Why arn't comics more controversial?

[Zhukov]

Because nobody much cares about comics beyond the big well known superhero ones.

This is probably easy to forget if you're someone who cares about comics surrounded by people who care about comics.

Have superman rape somebody or something and you'd probably get a decent storm in a teacup.

 

[viranimus]

TL;DR-ish.
Consumers are afraid of parting with their money for something that could result in buyers remorse and dissatisfaction, so they economically reward what is most likely going to get them what they feel to be proper return on their investment.

Content creators cannot live on the expectation that their talent and vision will be financially rewarded, so they have to balance catering to the needs of fearful consumers while remaining true to their integrity and ambitions.

___________________

Elaboration.

Most mainstream media in general is timid and tame. It basically MUST be. People like what they know, what is safe, what they have already had before, just repackaged to them. People fear change and the unknown, so it makes them far less likely to take risks on what they spend their money on.

It is a business, you have to make sure your product sells or else you are wasting your time (and likely money)making it. Things like depth, introspection, complexity are all detrimental to economic health because If you expect too much of your audience you will end up reducing your audience. Many will be unwilling or unable to meet your expectation. Those who do will be loyal but likely so niche that they are not enough to sustain the longevity of the product.

From the creative end If you force someone to think they might not get it. If you challenge their notions, they may disagree and in turn end up alienating them. It is a battle trying to find balance of garnering the largest possible audience, while avoiding things that would result in their discontinued interest. If it is content of any wide scale notoriety that groups collaborate toward the contents production and are dedicating the time and resources that make its creation a vocation, you have to think of the needs of those content creators who rely on the product as income by capitalizing on their talents. They use the time to create the content, it has to be economically productive or else they would have to utilize that same time and energy toward something that would "put food on the table".

Edit: Also with a specific media such as Comics, much like other printed media, we live in a world where such media consumption has dwindled to the point that it is effectively making even the most lucrative properties barely sustainable. Most simply lack the freedom to take big risks because they know they are hanging on by such thin threads that they can ill afford to alienate what subscription bases they still have.

 

[jackpipsam]

It's not out front in the mainstream.

It's more niche.

Gaming is everywhere, the ads are on TV and billboards, they're in all major chains for sale also you can find footage easy enough for use in media stories.

Comics are harder to do that with.

 

[CloudAtlas]

So why dear Escapists? Why don't self-appointed social crusaders set their pitch-forks on comics?

Why should anyone bother with stuff that no one reads? Comics, in particular adult comics, are just rather niche. And, by the way, not really treated differently than niche movies, literature or games.

 

[TekMoney]

The Boys was a niche comic published by one of the smaller publishing companies. It's the same way really fucked up movies can come out without raising a stink if they're published by smaller studios or not given major promotion. If the Boys had been in Marvel continuity there probably would have been some backlash. Not major backlash, but something.

 

[Raikas]

As people have already said, comics are a niche medium these days. If there was more of an audience (or even less of a specialized audience) it might be headline-worthy, but for the most part there's just not a lot of general awareness of the product.

The Boys was a niche comic published by one of the smaller publishing companies. It's the same way really fucked up movies can come out without raising a stink if they're published by smaller studios or not given major promotion. If the Boys had been in Marvel continuity there probably would have been some backlash. Not major backlash, but something.

Maybe, but there has been some crazy stuff in books put out by DC and Marvel that hasn't made headlines either, so I suspect that as long as it's not in the core books that make it into regular shops, it still wouldn't make the news.

 

[NihilSinLulz]

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.

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.

The film industry had to go through the Haye's Code and McCarthyism, the combined effect being far more devastating than the Comic Code ever was. Yet, social crusaders still don't have a problem echoing their predecessors whenever a new Tarantino film comes out.

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.

I only used my story with The Boys to introduce the topic. Truth be told, the two big publishers have been pretty racey for decades. Out of the big three: Video games, Comics, and big the big Hollywood industry, comics win by a landslide in terms of subversiveness.

Hell, video games have been politically inert for seemingly the entire time the medium has existed. I mean when was the last time you saw a game (other than a few smaller titles over the years) make any sort of explicit political statement? Despite all this, video games have been attacked since the NES days, before it became the juggernaut it is today.

Going back to my point about comics generally just being a more creative medium, pretty much all the big stories in comics (including the big two) are subversive in some fashion.
For example:
Batman fighting against Reagan (The Dark Knight Returns)
Exploring ethics and political relativism through Superman (Superman Red Son)
Rape and the ethics of brainwashing (Justice League: Identity Crisis)
A harsh look at the injustices and prejudices committed against the 'Other' (Xmen, various)

And just some messed up stuff in Marvel & DC
What's rape? (Superior Spiderman)
Horrific mutilation, and domestic abuse (Joker: Death of the Family)
Many many people and animals being eaten alive in graphic detail (Marvel Zombies)
Probable blasphemy (Kingdom Come)

In the end, comics get away with a lot. For a final example: where the creators of A Serbian Film and RapeLay get into international trouble, Garth Innis' Crossed gets sequels and TV adaptations.

