Honestly, OP's post isn't even all that instigating. He only ever mentioned the mainstream comics coming from major publications and commented on the state of superheroes being introduced into the franchises. While I don't agree they should outright END, they need a complete wash. Like, to stop all their operations and work for a revision in their publication history. There's 12 fucking Captain Marvel reboots already. They really need a deep cleanse to start over with and try not to intersect everything with timelines and reboots again.
"Manosphere" "Incels" "AltRight" and mainstream Republicans
Somehow, without fail, a discussion about western comics will always devolve into political name-calling and semantics. It just ALWAYS DOES. Doesn't matter if it's on Twitter or 4Chan or Reddit or Facebook or whatever. It magically does, and on the first page too. Hate western comics? You must be involuntarily celibate and a mindless bro who cums on Call of Duty boxarts. Like western comics? You must want the complete dismantling of western culture and probably drink soy and have your wife repeatedly railed by Jamal next door.
Par for the course, really.
Western comics are certainly not dying. You not liking western comics anymore doesn't mean it's dying, for the very same reason I stopped playing League of Legends 7 years ago doesn't mean Riot or the game is dying.
I'd go a little bit more specific and say the INDIE COMICS scene is going strong as fuck but the main two contenders are just simply tanking with their figures. Take Marvel's current bestselling series. Ms. Marvel started out in late 2014 and was Marvel's poster child in trade paperback sales until 2018. Hell, their first issue won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Novel. They had a big reign in Marvel's sales figure, all the way until 2018. That big reign, at best, was around 500,000. For comparison, the first issue for Ultimate Spider-Man back in 2002 sold close to 600k+. And if you want to tie that to Sam Raimi's movie coming out at the time, we can also draw a comparison from The Life of Captain Marvel (2018) whose release coincided with the movie which, might I remind you, made a billion in revenue along with fanfare from mainstream media. That shit barely took off by around the usual >150k in its sales. It's axed already and since 2019, has been rebooted twice with failures each time. You can see this repeating in DC as well. As for Image Comics, well, they've always been doing their thing, though ever since Invincible ended their run they haven't been able to find something as compelling too. But Savage Dragon is sTILL ONGOING HOLY SHIT
Western comics aren't dying, but the industry representing them certainly, at least in the actual comic department. They're more like IP holders making in-house movie studios now than actual comic book sellers. Can't really blame them, really. Much like Riot as a company, they're far from dying; they're diversifying.
I just wish the price wasn't this steep.
Funniest shit to me is that people will:
1. Like yuri and lesbian sex, but hate lesbian relationships in western media.
2. Eat up femboys and traps, but hate effeminate males in western media.
3. Hate seeing strong women, but drool about badass waifus in JP media.
4. Call out diversity in western media, but want more elves, nekomimi, and monster races.
5. Hate on politics being in western media, but their favorite isekai and wishfulfillment JP media is RIFE with politics.
1. I'll give you that first one, but the Venn diagram of the two demographics barely intersects at all.
2. I'll give you that one too, but again, the two demographics don't come through very often.
3. There's a giant difference between the strong women in most western and JP media. Actually, the strong women isn't even the issue here. It's, as you say, the diversity of personalities these characters have. Somehow or rather, the supposed "strong women" roles in comics and movies of late western media are stubborn and immature, refusing to listen to orders, talking down to authority without much consequence, and generally acting rude to everyone else and having their way seemingly every time. Ironically, this was the quote-unquote "dudebro macho" characters of the 2000s permeating throughout military movies and vidya, but just given a different coat of paint. JP media certainly has those but they weren't the staple. The strong women/badass waifus in JP media have contrast in their characters and their physical superiority aren't the only things to their characters. They don't exist solely to fight an opposition or, dare I say it, a glass ceiling. They're also there to develop their character and grow as the story progresses. The more isolated nature of comic issues caters towards stand-alone stories, and coupled with so many fucking variations and reboots and spin-offs and series all zeroing in on the SAME CHARACTER, it's hard for them to even break out of their predetermined shell, while the straight forward series in JP, or really, any OTHER medium, allows for more growth with their chapter-by-chapter format.
