Marvel's "Fresh Start": Loving a Company that Can't Learn

If you haven't guessed from my numerous posts before this, I'm a pretty big Marvel fan. Love the comics, love the movies, all that jazz. Reading old Marvel books is what got me into being a writer. So I'm saying this entirely from a position of admiration and affection: Marvel, why can't you get your shit together? 

I'm not even referring to the comics, which are fine, with some very good ones sprinkled in. I'm talking about the dumpster fire that was Marvel's PR last year. For those unfamiliar, let me run through some of the most notable controversies: 

• In March, Axel Alonso (Marvel's Editor-In-Chief) was recorded saying that promoting artists didn't really matter because their names (beyond a few heavy-hitters) wouldn't really sell as well as certain writers would. On the same day, an interview in which Sales SVP David Gabriel bashed Marvel's diversity, stating that he had seen poor sales for books starring LGBT characters, people of color, and women and that it was angering fans who "didn't want real diversity". (This one will be important a bit later.) 
• In May, Marvel defended the controversial Secret Empire event, in which Steve Rogers was revealed to have been a secret HYDRA agent all along, by urging fans to wait until the conclusion to get real answers and that Cap's "heart and soul" will be what saves the day. 
• In June, they announced the Legacy relaunch, which would greatly shake up the entire slate and return comics to their original numbering. Beyond a few changes in creative teams, everything was largely identical to what it was before. 
• In September, Marvel spoiled the ending of Secret Empire by releasing an image of the classic Captain America beating up the Hydra-controlled Cap. The outrage was clearly felt, with defenders and skeptics alike pointing out that Marvel had literally said that the evil Cap (or Stevil, as he had been named by fans) would not turn out to be a doppleganger. They would also spoil the ending of Marvel Legacy #1 by revealing that the Marvel character returned from the dead was Wolverine aka Logan, simply to boost sales. 
• October might've been the company's worst month, with the Las Vegas shooting forcing them to cancel their planned panel for The Punisher Netflix series at New York Comic Con, with rumors circulating they would've surprise-released the series at the end of the panel. While this was certainly the right move, they shot themselves in the foot (heh) by also announcing a partnership with the weapons company Northrop-Grumman. After massive backlash to this incredibly boneheaded decision, Marvel unceremoniously cancelled the event in a tweet sent in the early morning. 
• In November, Marvel tried to fix the PR damage of the Northrop Grunman deal (plus the loss of Marvel heavy-hitter Brian Micheal Bendis) by replacing Alonso with CB Cebulski, a former writer turned editor famous for bringing in a variety of fresh new talent. Literally eleven days later, a story came out, accusing Cebulski of defrauding Marvel by pretending to be Japanese writer Akira Yoshida who worked for the company from 2003 to 2005. Cebulski confirmed the stories and issued an apology, but was not fired or punished in a meaningful fashion. With the chaos of that filling the headlines, Marvel was able to get away with hiring Ron Richards, an Image staffer, as VP of New Media. Sexual harassment claims surfaced against Richards, who has yet to respond to the allegations, with the story flying under the radar in comparison to the Cebulski controversy. 
• In December, Marvel limped out of 2017 by first pissing off Thanos creator Jim Starlin so much that he straight-up left Marvel in the middle of writing a new Thanos book and specifically singled out the comics division of the company as the reason why. "Marvel Studios [the cinematic division has treated me very well," he would write in a Facebook post. "Them I like." With them firestorm behind them, they collapsed at the finish line, using the last of their strength to cancel a massive chunk of the aforementioned "diversity" books. (Cancellations included queer latina-led America, black-led Luke Cage, and female-led Hawkeye.) Numerous fans threatened to boycott, which Marvel responded to with an apology and a promise to publish great new books. Just kidding, they kept their heads down and let editor Jordan D. White accuse the fans of being "knee-jerk" with no indication that his views weren't those of the rest of the company.

What's infuriating about all of this was Marvel's simple refusal to own up to the idea that any of this was bad. Alonso was allowed to insult hardworking artists and loyal readers, Cebulski was allowed to get away with lying so he could take work from writers, and Secret Empire was allowed to insult the reader's intelligence after a year of being lied to. Hell, the company didn't even admit that doing PR for a weapons company literal days after the deadliest mass shooting in American history was a mistake. It is absolutely infuriating, and it's helped because they show no signs of stopping. 

To give context to the frustration, let's compare this with DC, Marvel's competitor. DC spent five years pushing the New 52, which erased almost 30 years of continuity in favor of a clean slate. Said clean slate was poorly received, with only a handful of titles not being cancelled. So what did DC do? They owned up to it. They admitted the New 52 didn't work, and it was time to for a restart, which led to DC Rebirth, an initiative that slowly returned the status quo (even if it ignited new controversy with a tease of being a Watchmen sequel.) 

Sure, DC never went as far as to say they messed up, but they did conclude that the New 52 hadn't worked and made moves to fix it with fans. Marvel, who were clearly trying to ape them with Legacy and the newly-announced "Fresh Start" initiative, would never contemplate a move like that, judging by how the video announcement for "Fresh Start" has everyone involved going out of their way to avoid saying what exactly they're starting fresh from.

And all this stupidity is overshadowing great stuff, too. Legacy set up great ideas and gave me some of my favorite works of last year and "Fresh Start" had the announcement of both a new Venom book (likely to tie into the upcoming film) and that Jason Aaron would be taking over Avengers with Ed McGuiness. That last news is awesome, because that's a great creative team with an even better line-up. But because Marvel can't stop hitting themselves, the good news gets buried. 

I am in full support of any team with Ghost Rider on it. 

Given that Marvel has already drawn controversy with Cable artist Jon Malin going on a bizarre tirade in which he compares the X-Men to Nazi Germany-era Jews and "SJWs" to Nazis, I can't help but feel 2018 won't be the fresh start they desire. But hey, they've come back from literal bankruptcy before, so maybe I'll be wrong.