Thinking Critical's video: She-Hulk the Decline of Western Comic Establishment

Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and like the video! Support Thinking Critical at Ko-fi. Monthly subscriptions receive bonus content and early access to some channel content. Ko-fi.com/thinkingcritical Thank you for supporting the channel! Thinking Critical Discord: https://discord.gg/uHM3Z68 Twitch Channel https://www.twitch.tv/thinking_critical_yt The Evolution of She-Hulk From Hot to Not Via filmgoblin.com She-Hulk, aka Jennifer Walters, cousin to the Hulk, is a fun character. She fights to protect those in need on the battlefield and in the courtroom. She breaks the fourth wall, she’s witty, she’s confident, flirty, and sexy as hell. Well… at least she used to be. Marvel is putting out a new TV show on Disney+ with her in the near future, but will we be getting this? My first exposure to the character was a graphic novel The Sensational She-Hulk: Marvel Graphic Novel  by John Byrne in 1985.  In it, She-Hulk is a tough, clever, funny heroine. She has a boyfriend that she is clearly having sex with and has no problems taking off her clothes to protect him when some perv — a corrupt SHIELD agent — threatens to kill him unless she strips.  Which she does, and also fights a sentient colony of alien cockroaches… and you know what, it’s worth a read.  Is there a little cheesecake here? You bet, but She-Hulk herself isn’t a damsel in distress, she’s the hero.  If you’re curious, the boyfriend, Wyatt Wingfoot, is no pushover.  He has no powers, but he’s a marksman, tracker and cuts an all-around heroic figure, though he plays second fiddle to She-Hulk all the way through.  In the past few years, Marvel has been doing their best to do away with the fun, sexy She-Hulk and replace her with something many readers would consider… unnatural. In the most recent run of Avengers, they have her complaining about her previous sex appeal as a problem, making it a point that now She-Hulk prefers to be a monster than (gasp!) being seen as attractive. A far cry from the character who used to use her wits and, on occasion, her sex appeal to take down a foe.  So, will the MCU show get it right? Will we have a fun, sassy, sex-positive She-Hulk? Or will we have a beast? Tweets from She-Hulk TV writer Dana Schwartz raise some concern that the show could very well be a dour affair. But, from what I understand this woman will just be in the writer’s room and not be the driving force of the show, so I’m remaining stupidly optimistic for now. Surprising New Data Shows Comic Readers Are Leaving Superheroes Behind Via forbes.com Typically, increases in the overall market are driven by the comic industry’s two largest companies, Marvel (owned by Disney), and DC (a part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia group), which both publish corporate-owned superhero comics almost exclusively and together account for about 80% of all comics sold through the direct market. But for the last several years, the trade book channel has become an increasingly significant driver of revenue, gaining double-digit year over year increases as comic store sales have declined. ICv2 estimates that bookstore sales accounted for $465M in 2018, compared to $510M in the direct market. When you add in the digital and other channels, direct market sales fell under 50% of the total for the first time since comic shops overtook newsstand distribution in the early 1980s. While comic shops tend to focus on longtime fans - often older readers who grew up on and collect superhero comics – mass-market bookstores sell to everyone, including younger readers and those outside of traditional comics fandom. Consequently, the books that are selling in bookstores are, generally, not superhero-oriented. According to Bookscan data shared at the conference, kid-oriented comics and graphic novels account for a whopping 41% of sell-through at bookstores; manga is 28%. Superhero content is less than 10%, down 9.6% year-over-year. Contact Thinking Critical: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wes_from_TC Email wesdigscomics@gmail.com