TheCatholicCrow
Inkling
I am not convinced that is true either. The Walking Dead graphic novels is pretty good evidence that is not what the market is hungry for.
Ms. Marvel is Muslim. Peggy Carter got Operation: Sin (I prefer her as a brunette btw) AND a 2 season television show (which I thought was spectacular). Jessica Jones & Luke Cage have Netflix series ... really the list could go on and on. Minorities (religious, ethnic, and unrepresented gender) are actually the "new" thing in comics ... I'm inclined to side with Russ and say that the modern market is more open now than its ever been & it'll probably become even more inclusive in the next decade or so.
I don't want to derail the thread but I think it's important to note that there are two sets of data to consider ... not only who is buying comics ... but also what do they want? Just because "straight white males" are the largest paying target audience (though I'm inclined to believe the gender split is closer to 50/50) doesn't mean that they necessarily prefer straight white male characters (enter Wonder Woman & Ms Marvel). I'm a female comic reader but that doesn't mean I scout for women in comics (or books for that matter)- my decisions are more often based on the art work than whether or not the character "looks like me" - the same is probably true for many white men....
As for any trends in ethnic groups, that data will be hard to track not only because (as already noted) many people use small indie stores, but also because certain demographics tend to be more thrifty than others... Unlike my white friends, I know several Latino comic book readers & when we find one we like we don't tell others to go buy it, we'll lend it out ... which means there might be 10 Latino readers for that one graphic novel or comic book but the data reflects only 1 Latino buyer... Stats are weird like that.
In order to talk about recent trends, I think it's important to place a bigger emphasis on the smaller companies and what they're producing (such as Walking Dead) - as with anything more indie-leaning, the change will probably come there first. If we continue this conversation ... I don't think traditional comics (those you'd find in Marvel and DC) are necessarily a good place to start analyzing given that they're going to need to shift slowly from the last several decades of backstory each character has acquired. You do see things like (is it in the Avengers?) a side character that runs a taco truck (or that sort of thing). But its going to have to be an evolutionary thing for them. They can't just wake up one day and decide to make Howard Stark a Puerto Rican woman or make Matthew Murdoch a gay Asian ... I suppose they could but it would feel like a cheap move and they probably wouldn't... unless its Green Lantern or Ms. Marvel hahaha
Wait, what were we talking about again?
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