The comic book industry survives today on the same batch of superheroes that launched it way back in the 20th Century, the developer of a forthcoming comics app told
Newsmax TV on Friday.
Matt Lieberman, chief development officer of
Farrago Comics, told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner that the Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and X-Men franchises of old still dominate the trade, and that it's time for a new breed of superhero.
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The two big imprints, DC and Marvel, are churning out profitable movie versions of their mainstay titles, while they continue to publish multiple, alternate-universe storylines for the same sets of characters.
Marvel announced changes for two of its longtime do-gooders last week: Thor, the hammer-throwing Norse deity,
will become a woman; and the next Captain America
will be black.
Lieberman said those changes could be a product of "political correctness," but also of the industry's tendency to recycle its greatest hits.
"When you’re dealing with only the same 15 characters for decades and decades and decades, at some point, to make it interesting, you’re going to say, 'Alright, let’s make this one a woman. Let’s make this one like that,' " said Lieberman. "And the fans who are core fans, they stick with it.
"But other folks just kind of scratch their heads and say there’s got to be something else," he said.
Lieberman said Farrago will use an ad-supported, app-based model of publishing to connect readers and comic-book creators. He said there is a "broad, untapped reservior" of storytellers and superhero fans waiting to find one another.
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