Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, northrop grumman
Marvel Pulls Northrop Grumman Comic From Website
Marvel has apparently removed the custom comic book produced with Northrop Grumman from their website, following backlash against the collaboration with the world's fifth largest defense contractor.
Earlier today, Bleeding Cool told you about the team-up between Marvel Comics and Northrup Grumman, a company which a 2012 report by 247 Wall St named the sixth largest war profiteer with $25.2 billion in sales, $19.4 billion of which came from arms sales, and over $2 billion in profit. In addition to producing planes and ships for the military including first strike nuclear weapons like stealth bombers, as well as nuclear capable ICBM missiles and drones, Northrop Grumman is also responsible for more outlandish weapons like a new "150-kilowatt-class solid state (electric) laser weapon system" for the Navy.
As part of their collaboration with the arms manufacturer, Marvel produced a comic book called Avengers, Featuring N.G.E.N. – Start Your N.G.E.N.S!, from writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Sean Chen. In that comic, the titular Earth's Mightiest Heroes team up with Northrup Grumman's Elite Nexus, a not-so-fantastic team of four who specialize in "cutting edge, hi-tech adventures." The comic, billed by Marvel as "all-ages," featured an advertisement claiming a career at Northrop Grumman could "make your dreams come true."
The comic was available to read for free on Marvel's website on Friday, and the rules of a sweepstakes advertised in the comic claimed that physical copies would be given out all weekend at New York Comic Con, though we have not seen one in the wild yet. However, as of press time, attempting to access the url directs the user back to Marvel's main website, as does the url for sweepstakes entry, indicating that the entire collaboration may have been canceled.
Another part of the team-up is a mysterious event advertised for Marvel's booth at New York Comic Con at 3PM tomorrow tomorrow. Marvel has yet to make any official announcement on the status of that event, their tweet is still online as of press time, and Northrop Grumman's twitter profile displays a banner with both companies' logos and the date 10-07-2017. That could easily change by tomorrow, and we'll let you know if it does.
UPDATE: The event is canceled as well.