NYT's Shocking Admission: School Closures Devastated Our Kids | Ep 866

NYT's Shocking Admission: School Closures Devastated Our Kids | Ep 866

Prolific comics writer explains why woke Marvel despises the Punisher and similar characters: They are 'blue-collar superheroes. They are average guys driven to extremes.'



Legendary comics writer Chuck Dixon recently revealed why Marvel and the woke gatekeepers in the industry's mainstream despise the Punisher and other characters like him: "they hate their fans."

Dixon has worked on hundreds of comics, including Marvel's pre-woke "Punisher" titles and various "Batman" titles for DC Comics. He also recently collaborated with BlazeTV contributor Eric July on his Rippaverse Comics.

Afforded decades' worth of insights into the art and the industry, Dixon fields questions from fans and comics aficionados on his YouTube series, "Ask Chuck Dixon."

On an episode of the show last month, he read a letter from a fan that said, "Chuck, I have been a fan of the Punisher since I was a kid, I've always wanted to ask: Do they hate the Punisher because he doesn't fit into their vision? Or do they hate him because of the idea and the fans liking the idea that refutes most of their 'heroes don't kill' argument?," reported Bounding into Comics.

To the questioner's point, there has been a concerted campaign in recent years to snuff out the Punisher — or at the very least chase away undesirables among his fan base.

In a 2017 Gizmodo piece entitled "There's Never Going to Be a 'Right Time' for The Punisher TV Series," Charles Pulliam-Moore wrote, "[I]t’s impossible not to see how he’s also a celebration of the kind of gun culture that makes actual mass shootings possible," warning that to "make the Punisher the star of his own TV show is to valorize his character."

Newsweek's associate editor Jon Jackson wrote in 2021, "Marvel has a popularity problem with one of its B-list characters: the Punisher, aka Frank Castle, a troubled ex-Marine turned vigilante who metes out lethal justice to the corrupt and criminal ('The people I kill need killing'). Right now he's too popular with the wrong people."

Jackson stressed that the "wrong people" could be found "among the MAGA hats, Don't Tread on Me Flags and Trump 2024 banners."

Jon Bernthal, the actor who played the character on Netflix's "The Punisher," canceled in 2019, suggested that the rightists amongst the character's following "are misguided, lost, and afraid. They have nothing to do with what Frank stands for or is about."

Gerry Conway, one of the character's co-creators, told Newsweek, "I could definitely see it might be time for him to step back for a bit. Not because there's anything necessarily wrong with the character, but given where we are right now in our society."

Conway, a leftist, previously attempted to take the Punisher skull symbol "back from the right," claiming "[The skull] should be a symbol for Black Lives Matter," reported the Guardian.

Conway was reportedly apoplectic that police should use the symbol, claiming their usage had left the character "completely defiled."

Marvel, similarly antipathetic to the Punisher's un-woke fans, has finally put the nail in his coffin.

In what might be the final Punisher series, woke Marvel writers transmogrified the titular character into something pathetic and intentionally unlikable, ditching the skull for a devilish Asian insignia and his guns for swords.

Screen Rant reported that in the finale, he ends up in the custody of the Avengers. After long punishing the criminal underworld following his wife's murder, Frank Castle ends up in a confrontation with his undead wife who chastises him for killing "in her name." Afterward, an all-but-gelded Punisher essentially kills himself.

Responding last month to the question about why the Punisher is so hated, Dixon dismissed the suggestion that Frank Castle was exceptional in that he kills bad guys, noting that "we see other comic book heroes, superheroes who kill. It's hard to believe Captain America didn't kill a lot of Nazis. ... To single out Frank Castle because he kills people — you know, if that’s their argument it’s an inaccurate one."

The real reason Marvel and leftist critics don't like the Punisher, suggested Dixon, is who his fans are.

Dixon suggested that the anger over the Punisher's popularity with the "wrong people" parallels blue-collar Americans' embrace of the character Archie Bunker in the 1970s sitcom "All in the Family" — a character the writer Norman Lear intended for audiences to hate and whose ultimate fans he meant to lampoon.

Similarly, when Marvel went woke, Dixon said those running the show were "just embarrassed about everything about the Punisher, particularly his audience. They didn't like the Punisher and they didn't like the people who liked the Punisher."

"Most comic book characters are either brainiacs, mutants, scientists, you know, whatever. There's very few superheroes that have blue-collar origins," continued Dixon. "Frank Castle and Guy Gardner are blue-collar superheroes. They are average guys driven to extremes. And a lot of readers respond to that because a lot of readers aren’t brainiacs, mutants, or scientists. They’re driving a truck, or stocking shelves, or, you know, working for a paycheck."

