Found out why Marvel has been sucking.

Marvel managers have been listening to these morons here.

On Tuesday morning, the finalists for the 2017 Hugo Awards (the Oscars of sci-fi and fantasy writing) were announced by the World Science Fiction. Unsurprisingly, collected volumes of Marvel's critically acclaimed Black Panther and Ms. Marvel series were both nominated for Best Graphic Story.

These nominations come just days after Marvel's Vice President of Sales, David Gabriel, went out of his way to blame Marvel's lagging sales on comics—like Black Panther and Ms. Marvel—starring people of color and women. Suffice it to say that the optics of this whole thing don't reflect well on the publisher, but the Hugo nominations send a telling message to Marvel about just how the public actually feels about its "diverse books."

I'll repeat that last bit because it is just too sweet: "...the Hugo nominations send a telling message to Marvel about just how the public actually feels about its "diverse books."

That is actually true. It does send a telling message. And the message is "Ghostbusters got a Hugo nomination too."

The Hugo's new role in SF/F is the Kiss of Death. When you have completely jumped the shark, abandoned your morals, your values, your common sense and your audience, when your sales are tanking hard because you have been producing nothing but Lefty propaganda, you will be nominated for a Hugo.

These days a Hugo nomination is not an achievement. It is a warning.

Note to Marvel board of directors: fire everyone, start over.

The Phantom