I have to admit, I’m more than a little surprised at the sudden outpouring of outrage online about Marvel Entertainment’s inclusion in the list of companies and corporations supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act, not least of all because the list has been available for more than a week now (I’m guessing that today’s Bleeding Cool post has something to do with it). But, as I’ve said already on Twitter today, why is this surprising? As the list of companies shows, Marvel is far from the only publisher supporting the bill – Hachette, Harper Collins and Random House are all listed – and, more importantly, Marvel is far from the only Disney subsidiary on the list. In fact, with ABC, ESPN, Disney Publishing and Hyperion all on the list in addition to Marvel, it’s actually more surprising that Pixar, say, isn’t there than the fact that Marvel is.
Compare this to Time Warner’s approach, which is to support SOPA as a mass corporate entity instead of individual subsidiaries; that’s potentially smarter from a PR viewpoint, because it allows for the reading that certain parts of TW – DC Comics, say – does not specifically support the Act, but let’s be honest: It’s much more likely that it actually means that all of TW is toeing the line, as opposed to Disney, which isn’t acting as some massive corporate monolith.
That said, does Marvel’s support of SOPA mean that the company is for the more draconian parts of the bill, cracking down on free expression online? Probably not; as much as it’s easy to complain about Marvel preferring to quash expression when it relates to its own IP (Such as helping close down the Scans Daily community on LiveJournal), Marvel has shown itself to be somewhat forward thinking in terms of embracing the potential of the internet, and it’s a company filled with creative people. I suspect that Marvel’s interest in SOPA is purely related to the protection of its own intellectual property, with little thought given to the (many) downsides of the bill.
It’s funny, thinking about the idea of a petition to stop DC publishing Watchmen 2; I’d much rather see people try and convince Marvel to reverse their stance on this subject, and more openly stand in favor of free speech and a less restrictive internet – but Watchmen 2 may, ultimately, be an easier battle to win.
December 29th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Ironic that the same people who champion free speech are so threatened by a companies freedom to produce a schlockey sequel of a seminal work.
Freedom of speech means that bad ideas get a chance too.
December 29th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
F**k SOPA.
–J.
December 29th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
“Marvel has shown itself to be somewhat forward thinking in terms of embracing the potential of the internet”
Except where it perhaps matters most: making their titles available to buy/download/read from the web.
December 29th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
“Marvel has shown itself to be somewhat forward thinking in terms of embracing the potential of the internet”
No they havent shown me anything of the sort .
It took DC finally givin’ in , and both having ridiculously low paper sales – especially when they own property that are even more known and popular than some of the hot sellings mangas – for both to finally enter properly the digital age .
And even then i have yet to be able to buy Marvel comics at same release day without using some silly coupon system for a paper version i’m not sure i even still wanted .
December 29th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
F*** SOTA
F*** Marvel for supporting Police State legislation.
December 29th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
the irony is that most of their comics are so bad, they aren’t even worth the time to download illegally.
December 29th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Actually, GraphicPolicy.com and ComicBookBin.com have been raising hell over SOPA for about a week now. Blleding Cool did not lead the vanguard on informing comic book readers about SOPA. We did.
Also, you should also mention in your article that DC Comics also supports SOPA through parent company Time Warner.
December 30th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Downloading is the right of every internet user! “Do you want to buy a Tower Records?!”-The Social Network
December 30th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Sorry but I can’t get onboard with SOPA. It is a bad idea and gives “the state” even more power which it doesn’t need. I’m not shocked to see DC and Marvel support it. I don’t read as much DC/Marvel as I used to because they retread the same old ideas (e.g. Dead characters being brought back to life, Big event crossovers like Fear Itself/Blackest Night, Making old concepts look new like the DCNU). I rather spend my dollars on books like Atomic Robo, Hellboy, and Black Coat and on publishers actually creating stuff like Avatar and Archaia.
December 30th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Did you know you can be arrested for filming a police officer? Even if the officer is the one violating the law.
SOPA gives so much power that it’s scary.
December 30th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
The problem with out government is right here- A list of companies supporting this act as opposed to the American PEOPLE. While I do believe that piracy is wrong, there are too many open interpretations in thsi bill to begin pandemonium and fining of innocent people. Between this and the NDAA act, what is happening to this country?
December 30th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
so if the american people thought that piracy was correct the government should legalize it and screw over companies?
December 31st, 2011 at 12:15 am
Working in politics I have an edge on this topic, but personally I’ve been fighting this legislation since it was introduced in the Senate this summer and called Protect IP (PIPA).
The first post of mine was in November on the topic where I called for action and was ignored, graphicpolicy.com/2011/11/18/take-action-stop-protect-ip-and-sopa/
For all the posts mentioned, I still don’t hear a condemnation of this legislation from other bloggers, which is a shame as this impacts us and what we love to do.
December 31st, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Obvious argument is it takes out piracy of comics. But people will find ways around it. Spoiler sites like dailyscans will get knocked on harder now. Doesn’t mean people won’t find ways around it.
Go to reeddit.com and hit the subsection /r/NOSOPA if you’re seriously interested finding solutions to this topic.
December 31st, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Eh, this is the parent companies pushing stuff, not the publishers. I doubt that the editors / publishing people at Marvel were even involved in discussions on this, despite their names being on it.
On pirating stuff: If someone downloads the latest Ultimate Spider-man off a torrent then, yeah, moral issue there. If someone downloads a back issue available for $1.99 on Comixology then, yes, still moral issue. If someone pirates an obscure back issue that isn’t collected in a trade, isn’t at the local comic shop, and is on eBay for $10 (which Marvel doesn’t get a penny from) then, really, who cares?
Much of this will be a moot point soon enough, anyway. With the way things are going with eReaders the price of digital comics are going to plummet. Plenty of people pay for music despite knowing how to just pirate because the low cost of MP3s may it easier to just pay for the stuff. Comics will go the same way, Marvel already has a streaming plan similar to Netflix (which I would really like on my Kindle if anyone’s listening…), and DC will go the same way.
The real reason for Marvel and Time Warner being on the list, though, is the movies. Comic publishing has been a minor source of revenue for these companies, but they don’t want to lose the big stuff.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Screw any company supporting this destruction of freedom of speech an they wont get a dime of my hard earn money down to the SOPA
February 5th, 2012 at 8:20 pm
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