was a lot of “climate change” (discredited junk-science) and “green” nonsense embedded in the stories. Now, with the new Poison Ivy story arc in the Batman book, it’s a new story about “the green” and forced world peace. (What is this, a Batman comic or a Miss USA Pageant?)

DC Comics, please…STOP! Just stop.

It’s gotten to the point where if I see Poison Ivy or Swamp Thing in a new story, I want to leave the book on the shelf, because it’s a pretty good bet that you guys are going to use them for another political message–and I refuse to pay my hard-earned money for that! You can keep the preaching, indoctrination and political nonsense to yourselves.

When comics cease to be fun and entertaining, they stop ending up in my collection. I have standards.

Please, PLEASE change course, before you end up like Marvel Comics! I want nothing more than for you all to be successful, because I want to continue to read amazing stories about my favorite characters.

The Bat/Cat engagement stuff was very entertaining–until Ivy showed up, that is.

The Justice League’s “Darkseid War” from 2 or 3 years ago (The New 52) was one of the best story arcs I had read in a long time. The Fabok art was absolutely AMAZING! Give us more of that stuff.

Here’s a novel idea: Create some new characters! That way, the old, beloved characters can remain as they have been–and their longtime fans can remain happy–while adding something new to the mix, for those who would appreciate something different. Just, please, leave the embedded messages out of the picture. (Thank you!)

So, here’s to the future of great comics…EXCELSIOR!

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Adulthood and the Law

I have a serious problem with the so-called US Justice System’s handling of adults and juveniles.

According to libraryindex.com, “By the year 2000 all 50 states and the District of Columbia had one or more laws permitting the transfer of youths to criminal courts to be tried as adults. Many states have also expanded these laws in order to make it easier to prosecute juveniles as adults. For example, a 1995 Missouri law removed the minimum age limit, which had been 14, for trying children as adults in cases involving drug dealing, murder, rape, robbery, and first-degree assault. The law also permits children 12 years old to be prosecuted as adults for other crimes. A Texas law allows children as young as 10 to be sentenced to up to 40 years’ incarceration.”

A 12-year-old child can be tried as an adult, and sentenced to years of imprisonment for committing certain crimes, but NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON in the “Land of the Free” United States under 21 years of age is enough of an adult to consume an alcoholic beverage, according to government. (The age limit of 21 is the highest of any country in the world, by the way, and the US has the highest prison population of any country on earth.)

A person can join the Army, and put his life on the line in war, at 17–and operate heavy artillery, assault weapons and vehicles–but is prohibited from going into a bar and having a cold beer at the end of the day.

The double standard is completely illogical and unacceptable. It is used by prosecutors to increase their number of “successfully prosecuted cases,” so they are perceived to be “tough on crime,” and used to increase the overall power of the State.

I don’t care for alcoholic beverages, or court systems, but to make a small improvement in all of this I propose a new, logical standard for determining whether or not someone is an “adult”: If the person in question is not adult enough to enjoy a few shots from a bottle of whiskey, they cannot be tried as an adult in court.

This ridiculous court practice has got to end.