I feel like posting about my recent attitude about Marvel comics, so I’m gonna do that.
I’m first and foremost a Polaris fan. My primary interest comes from things that include her, and things that could be relevant to her. It’s possible that something might catch my fancy in the process, but it’s not guaranteed.
I read Cullen Bunn’s Magneto solo because 1) there was a decent chance of Lorna appearing in it, and 2) even if she didn’t, the book was all about her father. Whether Lorna got to appear on the book or not, I was still getting insight into a character closely tied to her that would be very beneficial in understanding Lorna’s dynamic with him.
I’m currently not reading Cullen Bunn’s Uncanny X-Men because 1) the book’s focus is on a whole team with only one member closely linked to Lorna, and 2) there’s no guarantee Lorna’s going to show up on it. Bunn’s said it’s very possible, and even given a point at which it might, but I’ve learned that Marvel can change plans or disallow things at the drop of a hat.
I’m currently not reading the Scarlet Witch solo because it’s not relevant to Lorna. When Marvel ran their forced retcon to make Wanda and Pietro no longer Magneto’s kids, they made anything that happens to Wanda irrelevant until the retcon is undone. Nothing that happens in the Scarlet Witch solo is going to feed into a future interaction between Lorna and Wanda. We may never see them interact again for another decade or two, and by then, what happened in the solo will be long forgotten. There’s no point in my reading anything Wanda does.
Maybe I’d feel differently if Marvel had let the Magnus sisters do more together. Maybe if we had a half a decade of Lorna and Wanda hanging out with each other, fighting against each other, etc, then I’d have built up such a powerful interest in Wanda for her own sake that I’d read the solo anyway. But Marvel didn’t do that. So I have no incentive.
Everything else is straightforward. I’m not reading any of the other X-Men books because none of them interest me. I’m not getting into anything that isn’t X-Men because of the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro.
Am I interested in some things? Sure. I’m interested in Ms. Marvel, and I’m interested in the Jessica Jones series on Netflix. My interest in the MCU died entirely after I skipped GotG and AoU due to Axis’ forced retcon.
But here’s the thing: when companies do awful, stupid things for terrible reasons, and they’re as bad as the Axis forced retcon, my disgust overrides all else. It’s not really a “boycott” per se because “boycott” implies I’m making a choice. I’m not resisting temptation and making myself suffer until I get what I want; I’m avoiding putting myself in a situation where I feel disgusted with myself.
If the forced retcon had a real, legitimate narrative reason for existing, and Marvel fully intended to undo it within 5 years or so, then maybe I’d feel different. I’m all for trying new things, and I can understand temporarily doing something that can upset fans for a larger payoff down the road. But I know that’s not why Marvel did this. Marvel ran with the forced retcon because they have it out for the X-Men franchise due to Fox owning the film rights, and Wanda and Pietro are weapons in that battle, not characters with value that supersedes such behavior.
In sum. I look forward to when Lorna appears next. I hope Marvel gives me a reason to bother with reading the Scarlet Witch solo some day. I hope they make reading Ms. Marvel or watching Jessica Jones into things I can actually do. I’m not holding my breath, though. I’ve read and heard about how Marvel dealt with these things in the past, I don’t anticipate things changing until decades from now.
I hope they prove me wrong, like they did when I thought they would kill off or depower Lorna during Secret Wars.
salarta 