Why arn't comics more controversial?

[NihilSinLulz]

So I was reading the series The Boys yesterday when I hit the part when

Spoiler

the bad corporate guy drops a bunch of sexually abused child superheros into the ocean and they drown. This is after all their friends have been brutally killed by the same bad guy and its all done in a comedic way.

and it got me thinking, "comics are pretty fucked up". That thought then led to the next one "why arn't people in the media jumping and frothing over comics"?

To be clear, I don't want comics to be censored. I actually like how they are. It just seems strange to me that with the industry growing thanks to movies like the Dark Knight and The Avenger, more talking heads, politicians, and pseudo-intellectuals haven't started and then jumped on a 'comics are the root of evil' bandwagon.

We as gamers, know all about certain self-professed news organizations and politicians going on and on about how our hobby is teaching kids sexual positions (Mass Effect), making people into killers (multiple), and other such nonsense. We are an easy target so it makes sense the gaming community would be hit for easy political points.

Movies, despite being a more respected artistic medium by the masses, is also lampooned. Hell, big movies like Avatar was ravaged by right-wing stations. Even the Muppets in their comeback movies was jumped on by Fox News.

So why are comics so invisible? I mean its not like the community could fight back being as small and disorganized at it is so it'd make a convenient political target.

Its not like they are politically neutral. Most of the big indie titles are extremely anti-right with many of them portraying Republicans as fascists, racists, inbred, rapists, or literally mentally handicapped. Even Batman as gone this route what with him first fighting against the tyranny of right-wing sacred cow, Ronald Reagan, and more recently against corporate/political elites known in-universe as The Court of Owls.

So why dear Escapists? Why don't self-appointed social crusaders set their pitch-forks on comics? I really want to know.

Even the creators would make easy targets what with they being anarchists, occultists, or just plain weird for the most part.

 

[Queen Michael]

It already happened in the sixties. They've gone on to other things to complain about, like video games. Let's be honest -- most kids don't read comics. They're not as ubiquitous as video games, and more importantly, easier to understand as a concept to people who didn't grow up with them.

 

[JoJo]

Probably because comics are relatively niche compared to the other mediums you mentioned, especially adult comics. Video games and movies are massive industries pulling in countless billions a year, while comics are only read by a small number of children and adults, and let's be honest here, the controversial content is only in the niche adult-targeted comics. It's just too small to figure on the radar compared to the usual boogeyman social crusaders like to fight against, like 'the homosexual agenda!' or 'the violent video games for kids!'.

 

[white_wolf]

Because games out due comics in terms of userbase also you'd have to scan in all the comics you take issue with so you can show it in your report which requires work which we know with the main stream media is asking too much. The way they also dream up stories is give them a day and get it into editing by 4pm so it can be on air by 6pm games make it very easy just youtube it till you find something you want to rave about. There is also the added factor of no money is in it for the special interest groups those groups that use to attack comics have moved on to larger more bloated fish, no self respecting lobbyist would hit up a congressman and say comics need more laws against them they'd be laughed out stating how its not the 60's now say video games, music, or movies need laws to protect the children and you've got an ear.

 

[Asita]

Because you can only beat a dead horse so many times before people start making allegations about your riding crop fetishes. Ever hear of Comics Code? There's your 'why'. We've been there, taken it to its logical extreme and it has kinda fallen out of style.

 

[Souplex]

Because they're not as new as Video Games, and they're not as popular as movies.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

A few years ago, when DC comic's New 52 was a lot more new, the local news did a story about comics being too mature for kids to be reading. The example was from either the first couple of issues of Catwoman, Batman or, both and focused on the scenes wherein Bats and Selina Kyle were boning. That was the last time I recall comics being in the news. Anyway, I think the biggest reason comics aren't in the news but video games are is because comic book sales aren't nearly as huge as video game sales. I checked a few top-10 lists and the number I came out with was 3,124,314...this is the number I got by adding together all 10 best selling comics from more than one list of the top 10 best selling comics of all time. Compare that to games like Grand Theft Auto 5...Modern Warfare 2...Hell Final Fantasy VII has sold 10 million copies back in May 2010!

The point I'm trying to get across is, it's always fun for the news to talk about the evils of an up-and-coming thing that kids might get a hold of but video games are a far larger target than comics...unless of course Batman decides to dabble in pedophilia or, Spider-Man gets really hardcore into Necrophelia...

I honestly think the most controversial thing comics can do right now is going back to a Silver Age mentality...imagine if the next issue of Detective Comics has Batman dressing up in a rainbow suit to stop a gangster whose gimmick revolves around the Rainbow Shrimp.

 

[EyeReaper]

I'd say that because, besides the big name Marvel/DC comics, no one really cares.
I mean, My favorite comic series is called Empowered. In that there is a villain called "Willy Pete" Who is kinda like an evil human torch. Wanna know what he does?

