[Op-Ed] Why do you care so much!?

This is why we can’t have nice things, Marvel. This week, the first trailer came out for the continuing adventures of the X-Men ’97, and the general reaction, from what I could tell, was pleasant.

The artwork looks the same (I’m old enough to remember watching the cartoon when it debuted), most of the voice actors returned to reprise their roles, and the general vibe/tone of the teased story appears to fit into the X-Men stories of that era, including the point in history when Magneto took over the Xavier School.

Because modern Marvel/Disney creators just can’t help themselves, we get this gooseegg of an update to that created a predictable amount of backlash among longstanding X-Men fans:

If you can’t read the fine print or are unfamiliar with the characters from the mid-90s version of the X-Men, the online hubbub is stirring around this particular retcon for the character named Morph. He was an original character created specifically for the cartoon who was killed off almost immediately after the cartoon’s debut to generate motivation for the X-Men (I guess fridging doesn’t just apply to women).

“This is a lighter take on the character, who is nonbinary and has an interesting buddy relationship with Wolverine. The character’s past with Mister Sinister, the show’s villain, could also come into play.”

Showrunner Beau DeMayo via an interview with Empire Magazine

What’s the problem?

The problem here is the writing team’s decision to retcon Morph into something he wasn’t/isn’t to inject current-year social representation into a period piece. Morph’s retcon not only doesn’t make sense for how he was created and originally presented, but the use of current-year identity labels directly conflicts with immersion into the story for its point in history (~30 years ago).

Before you start moving your index figure over the “Cancel” button for bringing this up, the point I want to make isn’t about DeMayo’s bizarre retcon of Morph into a nonbinary character, a character created to die after his introduction.

The point here is to address why there is a predictable backlash and why the oft-parroted response phrase “Why do you care so much?” is inherently a foolish question.

Why Marvel SHOULD care

Marvel bigwigs will often cite that they treat their comics as soap operas, which is how and why you get decades-long runs in comics that can pick up (or put down) plot points years later. On the plus side, that gives ongoing titles, such as The X-Men, a sense of history and longevity, which directly fosters the goal of readers continuing to collect issues during the low points in a run.

Marvel wants collectors. Marvel likes collectors. Marvel needs collectors because collectors keep buying when the current creative team is a bust.

On the downside, that soap opera mentality also leads to horrendous examples of decompression and the stubborn refusal to undo past mistakes (e.g. dissolution of the Parker marriage in Amazing Spider-Man’s “One More Day” story). That’s also why Marvel’s trade sales pale in comparison to DC because the soap opera model doesn’t lend itself to clean, distinct arcs. 

But here’s the trick. For readers, whether they’re collectors or not, to keep buying into the soap opera, you need CONSISTENCY. Following the lives of these characters as if they were real people is the hook. For a reader to buy into years of a character’s journey, the reader needs to develop an emotional interest in that character’s “life,” just like traditional soap operas. When you start rearranging character histories, overwriting character traits, and generally making Swiss cheese out of the story, you break the emotional interest, which breaks the soap opera. This need for consistency applies to both major and minor characters.

In short, the soap opera model only works when readers care about the characters and their journey.

Is it fair to say that readers don’t like change? No, that’s a foolish conclusion. It is fair to say readers don’t like retcons and inconsistency (i.e. change) that break their emotional investment in the soap opera.

As a warning to Marvel, how do you build and nurture loyal fans when you continually make decisions that tell those fans to stop caring? You don’t.

Why you SHOULDN’T care

Unfortunately, this is where we are with the Big 2. Marvel and DC appear committed to running their respective houses like the Wild West, where all rules are made to be broken, consistency is a four-letter word, and making the readers (or in this case, viewers) happy is NOT the top priority.

My hope and plea for you is to stop caring for your own mental and emotional health. 

DON’T buy into the soap opera.

DON’T allow yourself to become emotionally invested.

DON’T spend money on Marvel if it doesn’t make you happy.

If you’re a collector, stop. If you’re a Wednesday Warrior, find another publisher that gives you what you like. But above all else, stop caring about a publisher that doesn’t care about you.

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