4. This is just... wrong, like a blatant misunderstanding of why people call out diversity in media. It's not diversity that people take issue in, but the things that the industry try to replace with diversity. What's good about the first Muslim superhero in Marvel when the story tanks after its initial chapter? Why did Marvel make Riri Williams the new Ironheart and market it as the black representation for the Iron Man mantle when Steel and Iron Patriot is right there? Where the fuck did Blade go? Great, the new Superman is gay, but what good does it do when the storyline focuses more on the homo relationship than the actual story of Superman himself? The current comic industry touts itself by offering a variety of flavours of characters to choose from but never expands beyond the initial concept or copies what the predecessor has done with many faults. I'm on the same camp where I'm sick of seeing Caucasoids on screen every time. I'd kill to see one of my people on the paperback pages for once, but when their offerings are nothing but side dishes who are more proud of who they are than what they've accomplished, I'd rather the Caucasoids come back. At least they aren't pandering to me and trying to siphon my money. Ever wonder why Miles Morales never had any significant drop of complaint coming his way, or Nightcrawler was always a fan-favourite in people's eyes, or why people still want Iron Fist back, or why Storm is still one of the most prominent members of the X-Men? They've always been introduced organically, never had their identities used in a marketing strategy, and most importantly, are amazing characters in their own right.
It's a gag effect. There's nothing wrong with wearing a white tank top, but there's a reason why it's called a wife-beater. When one incident leads to a separate effect one too many times, people start catching patterns, and when the pattern keeps happening, sooner or later it'll become an adopted causality, regardless of the initial intent.
And I don't know why you conflate diversity and different fantasy species together. Just seemed like a pointless attempt at a "gotcha", if you ask me. Hell, if you want to take this route, sure. When a new species is introduced in a series, they aren't marketed as the main selling points of their creation. Conversely, when a new superhero is Asian, we never hear the end of it. Funnily enough, the former helped to build unique, fantastical worlds, and the latter leads to discontinued runs or terrible movies.
5. There's putting politics in a story, and then there's evangelizing or demonizing opposing sides in stories. If you haven't noticed, isekai and wishfulfillment JP mangas HAVE politics but are, ironically, diversified on stances. They aren't constricted by the two-party climate you see in western media; all sides actually have their chance to reason and though the MC's stance is always preferred, the other parties' stances were never the problem, it's always their method or the character representing said stance. And being RIFE with politics don't mean all of them are valuable inputs. You can't possibly mean to tell me that you'd consider an MC going to a slave trade and thinking "it's bad" to be a compelling narrative, right?
Conversely, politics in western media aren't discussions or portrayals but soapboxes. Remember in Invincible when Robot wanted to establish a straight-up dictatorship and dismantle superheroes as a concept entirely? It's a concept we all frown upon, yes, but under those circumstances, they worked. The usual devastation was at an all-time low and the citizens, for once, actually faced lower levels of threat from outer invaders. He was defeated in the end in fear of what he'll become if his dictatorship kept running, but the one thing the comic didn't fail to show is both sides to the same coin. It doesn't praise or condemn. It only shows and portrays. That's what makes politics in media so interesting. It's a CYOA where you get to decide who's in the right, vice versa, or simply enjoy what's being offered. You don't get that in mainstream western comics anymore. The new Static Shock reboot has an issue dedicated to the topic of gun rights and the issue started with a fucking mass shooting on a high school campus. I don't even need to elaborate on this, do you see what I mean? ANY opinion that isn't liberal-leaning or is REMOTELY conservative gets their ass kicked into the ground with their stances being portrayed by fat rednecks and frenzied bums living in dilapidated apartments. It's the same as the anti-SJW owning channels on YouTube showing multi-colour haired landwhales shouting to the sky and saying "gay bad haha laugh". It's no different from Steven Crowder pointing at extreme cases of deviancy and saying "trans funny". That isn't politics, that's anti-propaganda. It's the equivalent of "orange man bad".
There's no diverging views. There's no differing opinions. There's only the "liberal commie gobble cucks" and the "rightoid chud incels". At least on the western side of things. That is what politics in mainstream western comics have devolved to. That is why people don't want politics in comics anymore. They've waited years for another insightful political commentary only to have an issue solely dedicated to endorsing Hilary's presidency or another Twitter thread on how the Punisher would be more than happy to nuke the midwest working class. That's why people flock to manga now. At least they aren't being put on a pedestal/having their opinions stomped to the ground.
Where's the promised heated debate? The drama? The ban and lock up?