"People respond to these characters because ... they have blue-collar origins. When they’re written correctly, they say stuff and do stuff that other comic book characters won't," said Dixon.

Dixon said the final straw for the Marvel bigwigs and liberal critics was when American police and soldiers began wearing and/or displaying the Punisher symbol.

"'Cops are wearing the symbol, ewww! Our soldiers are wearing the symbol, boo!'" Dixon said, mocking the thinking at Marvel. "'We're going to take the Punisher, and we're going to mangle him and we're going to destroy him. We're going to do what no other entertainment company ever has done. We are going to ... tear it to the ground.' And that's what they did."

"Any other lofty reason they give is B.S.," emphasized Dixon. "The main reason they wanted to get rid of the Punisher is because they hated the Punisher and they hate you for liking it. It's that simple."

Ethan Van Sciver, an American comics artist who worked as an artist on numerous DC Comics and Marvel titles, appears to have reached a similar conclusion.

Sciver noted on Twitter, "It's not so much that Marvel Comics hates The Punisher. They were happy to cash in on merchandise, media, apparel and comics featuring him for decades. They hate YOU. And they hate that you love The Punisher. So this is for you, Conservative comics fan, with a big Go F*** Yourself from Disney."

Ask Chuck Dixon #152 Why Marvel hates the Punisher and hates you. And life in the Rippaverse!youtu.be

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BlazeTV contributor Eric July clears nearly $1 million in preorders inside 24 hours for his latest graphic novel, proving once again readers want good stories, not bad ideology, from their comics



BlazeTV contributor Eric July put it all on the line and launched an independent comic book company in 2022, sure that he was not the only "comic book lifer" exhausted by the leftist agitprop and infantilizing regurgitate churned out by woke publishers like Marvel and DC Comics.

That risk paid off big-time last year.

July's Rippaverse Comics released "Isom #1" in 2022, telling the tale of Avery Silman, a valorous Texas rancher who resumes his duties in Cincinnatian fashion after it becomes clear his city once again needs the costumed hero Isom's help.

The book, which received rave reviews on League of Comic Geeks, raised over $3.7 million dollars in a preorder where the stated goal was $100,000, evidencing a significant appetite for compelling content unencumbered by woke innocence-signaling — for books where story comes first.

The Dallas-based podcaster, musician, and author is back with a second comic.

\u201cThe Pre-Order Campaign for ISOM #2 is now LIVE! And check out the FIRST official project from Rippaverse Studios - the ISOM #2 Animated Trailer! #Rippaverse #Isom #Isom2 #comicbooks\n\nhttps://t.co/Plp6D3XC8V\u201d
— Rippaverse Comics (@Rippaverse Comics) 1686578445

Within 24 hours of preorders for "Isom #2" going live, July raised over $863,000 (247% over the set sales goal), proving last year's success was not a flash in the pan but rather an actionable market signal.

In fact, the excitement over the second installment in the series was enough to strain the Rippaverse website to the point of temporarily breaking.

July told TheBlaze that the website went down Monday following an unprecedented deluge of preorders and activity. While he stressed the crash was "unacceptable" and is working to bolster his comic universe's burgeoning infrastructure, July admitted it was nevertheless a "great problem to have."

While there was no guarantee ahead of the company's launch last year that there would be such overwhelming interest, July was convinced from the start he was staring down a "perfect storm."

After all, as a self-professed "comic book lifer" with a customer-centric perspective on the trade, July understood precisely how the comic book industry was "destroying itself."

The big publishers appeared willing to alienate readers who once turned to comics as a form of escapism and excitement — those who sought archetypal characters and transcendent stories that stood the test of time, free from faddish jargon and propaganda.

Oftentimes, where ideology wasn't the leading character, readers still had to contend with demoralizing stories in dead worlds populated by recycled characters.

DC Comics published a comic book in 2021 with a storyline where the Robin character comes out as bisexual after another male character asks him out on a date.

According to the New York Post, Marvel modeled an evil character after former President Donald Trump.

The multibillion-dollar company later hired identitarian leftist Ta-Nehisi Coates to transmogrify Dr. Jordan Peterson's ideas and put them in the mouth of the fictional Nazi villain Red Skull.

Marvel also saw fit to introduce to its bloated fictional universe a pair of affected heroes named "Snowflake" and "Safespace"; the former a "non-binary" character who identifies as a dehumanized plurality.

DC Comics is evidently no better.

