COWARDICE. DC deletes Batman poster to please Beijing.

Deleted by DC Comics because Beijing didn't like it.

From the bulging American corporate cowardice file, this gem.

DC Comics teased Frank Miller's upcoming The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child on social media this month --- the sequel comic releasing in December -- using artwork by Rafael Grampá, only to remove the promo posts shortly afterwards, following backlash from vocal readers in China.
The issue here revolves around the variant cover featured in the posts, which depicts Carrie Kelly as Batwoman, hurling a Molotov cocktail against a backdrop that included text reading, "The Future is Young." Those opposing the artwork claimed that it implies DC Comics' support for the protesters in Hong Kong, largely owing to Batwoman's outfit and pose and their resemblance to the general aesthetic of Hong Kong protesters.

That's from CBR.com, quoting Variety Mag. They seem to be pretending that people who actually read Batman comics in China are the ones creating the "backlash".

Here's the Variety piece:

But the poster came under fire from Chinese internet users who contended that it contained coded messages in support of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests. They said that the Molotov cocktail alluded to young Hong Kong protesters' more violent tactics, that the "dark knight's" choice of black attire referred to the black-clad Hong Kong protesters, and that the "golden child" of the book's title was a veiled reference to the color yellow, which was taken up by previous pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong five years ago.

In this article Variety had the wit to say "Chinese internet users" rather than imply it was Chinese comic readers. I think it's safe to assume that Chinese comic nerds are being very, very careful about what they say on the internet.

Variety went on to say this:

China is a critical market for Warner Bros., which owns DC Entertainment and DC Comics, its publishing subsidiary. "Aquaman" broke Chinese box office records last December to take in a cumulative $292 million, while "Shazam!" made $43.8 million in April.

What the corner-office dorks at Warner are doing is the typical risk-averse two-step that countless American companies have been doing the last 40 years. They're trying to please everybody. Unfortunately in this case its a binary situation. On one side, the totalitarian state of Communist China, with all that implies. On the other side is Western Civilization, freedom, and the very innermost character of the franchises in question.

What would Batman do? He'd kidnap the president of China and make him pull the army out of Hong Kong, most likely. Batman is not a big fan of innocent people getting shot, from my reading of the comics over the years.

For DC Comics to be A) selling super hero comics and B) openly toadying to Beijing over a comic book poster is a pile of irony upon irony that would make a hipster swoon.

There really is a culture war out there, and it is being waged against Individual Freedom by the likes of the Communist Chinese and the SJWs at comic companies and in Hollywood. I capitalized individual freedom because thats the crux of the argument. We are all supposed to be good little peasants who stay in our assigned place and do our assigned work quietly.

Personally, I'm not having it. I aim to misbehave.

The Phantom