 

[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.

The film industry had to go through the Haye's Code and McCarthyism, the combined effect being far more devastating than the Comic Code ever was. Yet, social crusaders still don't have a problem echoing their predecessors whenever a new Tarantino film comes out.

And yet the social crusaders usually don't end up doing anything more than giving the movies they decry free publicity, for all that people pay them any heed and new movies and/or movie theaters feel obliged to pander to them.

 

[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.

And just some messed up stuff in Marvel & DC
What's rape? (Superior Spiderman)
Horrific mutilation, and domestic abuse (Joker: Death of the Family)
Many many people and animals being eaten alive in graphic detail (Marvel Zombies)
Probable blasphemy (Kingdom Come)

In the end, comics get away with a lot. For a final example: where the creators of A Serbian Film and RapeLay get into international trouble, Garth Innis' Crossed gets sequels and TV adaptations.

Hmm. You make a good point. Ok. I have another theory.

First, I need to clarify something:

The comic community doesn't 'get away' with anything. These subjects are often taken to task by the people who like to read comics. I'm sure that the handling of all of these subjects were brought under scrutiny, discussed, and critiqued.

Spoiler: Example

Miles Morales replaced Peter Parker as Spider-Man. This would cause some discussion in the community because it was seen as a pretty significant change. People talked about it, like you do. I assume a few discussions became flame-wars because Miles Morales was black. That was the hook.

This caused more people to write, comment and twit about Miles Morale, so more people hear about. It becomes a cycle.

It has to start as a small controversy and grow from there.


Now for why these other comic story-lines don't become controversial:

There just aren't enough fans who have a problem with how rape, torture, and other risky subjects are handled by comics. The 'If you don't like it, don't read it' mantra has been embraced by the community, so most people who still choose to read the comic aren't going to bristle easily. People think the writers and artists are doing a good enough job, nothing to get worked up over. Controversy doesn't happen if no one gets worked up at the ground level.

I'm probably way off-base. I just enjoy trying to guess how these things work.

 

[NihilSinLulz]

And yet the social crusaders usually don't end up doing anything more than giving the movies they decry free publicity, for all that people pay them any heed and new movies and/or movie theaters feel obliged to pander to them.

We have strong political pull in Hollywood to thank for that. After the fall of McCarthyism and the Hayes Code, Hollywood got organized (and corporatized) so now social crusaders can only bemoan it, but can't actually tackle it without risking becoming politically toxic (its also the same reason why despite Republicans going on about the evils of abortion, none will dare challenge Roe v. Wade directly).

The comic industry did the opposite. As the comic code was self-imposed, it say its own governing entities as the enemies. They then went full on competition mode and started buying/suing each other into oblivion. It explains why the comic industry was squishy enough for former giant Marvel to be bought out by Disney, and why DC is so bloody desperate for relevancy. The indie scene isn't much better though they are (very slowly) being strengthened after the lessons during the failure of Image.

Hmm. You make a good point. Ok. I have another theory.

First, I need to clarify something:

The comic community doesn't 'get away' with anything. These subjects are often taken to task by the people who like to read comics. I'm sure that the handling of all of these subjects were brought under scrutiny, discussed, and critiqued.

Spoiler: Example

Miles Morales replaced Peter Parker as Spider-Man. This would cause some discussion in the community because it was seen as a pretty significant change. People talked about it, like you do. I assume a few discussions became flame-wars because Miles Morales was black. That was the hook.

This caused more people to write, comment and twit about Miles Morale, so more people hear about. It becomes a cycle.

It has to start as a small controversy and grow from there.


Now for why these other comic story-lines don't become controversial:

There just aren't enough fans who have a problem with how rape, torture, and other risky subjects are handled by comics. The 'If you don't like it, don't read it' mantra has been embraced by the community, so most people who still choose to read the comic aren't going to bristle easily. People think the writers and artists are doing a good enough job, nothing to get worked up over. Controversy doesn't happen if no one gets worked up at the ground level.

I'm probably way off-base. I just enjoy trying to guess how these things work.

The people who would benefit from general controversy wouldn't necessarily care about good writing, plot, or any sort of actual context. If anything, they'd be out of their way to take something out of context as they could generate more faux-rage from the effort leading to more views/votes/ or relevancy.

The reason why I say comics get away with more is because they can do things story/plot/character/ and concept-wise that no other media would dream of exactly because the other media mediums are terrified of being taken out of context.

Even the damage control by the big two related to controversies like the Superman renouncing his citizenship, has to do with calming the fans rather than dispersing outside faux-rage.

So then, its strange that those with an agenda to distract via moral panic arn't targeting comics. Decades of freedom has allowed them to push the creative envelope further than its cousins, the industry as a whole is extremely weak disorganized and squishy, and in all likeliness--even if attacked its not like anyone within the industry would even know to put out the fires.