I’m stupid for a pretty consistent reason: I’m stupid enough to call out problems with the way Polaris is being written/depicted before anyone else starts noticing them and complains.
This makes me stupid because I get shit for it from some people for daring to be among the first few to say anything. Because I’m stupid enough to be loud and in-your-face enough that Marvel or a writer working for Marvel could avoid making huge mistakes if they catch it in time.
I was one of the first people to call out Peter David fucking up in All-New X-Factor #2-6, and by the time he actually listened, it was too late. The book was doomed.
I was among the first people willing to call out Marvel for screwing over the X-Men franchise in favor of the Inhumans (and the Avengers before that). The recent Inhumans show bombed hard because Marvel kept plugging away with that attitude.
In both cases, I got shit for it at different points. I especially got it during ANXF, when hardcore Peter David fans were insistent that Peter David could do no wrong.
My complaints don’t have the magic power to sway tens of thousands of potential readers to suddenly drop a comic book, nor do they have the power to make a TV show bomb with critics. All they manage to do is serve as an early warning system for the shit something is about to fall into if the creative elements behind it don’t start doing much, much better.
If I were smarter, I’d wait until enough people are suitably pissed off about things like how X-Men Blue treats certain characters that I blend in. It’s not like anyone at Marvel cares about quality enough to do something at the point in time where I complain. Instead, I choose to be one of the first to say something, and I take heat for daring to break the quiet grab ass mold.
I should just let it all go down in flames. Polaris will survive it, given that she’s going to be written correctly on Gifted. It only took an entirely different company than Marvel to get it right.
❤
This is my life!
Much love and support from me (even if we potentially don’t agree on things) – and for what it’s worth I’ve had similar issues with Peter David and his fanboys too…
Yeah, hardcore fanboys and fangirls of a specific writer can be extremely problematic. Unlike character-specific fanboys/fangirls, writer-specific ones act like literally every single thing by the writer is creative gold that nobody should ever question. It goes a long way toward dooming the writer’s projects if those projects aren’t getting heavy public scrutiny, and I’m convinced insulation from criticism via fanboys/fangirls played a big role in dooming All-New X-Factor. I think it kept Peter David from listening and changing things until it was too late to save the book.
I’m disagree with you about two things;
I really enjoyed All-New X-Factor #2-6, well maybe it’s b/c I really like the lighthearted 2nd-gen X-Factor and Gambit since I was 90s X-Men kid, and my taste for Western comics is a bit weird and different from mainstream superhero comic readers, so I didn’t see huge “dooming” problems with ANXF #1-17 after all.(Well, I got the feeling that“the reasons why I love ANXF” were also “why this title didn’t sell well”…)
And
character-specific fanboys/fangirlsalso
can be extremely problematic and toxic as well as
writer-specific ones. I know this b/c I’m a both kinds of fangirl(and I often was harassed by
character-specificones… and they are also that ones who harassed writers and artists)
Sorry for interrupting and mumbling, it’s just my thought and I respect your opinions as always.
Disagreeing is fine, better to say your thoughts than not.
There were a lot of problems with ANXF that only became clear if looking at it with a strong enough critical eye. A majority of people who ended up quitting the book wouldn’t have said or even necessarily realized the problems they had with it, they would’ve just dropped the book and moved on to other things.
ANXF #2-6 had problems specific to Lorna’s treatment. It didn’t look too bad in ANXF #2 and #3, but it really ramped up in #4, and part of the reason #4 was so bad came from its setup in #3. Peter David started to do better starting with #7, but that was too late for the book. I still think that Dakei arc would’ve been better and kept the book going a little while longer if it was the first story arc and the team was already together in issue #1.
Character-specific fanboys/fangirls can definitely be toxic too, as you said. The positive thing about character-specific fanboys/fangirls, though, is that even if they’ll defend anything with their character no matter how bad, they tend to still spot when a writer does things wrong with other characters. That at least gives the writer some meaningful feedback to fix problem areas. Writer-specific ones rarely give any meaningful feedback. They blind the writer to problem areas, and without those problems fixed, the work can suffer for it.
salarta 