Marvel and DC Comics have thousands of characters, and it can be hard to showcase all of them in monthly comics. However, both publishers have come up with something of a work around, while also showing off the diversity of their characters — the anthologies. Every year during Black History Month, Pride Month, AAPI, Women’s History Month, and more, Marvel and DC put competing anthology books, ones that showcase characters who are both well-known and obscure. These anthologies often have some amazing stories in them — for example, DC Pride 2022 had “Finding Batman” by Kevin Conroy, illustrating the actor’s struggles with being in the closet and how playing Batman helped him — and have reintroduced multiple amazing characters to fans.
As great as they anthologies can be, however, it often feels like the Big Two is using them to tick off a box. Anthologies are a great way to get fans interested in characters they hadn’t thought about in years, but how many times have Marvel or DC actually done anything important with any of the characters in these anthologies? When was the last time they counted for anything? It’s all well and good that the Big Two are following the winds of diversity, but there has to be a better way and both readers and the characters deserve more than just token anthologies. They deserve meaningful representation.
One of the great things about anthologies in general are that they are great for introducing readers to characters and stories they’ve never seen before. Marvel publishes some excellent comics, but there they only publish what sells. This can mean that a character like Escapade, a brand-new trans superhero who debuted in Marvel’s Pride anthology in 2023, might not get a chance to shine without these kinds of comics. Monthly comics aren’t as “loose” as they used to be; single issues stories where a new character can be introduced or a team-up with another hero who hasn’t been seen in years can happen are a thing of the past. Everyone is writing for the trade, so every issue is a carefully crafted chapter in a long term story. The anthologies allow creators to drop entirely new characters in all-new stories, as well as bring back characters that have been gone for years.
DC has relied much more heavily on anthologies in the last few years than Marvel has — for example, the “Lazarus Planet” event was a bunch of anthologies bookended by special issues — and has used them as “fishing expeditions”, as it were. DC will use its anthology books to see what people like and then bring those characters into books. For example, Circuit Breaker premiered in “Lazarus Planet” and has played a role in multiple anthology books since; Circuit Breaker is a trans hero who is powered by the Still Force who may not have gotten a chance without anthology comics. Then there’s someone like Red Canary, an Asian superhero inspired by Black Canary, who first appeared in tie-ins to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and has since found her way into other DC books. The hope for fans of these characters is that they will end up on one of DC’s greatest teams or get a co-starring role in an ongoing book or even get their own miniseries.
Marvel and DC use their anthologies differently and both have positives, but they need to step things up. While some anthologies lead to bigger and better things for their characters — Escapade got into New Mutants and was the focus of two major story arcs — most of the time they feel like they’re just there to get brownie points with fans, especially Marvel’s special anthologies. If Marvel and DC want to prove that they are allies to the communities these special anthologies are targeting, the way to do it isn’t to put out a special anthology once a year and then forget about it until the next year. They need to start giving these characters actual meaningful stories that happen throughout the year, stories that mean more than just one-off moments. These anthologies, as good as they can be, segregate characters to special issues and then do nothing with them. That’s the opposite of what they should be doing.
DC is known for putting out strange stories and ideas. Marvel has done an amazing job of bringing realism into superhero comics. Both publishers have pushed the bounds of what the comic medium can be, and their anthologies are a big part of that. While it’s great that they are showing off their diversity, they need to make an effort to do it across their main line. Anthologies should definitely have a place in comics, and the special anthologies for different communities should continue to be published. However, it’s time to take these characters out of the anthologies and into the main line.
When was the last time that a Marvel story starring an LGBTQ+ individual had any kind of meaningful impact beyond the pages of a special anthology? Marvel led the way in diversity throughout the 2010s, but since then have basically just used the anthologies to tell those kinds of stories. The result feels performative rather than a genuine celebration. While DC definitely does better — and historically have pushed the envelope of diversity with characters and stories — they also haven’t been telling extremely meaningful stories with these communities as much as they could. Both publishers need to do better. By using the diverse and interesting characters that they’ve created and frequently only bring out during special issues, both Marvel and DC have an opportunity to not only tell new, fresh stories that would continue to open new chapters for their existing characters, but would also widen the appeal of their comics to new readers as well.
Marvel and DC Comics have thousands of characters, and it can be hard to showcase all of them in monthly comics. However, both publishers have come up with something of a work around, while also showing off the diversity of their characters — the anthologies. Every year during Black History Month, Pride Month, AAPI, Women’s Read More