Bleeding Fool reports that failing legacy comic book publisher Marvel Comics is ostensibly reaching out to fans by offering a slate of sub-G4 tier programming, including a barely Marvel-themed cooking show.
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| The two on the right look like they just discovered Heather Antos’ boiled bunny in that pot. |
Ever since Marvel Senior Executive Sana Amanat proclaimed that Marvel was becoming a “lifestyle brand,” more and more evidence of what she was referring to is coming to light. The latest is the recent embarrassment in the form of a cooking show. That’s right. Marvel Comics is now streaming a cooking series that everyone can binge. It’s called “Eat the Universe” and it has nothing to do with Spider-Man, X-Men, or really comic books at all other than the occasional jokey reference to some long forgotten characters or merely naming the recipe after a character.
“Becoming a ‘lifestyle brand'” is how once-successful corporations troll their remaining customers.
Marvel Entertainment is the Youtube channel, which has 7.9 million subscribers. The premiere episode of Eat the Universe posted April 7, 2018 and only has 54K views and 108 comments. The series was launched the same day that Marvel New Media announced an all-new schedule of digital series featuring a variety of programming for Marvel fans. These new digital series include relaunched versions of This Week in Marvel and Women of Marvel; and new series like Earth’s Mightiest Show, Marvel’s Voices, Marvel’s Eat the Universe and Marvel’s first-ever scripted podcast Wolverine: The Long Night for fans to enjoy (if they’re willing to pay the $4.99 monthly subscription fee to Stitcher.com). None of these seem to really be my cup of tea, but I will eat my hat if any of them turn out to be a hit.
I’m not sure BF’s skepticism is warranted. Marvel’s YouTube channel clearly has its finger on the pulse of comic fandom if it’s playing a science fiction classic like Battlefield Earth.
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| I’d insert a Battlefield Earth quote, but I don’t know any Battlefield Earth quotes. |
Kidding aside, the premiere of Eat the Universe generated 54,000 views. Meanwhile, this charming colonial LARPer’s amateur video about roasting a rabbit over a campfire garnered more than twice as many views in slightly less time.
“Marvel New Media is focused on nurturing a more intimate and approachable relationship with both our super fans and casual fans by embracing and refreshing Marvel’s fundamental brand attributes, and by redefining how those fans experience the Marvel Universe across all platforms,” said Dan Silver, vice president, head of platforms and content for Marvel New Media. “As we launch and expand these new digital series, we will be introducing fans to a whole new perspective of the brand to reflect the core values of Marvel, our heroes, and extending into the real-life Super Heroes that inspire us every day.”
The words of a man who knows he’s babysitting a division of a subsidiary of a megacorp that’s losing billions at the box office. He’s painfully aware his job could be performed by a pecking bird toy positioned to click repeatedly on a corporate bullshit generator.
At this point it’s impossible not to read “Eat the Universe” as a tacit admission that the inmates in charge of Marvel’s asylum know they’re devouring the brand’s seed corn. The West’s formerly vast treasury of twentieth Century cultural capital has been exhausted. Will we see new pop culture touchstones arise to take the thrones abdicated by the Big Two comics publishers, New York SFF publishing houses, and every Hollywood studio?
I doubt it. The sea-to-shining-sea social cohesion that engendered the dominance of American entertainment icons is unlikely to return within the lifetime of anyone reading this post.
New stories and new ways of telling them are definitely on the way, though. In fact, they’re already here. If you prefer action, chills, and fun to “reflecting core values”, pick up my complete Soul Cycle adventure series for Kindle.