Superman, a sometimes-homosexual in a deeply unpopular series canceled after 18 issues, has a son who advances climate alarmism.

"Between changing all of these characters and you have this ridiculous kind of push for social justice, insulting the audience and all of that — and I was like, you know what? I am going to be a solution to the problem," July told TheBlaze last year.

In the way of a solution, July did not set out to pen the great anti-woke comic book. If anything, he wanted to write a "non-woke" comic book that anyone could settle into without having to worry about being sold on some grand political project.

"You have a lot of bad American comic book content. It's terrible," July told TheBlaze Tuesday. "People that have been reading comic books like myself forever finally said, 'Hey look, these guys clearly aren't making these books with an audience like myself in mind, so I'm just not gonna buy it.'"

Comic book lovers turned off by the mainstream output "still like comics," said July. "They like American comics."

The appetite is there, but readers won't necessarily be satisfied by foreign content, even if unwoke. Japanese manga, for instance, "doesn't scratch that itch."

Making the search harder is the impenetrability of certain extant fandoms.

"It can be intimidating for a lot of noobies to try to get in on a character they might recognize from a movie," said July.

One of the apparent benefits of a fresh comic universe unspoiled by focus groups and ESG czars, such as that on offer in the Rippaverse, is that prospective readers don't need to have committed entire genealogies to memory or suffered through convoluted multi-film, multi-series backstories and reboots.

"Isom #2," for instance, "is not intergalactic. It's not interplanetary and all that stuff with none of those crazy crossovers. It's none of that. ... It's a street-level story."

The book, written by July, whose writing appears to mine some particulars of his personal story, is illustrated by artist Cliff Richards. In addition to doing pencils for Dark Horse Comics' "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series and the artwork for Del Rey Books' graphic novel "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," Richards has also worked on various DC Comics titles.

The drawings are colored by Gabe Eltaeb, a former DC Comics colorist who quit in 2021 after taking issue with the woke bastardization of the Superman character and saying, "I'm tired of them ruining these characters; they don't have a right to do this."

The Rippaverse will soon be populated by content from Chuck Dixon as well — the prolific writer who worked on Marvel's pre-woke "The Punisher" comics, "Batman" for DC Comics, and hundreds of others.

Beyond the top-tier artwork and stories, July indicated some fans might see the appeal in the company's independence, decentralization, and personal touch.

"I think the day of the mega-corporation is over. It's not to say this is going to go away. What I mean is that you're going to see a lot more successes like ours who keep it relatively small. ... I'm at the warehouse. I'm packing orders. I have a direct line of sight with my audience. That's something you don't get with the likes of Bob Iger."

This direct line of sight goes both ways, enabling customers to see that they're dealing with people who "cherish what it is they're doing and take care of it. The audience picks up on this and the fact we don't despise the audience," said July.

In turn, Rippaverse Comics "recognizes that in order for us to last, we have to give them something that they want."

So far, so good, July indicated — despite the constant stream of vitriol from the left.

"When people found out that a guy that they feel like is ideologically different from them in an industry they feel like they own built his own sandbox, they got very aggravated," he said. "Despite all my hot political takes, I've not had anything ever in my life that got me more backlash. Nothing comes close. Not even comparable."

"I've got called everything that you can think of in the book, but doesn't matter because they can't stop it. That's the reason why we did it the independent way. We're going to continue to be great. We love our customers. They're gonna continue to support it."

Leftists, simultaneously confronted with the books' wide support and rendered incapable of cancelling Rippaverse due to its independence, "know that they can't do that with us, so they can scream into the abyss. We go virtually unimpacted. If there is an impact, they're just galvanizing the truth, incentivizing people to buy more Rippaverse books."

Eric July's Isom 2 Shane Davis Cover Drawing Process youtu.be

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Woke Media Is Shocked by Eric July’s @Rippaverse Comics

Woke Media Is Shocked by Eric July’s @Rippaverse Comics

BlazeTV contributor Eric July's Rippaverse Comics puts woke Marvel and DC to shame with jaw-dropping sales



Just one day after the official launch of BlazeTV contributor Eric July's independent comic book company Rippaverse Comics, pre-order sales for its debut series, "Isom #1," have blown past expectations and put the comic book industry on notice.

With an initial pre-order campaign target of $100,000 in sales, total sales revenue for July's first comic series has already approached $1 million in just one day — and there are still 74 days left before the campaign ends.

It's an astounding success that July believes shows how many comic book fans are ready to support a "parallel economy" that will challenge the industry's "old guard."

