{"id":14679,"date":"2017-04-03T19:24:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T02:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/?p=14679"},"modified":"2017-04-03T19:24:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T02:24:57","slug":"marvel-exec-backpedals-after-suggesting-diversity-to-blame-for-comic-book-sales-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/marvel-exec-backpedals-after-suggesting-diversity-to-blame-for-comic-book-sales-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Exec Backpedals After Suggesting Diversity to Blame for Comic Book Sales Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being praised for its promotion of diversity, a\u00a0Marvel<\/a> executive suggested this weekend that the publishing company\u2019s newest superheroes may have caused a slump in comic book sales.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week, while at the Marvel Retailer Summit,\u00a0Marvel\u2019s senior vice president of print, sales,\u00a0and marketing,\u00a0David Gabriel<\/a>, created\u00a0an uproar\u00a0after implying\u00a0that the addition of racially diverse and female characters could have led to a sales decline.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhat we heard was that people didn\u2019t want any more diversity,\u201d Gabriel told iCv2<\/a> after being asked what contributed to changes in customer tastes that led to a drop in sales in\u00a0October-November. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want female characters out there. That\u2019s what we heard, whether we believe that or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He also cited economic reasons and Marvel\u2019s release of \u201ctoo much product\u201d as other possible causes\u00a0for the\u00a0downturn in sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against,\u201d Gabriel added. \u201cThat was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriel later reached out to iCv2 to clarify\u00a0his comments, stressing that new heroes Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, The Mighty Thor, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, and Moon Girl are indeed popular and\u00a0\u201care not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscussed candidly by some of the retailers at the summit, we heard that some were not happy with the false abandonment of the core Marvel heroes and, contrary to what some said about characters \u2018not working,\u2019 the sticking factor and popularity for a majority of these new titles and characters like Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, The Mighty Thor, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, and Moon Girl, continue to prove that our fans and retailers ARE excited about these new heroes,\u201d he said in a statement to iCv2. \u201cAnd let me be clear, our new heroes are not going anywhere! We are proud and excited to keep introducing unique characters that reflect new voices and new experiences into the Marvel Universe and pair them with our iconic heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have also been hearing from stores that welcome and champion our new characters and titles and want more!\u201d he continued. \u201cThey\u2019ve invigorated their own customer base and helped them grow their stores because of it. So we\u2019re getting both sides of the story and the only upcoming change we\u2019re making is to ensure we don\u2019t lose focus of our core heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marvel has been making an attempt to bring more people of color and women into starring roles in their books in the past few years. Biracial teen Miles Morales became Spider-Man in 2011, Sam Wilson (formerly known as the Falcon) picked up the mantle of Captain America, Jane Foster became the latest Thor, Riri Williams \u2014 a 15-year-old black woman \u2014 suited up as the newest Iron Man<\/a> (she goes by Ironheart), Kamala Khan \u2014 a Pakistani-American from Jersey City \u2014 is\u00a0Ms. Marvel, and more have stepped into the spotlight of their own series.<\/p>\n

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Brie Larson is set to play Captain Marvel<\/a> in a standalone film\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n

Source: Variety<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After being praised for its promotion of diversity, a\u00a0Marvel executive suggested this weekend that the publishing company\u2019s newest superheroes may have caused a slump in comic book sales. Last week, while at the Marvel Retailer Summit,\u00a0Marvel\u2019s senior vice president of print, sales,\u00a0and marketing,\u00a0David Gabriel, created\u00a0an uproar\u00a0after implying\u00a0that the addition of racially diverse and female characters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1opIU-3OL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5355,"url":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/marvel-now-cable-and-x-force-announced-comicbook-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":14679,"position":0},"title":"Marvel NOW!: Cable and X-Force Announced | ComicBook.com","author":"Forbidden Panel","date":"September 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For fans who have been wondering where Colossus might end up following the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, and who had briefly entertained the notion that he might be the series\u2019s big fatality since we haven\u2019t seen him in any of the Marvel NOW! solicitations, it\u2019s time to finally exhale.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/comicbook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/CableAndXForce_01_Cover-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5301,"url":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/the-walking-dead-drops-out-of-the-top-10-in-august-sales-chart-comicbook-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":14679,"position":1},"title":"The Walking Dead Drops Out of the Top 10 in August Sales Chart | ComicBook.com","author":"Forbidden Panel","date":"September 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In July, The Walking Dead #100 sold more than 385,000 copies, making it the top-selling single-issue comic book of the last fifteen or so years. 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