Podcast - Episode 47: Comics in the Age of Social Media

Hi guys!

Whoosh! What a week! I'm releasing this episode a day early!

I don't even have that much to write this week because I've pretty much said it all in this blog post I wrote last week:

A Defence of Nick Spencer From Someone Who Loves Captain America and Hates Hate

And if I didn't say it there, I certainly said it in the comments section of that post, or on Twitter, or in this episode of the podcast. Dave and I just talk for 90 minutes straight about all of this (with some actual thoughts on the actual content of the comics at the end).

But I did just want to clearly state a few things here in list format that I believe (not gonna speak for Dave, but he probably agrees):

  1. Fan entitlement and outrage is a real problem that does, and has always, existed as long as there have been things to be fans of;
  2. This does not mean that fictional characters aren't important, or that people cannot have strong feelings about them and what they do in fictional stories;
  3. The non-white, non-straight, and non-male population is still VERY underrepresented in pop culture and that does need to be addressed by the creators of entertainment, and fans have every right to get loud about that;
  4. BUT this does not mean that writers/directors/publishers/studios are not allowed to tell the stories they want to tell with the characters they own;
  5. Difficult subject matter is absolutely allowed to exist in fiction and SHOULD exist;
  6. BUT it's ok for someone to be offended or uncomfortable about it, or to choose not to consume that particular story/show/movie. It's ok for that person to explain why they feel that way without being dismissed. Everyone has valid points in any argument;
  7. BUT those fans who are upset about something that is happening in a fictional story can't dismiss that a lot of other fans are not bothered by it, and may even love it, and that this doesn't mean those fans who like it are bad people;
  8. Loudly judging a long-format, serialized story based on the first chapter doesn't make a lot of sense;
  9. Threats are always, always bad. So are false accusations and willful ignorance. Less yelling and more listening/discussion is a good idea;
  10. Nick Spencer is a good writer and has earned the right to tell this story.

Enjoy the episode! I think it's a good one. Dave and I had a really great discussion that covered a lot of issues. And if you don't know what happened last week, I open with a timeline to bring people up to speed.

As always, I welcome questions on this blog, or you can Tweet at us or hit us up on Facebook!