The dream of creating comics for Marvel is one held by many writers and artists, but the company has always been a notoriously tough nut to crack … until now. But, although a forthcoming tool will allow amateurs to create their own Marvel comics, it has been widely criticised after the company released restrictive terms and conditions that ban comics from including content it deems controversial, including midriffs, contraception, guns and “alternative lifestyle advocacies”.
Marvel Create Your Own, which was announced on Thursday, will allow fans to create comics featuring the studio’s huge cast of characters, from Captain America to the Guardians of the Galaxy. The online platform will allow fans to combine various backgrounds and character images with editable speech bubbles.
However, any stories made using the tool will immediately belong to Marvel, with no payment or credit due to the creator, with the studio able to adapt, exhibit or redistribute the work “in all languages, anywhere in the world”.
The terms and conditions of the tool also stipulate what cannot be included in the comics. Death and guns are not allowed. Swearing is also banned, as is the time-honoured comic book device of substituting symbols for swear words.
“Suggestive or revealing images,” including “bare midriffs”, are not allowed, nor are double entendres and “noises related to bodily functions”.
“Prescription drugs or over-the-counter medication, vitamins and dietary supplements” are also forbidden, as is contraception. More abstractly, “sensationalism” is banned, for which a few examples are offered: killer bees, aliens, gossip and scandal.
Heyyy so I heard Marvel is letting us make our own comics now and there are some rules about stuff we have to include? Anyway @bisonfisticuffs and I made you a thing, I think we got everything in there pic.twitter.com/nF3qyJwIQl
— Alex de Campi (@alexdecampi) December 29, 2017
The list caused a stir online, with several artists and writers responding by posting images flouting the rules. Others were concerned by other topics deemed to be “controversial”, such as politics – defined as including “lobbyists, PAC sites, political campaigns and alternative lifestyle advocacies” – and “social issues”.
Some feel this is directed at users hoping to make LGBTQ storylines, and that Marvel is not committed to addressing the lack of diversity in their comics. In April, a Marvel executive blamed declining comic book sales on the increased presence of women and non-white characters, saying: “That’s what we saw in sales … Any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up.”
Marvel has yet to respond to questions from press.
