Did anyone pay really close attention to the set during last night’s “Big Bang Theory” of scenes set in the comic book shop? Obviously a lot of DC stuff is going to be around (CBS and Time/Warner have a lot of deals together), but last night there were a plethora of Dark Horse and Image comic properties around the set. What about Marvel? From what I could tell, there was nary a scrap. Is there a conspiracy afoot? Is someone not playing ball? Did someone fail to slip the money under the table?
Discuss.
28 Comments
It’s produced by warner brothers.
Well, they did have the quip with the numerous Spider-Man books. Its just happenstance that Marvel wasn’t exposed as much as its distinguished competition. I see no conspiracy or fowl play in this. They probably just know which company is better. BTW, loved the Infinite Crisis-52-multiverse bit. So over the top.
I’m not going to say I’m too disappointed for the feature on DC. Do the scenes in the comic shop happen often? AKA, is this a show worth watching?
The show is definetley worth watching if you are a geek so many references… its very funny
Simply put – Big Bang is MADE BY Time/Warner. Why would you give the main competition to one of your divisions, one that sometimes goes out of its way to talk smack about your stuff, any free publicity? Dark Horse & Image have never deliberately singled DC out for ridicule in public; Marvel has frequently. It’s as simple as that – they don’t want to scratch the back of a dog that likes to bite them. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with it.
MechanisticMoth – while there aren’t that many scenes in the shop, per se, there’s plenty of “geek culture” references, and even with the relationship crap that’s been mandatory for sitcoms since Friends’ reign of terror, it’s a very funny show. Which is a big thing from me – I don’t think any sitcom in the past twenty years has been worth a damn since this one.
@albert: “I see no conspiracy or fowl play in this.”
What do birds have to do with any of this? :P
Mela: totally agree. Although it is rather funny to see the snub Marvel so openly, hence the post.
mr. schleicher: starting this debate is like complaining that the MS crew is favoring on publisher over the other. they maybe do it, they maybe not, but if the company is theirs, why would they any other stuff than their stuff.
by the way, you are favoring boom studio!
This was brought up a few weeks ago on 1o9.com. The Warner Bros/DC connection was brought up and it appears that Chuck Lorre passed on including some Wolverine references for the movie’s release. Here’s the posting: http://io9.com/5217064/sitcom-payola-doesnt-always-work-out
As far as the show goes, I love it. Comic books aren’t always brought up, but there are PLENTY of other geek-nods to go around. I can’t seem to watch it with anyone else, because they don’t get all the references. I don’t have too many “geek” friends.
I concur with Mela. I’m not easily swayed towards much “popular” television, but “Big Bang Theory” gives me gigglefits because it’s like the characters are people _I_ know. They’re not frat guys, or trendy 30somethings, or lawyers, or doctors. They are GEEKS. And they REVEL in it. Smart geeks too, if they avoid the Marvel.. (ooohhhh. sorry. I took the cheap — and easy — shot.)
Hermit: you lie… Boom Studios only has 156 articles, while DC has 1219, and Marvel has 1595.
Can I help it if Boom! Studios favors us?
Marvel is too over-exposed anyway. And let’s face it, DC need the publicity!
mr. schleicher: hey, i’m not complaining, in fact i encourage it. but over the last year you’ve been doing more and more Boom and they deserve it. DC and marvel doesn’t need more exposure.
How f…. dare anyone out there make fun of marvel after all they have been through
it’s a great show and they never put references about marvel . All you people care about is….. readers and making money out of it.
Quesada it’s just a HUMAN
leave marvel alone! You are lucky they even put so many great book a month for you BASTARDS!
LEAVE MARVEL ALONE!….
They are always doing DC stuff , why the one episode they were all dressed like the flash and they only show like DC statues and toys and such and why they even let Sheldon drive a Virtual Batmobile in a episode not the spider-car ! seriously who does not wanna drive a car that can drive on walls !
Hermit: You may notice that we are covering a lot more smaller publisher content on the site (Dynamite, Zenescope, Boom!, Image, Dark Horse, and so on), because they have figured out a) Major Spoilers is growing by leaps and bounds and is attracting more readers each month. b) we are more likely to post news information that is sent to us than other sites, , whereas the bigger companies think all they have to do is interact with two of the bigger websites and finally c) the smaller companies are hustling to make ends meet and they know any publicity is good publicity.
Fight off the hordes Stephen… that was a pretty funny trick pulling out how many posts you’ve done and for whom.
Thanks for the info. on the show, I’ll try to check it out.