Spoiler: What he does

He rapes people. But not in a normal way, no. Since his entire body is made out of White Phosphorus he would melt lower regions too fast. so he aims for their eye sockets. He's also a cannibal. sometimes he'll practice both at once if you're real lucky. Also, he doesn't need to eat, he does it only to hear the screams of people getting devoured by intense heat

He's still probably the scariest villain I've ever seen ever. Hell, with how up in arms people got over say, the Tomb Raider scandal, think of what would happen if he was in some game. Probably nightmares. and screaming.
Seriously though, for a comedy comic that spawned from bondage fetish work, He's really out of place.

 

[Coakle]

What about the Gay Green Lantern, the Archie Gay marriage, or when Superman renounced his American citizenship? Those events created controversy. Why? Because the topics were controversial and the characters were well known.

The issue(?) is that "The Boys" have no place in the public's collective conscience. That's alright.

It's the same reason why Anime and Deviant Art don't get a spotlight for the controversial things they do. No one cares.

 

[GiantRaven]

Because, comparatively, nobody reads them. I'm not certain, but I doubt The Boys was ever selling in excess of 20,000 copies a month in it's run.

In comics though, The Boys was actually pretty controversial. I remember it was dropped by it's original publisher before moving to Dynamite due to it's content.

 

[KazeAizen]

snip

Most other people already answered this question but yeah. A large part of the reason no one crusades against comics like video games is because they did this dance already back in the 60s. There was a code and everything. However that code just slowly kind of eroded away and by the 80s no one really cared anymore. A kind of been there done that type thing and with the emergence of movies and video games and massive kid entertainment comics drifted away from the mainstream.

 

[immortalfrieza]

It's probably because most everybody who would whine about the subject matter in comics grew up reading them. The same thing will happen with Video Games in a few decades.

 

[Yopaz]

The thing is that people need to hear about those things for them to be made into a media circus.

I had never heard about the comic you mentioned and never would have heard about that plot detail if it weren't for this thread.

Call of Duty Ghosts is a game I don't care about, but it's been advertised enough to make me know that it's a game where you shoot people (also I know what Call of Duty is because it's one of the biggest names in gaming right now and anyone who plays games outside of Facebook and phones should know as much) and if I were to look it up I would likely find an advertisement that shows this. A commercial with some explosions, some people getting shot and how realistic those leaves look on this generation's consoles.

Games and movies advertise the things that make media jump on them sand claim it's to blame for rape, violence and people digging holes in order to find fossils and money (Animal Crossing will do that to you) while comics may be just as bad and even worse than any of those without the widespread recognition. They are free to be racist, misogynistic, hateful, messed up, violent and sexual because only the people who want to read it really knows more than a few passing things about it.

Also it's in the past, we've moved on.Just like we moved on from rock music and movies.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

A lot of people have already said that comics had their turn, so to speak, and it's true. Comics are also a dying art form in a sense. They aren't as popular as they were back in the day, and thus they aren't read as much and they don't spread around as much. Because of this, they rarely pop up on the media's radar, despite that fact that some of them are pretty...twisted. I mean, have you seen some of the manga that is for sale in the U.S.? People should be up in arms over some of these things based on how they react to video games, but no.

 

[faefrost]

The most basic reason? A book like the Boys has a readership of around 40,000. Its not exactly undermining society.

 

[Ieyke]

You've missed that nonsense by like...50 years.
Every new form of media gets hit with that bullshit, and then it dies down and people move on. Currently it's video games' turn.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Aren't comicbooks already controversial? Well ok it's less compared to what it was in the 80's or 90's?
I mean there was comic related controversial like the whole gay marriage in X-men, Superman renounce his US citizen to be more international and there was even potray that protest in comicbook form which the result they had removed that scene altogether.

Also on a side note, isn't the comic "The Boys" count as a mature comicbook therefore only adults would read it and not kids.

 

[VanQ]

A lot of people have already said that comics had their turn, so to speak, and it's true. Comics are also a dying art form in a sense. They aren't as popular as they were back in the day, and thus they aren't read as much and they don't spread around as much. Because of this, they rarely pop up on the media's radar, despite that fact that some of them are pretty...twisted. I mean, have you seen some of the manga that is for sale in the U.S.? People should be up in arms over some of these things based on how they react to video games, but no.

Actually, the reason no one reacts to manga in that way is because they still give it the 'oh, them crazy Japs' reaction.

Also, comic books once illicited the kind of knee jerk reactions from professional victim cases like games do. However, after the medium was set back several decades by some stupid code it became less and less profitable as a business. Meaning less money for professional victims to make off of it.

Video games are in their prime right now. It is the largest entertainment industry on the planet short of prostitution. Is it any surprise that people are trying to scam money via sensationalism and ad revenue from the same kind of social justice crowd that needs to feel like they're fighting all the isms?

 

[suitepee7]

well, they were. i know i'm echoing other people here, but they were controversial when they were a bigger thing, however now they are relatively niche and so the blame gets shifted to something more common.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Probably due to a combination of factors...

The ones with controversy are mostly read by adults; The right type of people read them (as in ones with more open minds, and more accommodating/less likely to scream 'save the children from this filth' every 3 pages. Same thing with Anime... the community that watch it are less inclined to complain about that kind of stuff); and the controversal topics are less realistic in still frames with speech bubbles. The content of controversal books is also largely ignored for the same reasons.