zenith16
Avenger
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welp it seems the comic book article makers are finally asking after all these years when joe Q already told this to places like newsarma
what changed is a stupid question buttheir late to the party .
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Comic Book Resources?Verified account
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[FONT="]Why Are Comic Publishers So Afraid of Married Superheroes?
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[FONT="]source: https://www.cbr.com/why-comic-publi...ibution&utm_source=CBR-TW&utm_campaign=CBR-TW[/FONT]
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what changed is a stupid question buttheir late to the party .
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Comic Book Resources?Verified account @CBR
16h16 hours agoMore[/FONT]
[FONT="]Why Are Comic Publishers So Afraid of Married Superheroes?
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[FONT="]15 hours ago by Mike Fugere in CBR Exclusives
"Why Are Comic Publishers So Afraid of Married Superheroes?" alt="Why Are Comic Publishers So Afraid of Married Superheroes?"
WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Batman #50 and X-Men: Gold #30, both available now.
Weddings and funerals are events that usually draw massive crowds. Folks who have not seen the dearly beloved (or the dearly departed) in years come out of the woodwork, dress in fine attire, and pay their respects. Oddly enough they are both moments in life that carry the weight of some sense of finality (one of them more so, of course) and bring people together.
These events are no different in comic books. If an issue has a prefix atop its cover proclaiming the wedding of or the death of , they often garner a bit more attention than they usually would. And while marketing a characters death might get the edge in baiting readers (The Death of Superman during the comic boom of the 90s and the more recent Death of Wolverine events come to mind), wedding issues have recently been burring the lead or simply just not paying off on their promises. But why?
RELATED: Marvel and DCs Big Wedding Twists: Who Did it Better?
Comic books, for better or worse, are designed like soap operas (just with more punching and aliens and magical entities). Romance, love triangles, and marital strife fill their pages just as they fill daytime television. When characters arent punching the aforementioned aliens and/or magical entities, theyre living their day-to-day lives, and readers often find what makes the characters compelling in more quiet moments of comics. When we see Superman with a cup of coffee as he slinks around the offices at the Daily Planet we stop and say, Hey, I drink coffee in my office, too. When a young mutant class member gets detention at Xaviers School for the Gifted for setting his desk of fire or what have you, we understand that heroes arent born heroic; they were once young and made mistakes, just like us.
The Great Divide
Maybe this sounds a bit reductive, but for a huge swathes of readers, its true. Its not that we dont love it when heroes punch things that need to get punched, but in the mundane is where we find common ground. We cant relate to going to a different dimension or fighting magical demons or traveling to a distant planet filled with murderous lifeforms (but wouldnt it be cool if we could). But we relate to social anxiety and the all the emotional tension that surround a huge life event like a wedding.
RELATED: Batman and Catwomans Wedding: What the Hell Just Happened?
For the average person, a marriage is the real-life equivalent to facing off against Galactus. There is a sense of finality to the event even if you are to come out on the other side better off. Perhaps its the natural dichotomy between home and work life of superheroes that once made their wedding issues so special at one time. And maybe that dichotomy is what is currently causing publishers to move away from them.
Page 2:When Did Superhero Weddings Fall Out of Favor?
So, What Changed?
Back in 2013, DC Comics found itself in a bit of hot water after Batwoman Kate Kane was unable to marry her fiancée Maggie Sawyer at the behest of the publisher. This caused the creative team J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman to leave the book, which is perturbing on multiple levels and effectively crushed one of the best books DC Comics was producing at the time (seriously J.H. Williams III is a genius and should be celebrated as such).
RELATED: Another X-Man Plans On Popping The Question But Will This Wedding Happen?
DC co-publisher Dan DiDio tried to explain the decision, citing the mission of anyone who takes up the cowl in Batmans world has responsibilities that supersede personal happiness. Their sacrifice to the cause is what defines them and wallowing in their unpleasant personal lives is what keeps their heroic fire burning. Well, needless to say, not everyone was satisfied with this explanation. But to DCs credit, the publisher stuck to its guns five years later in Batman #50 in which The Bat and The Cat were planning to tie the knot and then didnt.
Batman Is Not Alone
From that ridiculous time Doctor Octopus tried to marry Aunt May in The Amazing Spider-Man #131 to the Royal Wedding-level event of the wedding of Scott Summers and Jean Grey in the pages of X-Men # 30, Marvel Comics has had its fair share of wedding issues. But just like the twist in Batman #50, another long-promoted superhero couple tying the knot, Colossus and Kitty Pryde, didnt say their I dos at the altar.
Of course, the dissolution of the wedding in X-Men: Gold #30 was somewhat balanced out by two other X-Men stepping up to get married in a moment that probably a lot of fans were hoping to see just as much as Kitty and Peter getting hitched.
RELATED:
Which X-Man Is Responsible For Ruining Marvels Big Wedding?
To be fair, a wedding fake out makes for some great soapy drama. Someone walking away from the altar, leaving their would-be spouse holding the bag sounds like one of the most mortifying things someone could experience. The fallout over an event like this can shift alliances, create doubt among fellow friends and family, and fracture relationships. Again, this all good drama.
Page 3:What Does the Future Hold for Superhero Matrimony?
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[FONT="]source: https://www.cbr.com/why-comic-publi...ibution&utm_source=CBR-TW&utm_campaign=CBR-TW[/FONT]
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