\u201cWhat a way to start the day! THANK YOU!!! #rippaverse #isom #WeWillWin #comicbooks\u201d
— Rippaverse Comics (@Rippaverse Comics) 1657630972

In recent years, legacy publishers like Marvel Comics and DC Comics have taken a leftward turn that has alienated some readers. Controversies over sudden and dramatic changes to long-standing characters — like making Batman's sidekick Robin bisexual — have divided the fan base, with some embracing the push for diversity and others lamenting that good storytelling has been undermined by "woke" industry activists.

July, a content creator, musician, and lifelong comic book fan, is among those who do not like the direction the industry has taken.

"Between changing all of these characters and you have this ridiculous kind of push for social justice, insulting the audience and all of that — and I was like, you know what? I am going to be a solution to the problem," July told TheBlaze in an interview.

Supported by hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, July told TheBlaze he founded Rippaverse Comics to tell good stories. His company is guided by a code of ethics that prioritizes respect for the customer, a streamlined canon and continuity to avoid the excesses of other convoluted comics stories, and a comprehensive timeline that will "keep reboots to a minimum" and allow readers to easily grasp and enjoy the stories from the Rippaverse.

But at the heart of this endeavor is July's desire to tell stories about heroes who can serve as role models, who understand the difference between right and wrong, and who will entertain and inspire readers by being relatable.

"The Flash was a character that was my first favorite comic book character. Why? Because he ran fast and I was a fast kid. You know, you do the Field Day thing, and people that know me, I went all the way through the collegiate level as a track and field athlete. And that's why it resonated with me," July said. "But as I got older, it was like Batman and some of the experiences that he had, basically growing up without a father being present and all those sorts of things I resonated with as I got older."

"We're not writing down to the audience," he added. "I'm not in the business of lecturing people and telling people exactly how to live their lives. But there are universal truths that I will acknowledge and I think that's what's sort of missing, because people have, unfortunately, definitely in comic books these days, put other stuff at the forefront, and telling a good story is secondary. Acknowledging those universal truths are secondary, if they are ever acknowledged at all."

Rippaverse Comics' first series, "Isom," tells the story of Avery Silman, a common Texas rancher who gains superpowers and becomes the superhero Isom. After walking away from the superhero life, Silman is called back into action to confront an old friend who has since become one of the most feared men in his city.

The story was written by July, illustrations done by artist Cliff Richards, and the coloring done by Gabe Eltaeb, a former DC Comics colorist who quit last year after expressing disgust with out-of-character changes to Superman's character.

\u201cWelcome to the Rippaverse\u201d
— Rippaverse Comics (@Rippaverse Comics) 1657292401

Pre-orders for the series launched on Monday, July 11, and by Tuesday afternoon, total revenue for Isom #1 was more than $984,000 and growing, with over 10,000 total purchasers. July said that initial plans to distribute about 12,000 graphic novels have changed after massive demand "destroyed expectations." He estimates Rippaverse will sell close to 100,000 graphic novels now.

July said that customers demoralized by the "old guard's" left-wing politics are flocking to Rippaverse Comics, whose innovative sales model was responsible for the series' unexpected success.

"These people that are demoralized want to believe that the old guard that stands right now, because they stand right now, they have to always be there. They've existed for years ... and I think that they underestimate the power that we have, even just with the internet," July said.

He explained that the internet and social media give Rippaverse Comics "a direct line of sight" to connect customers with "a project that people want to buy."

\u201cWe do not need the Old Guard. That\u2019s what this pre-order campaign highlights. \n\nTheir model is archaic. We had No inorganic mega-corporate push or placement. All the promo has been from our amazing corner of the internet. \n\nParallel economy.\u201d
— Eric July (@Eric July) 1657598823

Rippaverse Comics will also be a place where content creators, artists, writers, and anyone else in the comic book industry who feels alienated by big corporations can come and tell their stories without fear of censorship or judgement, July said.

"There are a lot creative people that are in our space, on our side of the line of thinking, in support of the value of liberty. No matter whether you are conservative, libertarian, or whatever, and they're just undiscovered. They're in hiding because they have to work for the old guard," he said.

"What feels good is that I get to reach out to them first or that's the pool that we have to choose from. Before I start doing external stuff, I get to point to our community. I get to point to people that are in our space and say, 'Hey,' or put that call out at — 'Hey, we're looking for this. We're looking for that' — and give these guys well-paying jobs to be able to create or be part of something that is fresh, that is new, but also that they know doesn't hate them."

Pre-orders for Isom #1 are available now from Rippaverse Comics' website. Parents should be advised the series is appropriate for teens or older readers.