Oh, and Stephen, I’d really like it if you’d cover more of Mirage studios, but I understand if they’re not the ones sending you stuff and you’d have to actively search out their news when you’re already so busy… I was super excited when I saw the April O’Neil figure on majorspoilers despite already knowing about it.
mr. schleicher: oh yeah, i noticed, and i’m very happy about it.
While I love “Big Bang Theory”, and completely understand that it’s show more or less owned by Time Warner, it does irritate me as a comic fan to see them basically ignoring Marvel’s existence. But hey, it’s such a minor, petty geek-quirk I honestly could care less.
And besides…Marvel has something like 30% of the comic sales market right now, so you’re right…DC could very well need the publicity. DC can have their sitcom, Marvel will continue dominating the box office.
I don’t know that Marvel will automatically dominate anything…
Marvel succeeds because we let them.
MechanisticMoth: I would very much like to cover more stuff from every publisher. The biggest problem is having to constantly track down contacts at these companies and then getting them to send us stuff. I’ve probably gone on a jag about this before, but comic book public relations is so screwed up, it is no wonder everything is in a nose dive. This is nothing like the pro video and audio market and the consumer electronics mark I cover as well. It’s insane – especially when there is so much nepotism between certain websites, and the pr people at certain companies who give favors because they used to work for those websites, while shunning the rest of us, because we are new to the world or comic book coverage. INSANE I TELLS YOU!
As far as the post count goes, I find it important to nip any sort of favortism claims in the bud as soon as possible, because as soon as people start to believe it, it ends up hurting the overall site – even if hermit is joking around about it. (Hint: dig through the site and the podcasts and you’ll see a long thread about that)
Finally, I would very much like to have the time to do more with this site, but I don’t have the funding to actually hire anyone. I’m lucky to have such great help from Matthew with his reviews, and Rodrigo with his gaming and ability to speak well on a podcast that helps round out this site. I’m not trying to go on a pity party, but I try to get between 10 and 15 items up a day, and a full review each day, all while holding down a full time job, raising a two year old, doing two other websites, and podcasts for them as well. I generally get to be around 1:30 or 2 AM and get up by 6:20 or so to start it all over again.
Stephen, you really need to cut back on all the things you do!! I suggest letting the 2-year old become self-sufficient at an early age. C’mon…. Kids grow up fast now! Geez. By November, your kid’ll have a job and a place on his/her own!
Big Bang Theory is a brilliant series, especially if you’re geek and get the references to comics, films or science (I don’t get all of them…).
I see nothing wrong in them using only DC comics to decorate their set, they are produced by WB after all. And it’s not like they completely ignore Marvel, they had the discussion about Spider-Man. Nothing too bad about it imho.
IF Dc’s parent company make the show, of course they are going to favour DC comics, they’d be stupid not to.
I’ve always meant to watch the this show but have always missed it, I’ll try harder.
And if the likes of Boom, Zenoscape etc can be bothered to send Major Spoilers stuff then good for them and I’ll read about them. If Marvel can’t be arsed then too bad for them.
Matt, you hit the nail on the head as Marvel does succeed because the majority do let them. Years ago I thought Joe Q. was a breath of fresh air Marvel needed…Gawd was I wrong. The day I take a peek at Marvel again is the day both Joe Q. and Bendis leave Marvel forever. yes I am a DC fan, however I do love alot of Marvel characters, but my Marvel days are from the 80’s as I left mid 90’s due to the crap that company tried to force me to read. Bendis has no clue who the characters are that he is writing sadly.
BBT is a great show and had minor Marvel snipets, however at he end of the day it is in essence a geek show and any geek reference is great. DC does need the exposure more and with Time/Warner planting their own companies items throughout is their own choice. Favor your own. I am not saying DC is perfect as Didio has made his share of machiavellian decisions, but at the end of the day DC manages to inspire me while the rumblings I hear at Marvel of how a character is treated from Spidey to Ironman I cringe at how these characters no longer act the way they once were due to horrible editorial choices and the fans keep money flowing in and continue these horrible projects.
Ohwell my 2 cents
You guys are amazingly relevant and timely! CNN.com had a link about this story and the “geek” factor involved with it… Lemme get another tab going and I’ll find you the story. Justasec. :)
……
There we go. Enjoy this: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/05/06/geeks.pop.culture/index.html
ummmm…winter…this would not be the first time Major Spoilers was used as the launching point for a story by big media… CBS did a couple of years ago when Major Spoilers launched when I wrote a piece about Aquaman…it is cool to be sure, but in the world of the blogosphere anything is possible.
They’re geniuses–obviously geniuses prefer DC…though I would have thought they would prefer Dr. Who to Star Trek!