An Open Letter to Marvel,
Hey Marvel. Your comic books are pretty amazing. They always have been. Your movies are amazing, probably because you guys take the time to hire actors, directors, producers, and basically everyone else for a project that is right for the movie…not just right for the budget. Props to you for that. As a fan, I can honestly say I truly appreciate the level of work you put into everything you produce. I wish more production companies took your stories as seriously as you do and that they made movies actually worth watching. Unfortunately, they don’t, so let’s just pretend they don’t exist.
You do a lot of things right Marvel. You find a way to interact with your fans through various forms of social media. I personally appreciate your level of participation on Twitter and Instagram. It means a lot to fans when you take the time to “like” and “retweet” their posts. It makes us feel as though you hear what we have to say, and as though what we are saying actually matters to you. Maybe it does, I don’t really know, but the effort is sincerely appreciated. However, there is a massive population of fans that tend to get overlook 90% of the time. Fan Producers.
There’s this thing about fans, in particular fans as dedicated as the ones in the Marvel Universe. The more you love something, the stronger your desire to feel apart of that thing. Fan producers take their dedication to the next level. Instead of just consuming the content created by Marvel they seek to become content creators themselves. This manifests itself in various art forms. Whether fans dedicate their time and energy to writing fan fiction, drawing concept art, designing and creating cosplay costumes, directing fan videos and/or recreating the likenesses of their favorite Marvel characters into pancake art, fans take the thing that they love and find a way to reinterpret that into a new media. This type of fan production is brilliant, marketable, and deserves your attention.
I’ve seen your Pinterest page so I understand that Marvel does in fact celebrate Cosplay, everyone does. Cosplay is the most recognized (and acceptable) form of fan art there is. That’s great but cosplay artists shouldn’t be the only artists recognized by Marvel. You’ve been hiring fans to work for your company for decades, some of the most recognizable names of artists in Marvel’s history are self proclaimed comic book fans. What they create within the pages of Marvel is no different than what a fan creates in their spare time at home. IF anything the fan is showing greater dedication for the fandom because what they are creating isn’t always compensated, often it is just for the joy of crafting something cool that represents the fandom they love. Some fans do try and sell their wares on craft sites like Etsy.com, but they shouldn’t be forced to peddle their goods on a site so vast their work might never be seen.
Marvel, you’d be wise to see the value in this work. To establish a market site for fans by fans. A site where anyone can come to buy, sell, or trade fan art all in the scope of the Marvel Universe. It doesn’t have to be made cannon, it doesn’t have to change the story lines, but it does NEED to be recognized. Your fans deserve your respect. They fill the seats during opening weekends, and they’re the ones lined up outside conference centers dying for autographs. The least you can do is let them know what they produce matters and give them a virtual space to share what they create.
prguitarman
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
