Your first point is a much more succinct way of putting what I was thinking. The "corporate mandate" thing seems icky. But giving if some thought, if that's what it takes to make diversity more prominent and expected in comics, I guess I don't see it as such a bad thing. And lord knows, I would think most writers…

I was thinking about this argument, and disagree. The old heroes aren't going anywhere, for one. They'll all be back eventually—it's comics. Meanwhile, the best way to market a new hero is to put them in front of as many eyes as possible. Otherwise, everyone ignores them on the shelves until they get cancelled due…

Yeah. Then again, I remember reading about how Marvel had dropped the ball by not having a recognizable/easy entry X-Men title on the shelves when the first X-Men movie came out. And they've certainly been keen on having a title to sell along with each major movie. So maybe there's some hope of selling…

There's a weird disconnect between comic books and the movies they inspire. I remember remarking to a girl I worked with about some Batman comic I had bought, and she reacted as if I said I spent my time playing with dolls or something. This was at the time around the Dark Knight movie, which I knew that she was…

Not to mention, creating new characters and giving them their own titles means all sorts of additional overhead for each one they produce, because it's not like they're just going to stop printing all the rest of their titles to make room for them. These arguments ignore the fact that Marvel isn't just going to keep…

Yeah, I'd forgotten about Wolverine—that didn't seem to get as much press that I can recall. But I wonder now if the Death of Wolverine storyline was mandated so they could write in X-23 as the new Wolverine, as a part of the overall initiative to diversify the major characters. I don't read them as much anymore,…

Yeah, I figured there's usually one guy for synth, one guy for piano. I just didn't know GnR had that many songs that would need both, other than the more orchestral stuff like November Rain.

I don't even wanna ask. I jumped off a little while ago.

That's both more than I realized, and also a few I knew but forgot about due to them being incredibly popular and possibly overshadowing the characters they "replaced". I'm thinking of Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel in particular.

Actually, wait, I take that back. They have X-23 filling Wolverine's shoes these days, don't they? I didn't hear much press about it, though.

Well….sure. I was just going for a shorthand for "traditional", I guess (white/male/straight/what most superheroes have been for decades). Didn't mean to ignore/downplay any aspect.

So, I'm just curious, how many new/diverse Marvel superheroes have effectively replaced (for a potentially limited time, of course) their white male counterparts?

Tried looking it up, but couldn't find it. Who's on the cover?

That tambourine isn't going to play itself.

Hey, I was impressed. I hadn't seen them since '97, and I used to have a T4E shirt, which I'm pretty sure I got rid of somewhere along the way. But I don't remember the crowd back then being quite as uniformly bedecked.

On the one hand, I agree: there is absolutely a sense anymore that if you are old, you should stay indoors or away from concerts, because your enjoyment is shameful or embarrassing. This article continues that narrative.

I see you made the exception for Rush. When I saw them last year, I swear I've never seen a crowd wear so many shirts (and hats and tattoos and jackets and who knows what else) of the band performing. It was impressive, and maybe a little frightening. I started being amazed at how much money they must have made…

Should have been "you're gonna get home at a reasonable TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!"

Those covers ARE cool. That was right around the time I first got into comics. I think several of them came in a Marvel Comics box I got from the JCPenny catalog.

Ok, I'm curious. Why? Collecting those 25th anniversary covers? Or just a Spider-Ham fan?