On the Spider-Man and his Venomous Mates panel at New York Comedian-Con 2024, an ungainly escalation occurred between longstanding Spider-Man editor Nick Lowe and a number of the Marvel fandom each on the in-person panel and on-line. The web report led to followers’ critiques of his editorial decisions, together with questions as to simply what precisely occurred throughout the panel. I do know what occurred with each as a result of… effectively, I used to be there.
So right here’s my report on what occurred relating to the messy co-occurrence of occasions.
The First Occasion: Marvel’s panel kerfuffle
At NYCC, Marvel panels normally give out unique collectible comics on the finish, which requires staying till the end. Nevertheless, for this panel attendees may decide up their comics throughout the Q&A, so nobody was being pressured to truly keep on this room and I don’t know the place a few of that rumor got here from however I can verify it was false.
The panel was led by Spider-Man editor Nick Lowe who joined Jordan D. White, Joe Kelly, and Al Ewing on stage. Dan Slott was purported to attend however he abstained from coming to NYCC as he was recovering from Covid.
It kicked off a bit sooner than normal, and Lowe was making an attempt to rally enthusiasm and humor amongst the gang. There have been trailer movies and a humorous voice-over that includes Al Ewing making an attempt his finest to relate at a fast-pace on the display screen. Reception to the Spider-Man plans was a mixture of lukewarm reactions, but additionally some shocking positives, comparable to a staged however “shock” look from Charles Soule who was asserting his and Jesús Saíz’s upcoming run with Eddie Brock as Carnage.
And I’ve to emphasize all of this for context as a result of this panel was about a median common Marvel panel at NYCC. A minimum of, till the Q&A which is when it started, because the very first fan requested a really pointed query about Kamala Khan and her remedy at Marvel, and Lowe’s response to the query didn’t assist a lot.
This Reddit submit did a semi-decent job of summarizing however I’ll make clear the remainder as a result of A LOT of context and phrases exchanged are lacking relating to what truly occurred on this back-and-forth. The issue that occurred on stage wasn’t a lot this line of questioning relating to misogynistic writing–whom I believe many Marvel followers would agree individuals have rightfully taken concern with relating to the fridging/dying (however not likely dying as a result of comics) of Kamala Khan–a lot that the feelings began to run very excessive.
For higher or worse, Lowe bought extremely defensive in public and let that fan maintain grilling him and tried to counter go well with. What you learn above is a brief model of what was an extended and snappy back-and-forth, and one which went on far longer than it ought to have.
After that first query from that fan, Lowe would then attempt to counter again in an argument in lieu of professionally simply answering a single fan query or two, after which transferring on. He additionally started his response to the questioning with a counter-argument of passive aggression by “Disagreeing with the premise of the query” (his precise phrases) invalidating the very premise of that fan’s opinion.
To the viewers, it did appear a considerably condescending response. There’s additionally a extensively used time period for this in fashionable psychology now relating to the questioning of whether or not or not one other particular person’s beliefs is true-called: Gaslighting. Thoughts you, I say this having a background working in psychology for 7 years as a specialist earlier than changing into a journalist. In Nick’s protection, he was a deer within the headlights caught completely off guard for this line of questioning and I say this admittedly as a result of I used to be additionally off-guard as a reporter who thought this panel was nearly over already and was genuinely shocked like everybody else.
It didn’t assist that whereas this temporary 5 or so minute alternate continued, there was a deafening silence within the room. I wouldn’t name it as settlement or disagreement, or as excessive of a declaration as outright writers misogyny, however I’ll say that I believe many followers nonetheless stay upset over how Marvel editorial dealt with the dying of Kamala Khan in an occasion that didn’t even occur in her personal ebook. Particularly once we knew she wasn’t lifeless.
I believe a superb moderator would have reduce this line of questioning off earlier – or higher but – not even engaged with defensiveness within the first place. Simply give a take-or-leave-it reply to an trustworthy fan opinion query. Then transfer on. That stated, the room did quiet again down quickly after resuming a traditional functioning Q&A the place even some children got here as much as the microphone to ask questions.
As reviews of the alternate hit the web, and extra of the everlasting on-line complaints over Marvel’s dealing with of the Spider-line bubbled up, one other on-line solely incident was unfolding, stemming from the identical panel:
The Second Occasion: the announcement that didn’t truly occur
The web incident was a misreport despatched by journalist Jon Gorga, who tweeted that Nick Lowe had simply credited author Justina Eire as, “The primary lady to write down a run of problems with ‘The Superb Spider-Man’”.
The issue is that this by no means truly occurred and was later confirmed false and corrected by Gorga. Spider-Man has had at the least TWO ladies writers, together with the nice Ann Nocenti again within the day, and extra just lately Kelly Thompson, who took umbrage on the misinformation, as revealed in a now deleted tweet.
As the web outrage swirled – mixing and melding with the outrage over the precise occasions on the panel – Gorga posted a correction, however the injury was executed.
At this level, the fandom was already heated each in X and Reddit, resulting in critiques about Lowe’s latest choices throughout his tenure as editor of Spider-Man.
It’s a proven fact that on-line fandom won’t ever be pleased with no matter is occurring within the Spider-office – whoever is within the writing chair will likely be hated (Dan Slott) and dissed (Zeb Wells), and the editors will likely be a handy punching bag for regardless of the take of the day is. Fast tweeting of other details simply provides to the brew-ha-ha. All that stated, when working a panel in entrance of the general public, editors most likely ought to be able to defend their choices rather less awkwardly – particularly with an occasion as legitimately controversial because the dying of Kamala Khan.
Keep tuned for extra NYCC ’24 protection from The Beat.
