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Do the words "incriminating" mean anything to you, Lex?!

This comic is, as is usual for Wednesday’s comics, chosen by my Patrons. Speaking of…

NO.

Stuffing cigarette butts into the lining of nests may seem unwholesome. But a team of ecologists says that far from being unnatural, the use of smoked cigarettes by city birds may be an urban variation of an ancient adaptation.

Birds have long been known to line their nests with vegetation rich in compounds that drive away parasites. Chemicals in tobacco leaves are known to repel arthropods such as parasitic mites, so Monserrat Suárez-Rodríguez, an ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, and her colleagues wondered whether city birds were using cigarette butts in the same way.

In a study published in Biology Letters, the researchers examined the nests of two bird species common on the North American continent. They measured the amount of cellulose acetate (a component of cigarette butts) in the nests, and found that the more there was, the fewer parasitic mites the nest contained.

As well as having anti-parasite effects, Suárez-Rodríguez cautions there may be as-yet unknown negative effects for the birds, because many compounds in cigarette butts are known carcinogens, and some are pesticides.

I sent this letter to the X-Office email address recently, and after a recent conversation here I thought I'd post it here. I don't expect to hear back from Marvel at all, because that seems to be their response to criticism these days, but here it is.

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This is something that I've been watching build since at least Avengers vs. X-Men, and while it's mostly about the X-Books I've seen it from the other offices as well. It's a sense that Editorial is frankly notlistening to their readers. And I don't think this is an exaggeration, but it's reflected in the sales as well.

Sales for the X-Books have been troubling since From the Ashes began. X-Men were historically one of Marvel's strongest performers, but since FtA began the lineup has been getting beaten up on the sales rankings charts not just by other Marvel properties, but by DC and even Image. Characters whose books have historically sold well such as X-23 are now dropped out of the Top 50, if not the Top 100. It's certainly hard to get a true sense of how books are performing since actual sales numbers have been withheld for some time, but there's an inference to be made when the Top 50 was formally dominated by the X-line, but now we're lucky to see 3 - 4 X-books in that range.

There can be a lot of factors involved, but I think one that is continually being overlooked, whether it's just an oversight or outright refusal to acknowledge the situation, is Editorial not actually listening to what their readers are saying.

I first really noticed this trend during Jordan White's tenure. White's at times trollish response to fans contributed a sense that he really didn't care about the readers' interests. This is exacerbated by a questionable view on the makeup of the fanbase. Editors like White and Brevoort seem to be operating under illusion that the core readership is still made upf of teenagers. This has led to the "Perpetual 20s" of the Original Five, where Cyclops, Jean, Bobby, and Warren are never allowed to age older than their 20s because readers would find them "unrelatable." This extends beyond just the X-Office, with Spider-Man being an excellent example; Despite constant fan pressure about bringing back the Spider-Marriage and undoing One More Day, Editorial continues to double down on the idea that their readers couldn't relate to Peter having a happy and healthy marriage. The reality is that the average reader age has increased over time. Younger audiences are faced with more competition from other sources of entertainment, and it's now people in their 30s and 40s who are the core readership. And yet we're not supposed to find older characters relatable?

And this ties back into feelings, as a fan, of not being heard or listened to. For example, in her recent X-Men Monday Q&A with AitP, Jody Houser was asked about the appearance of Laura's friends from Academy X, characters that fans have been asking to see more of since AvX (and Jordan White even acknowledged they were in high demand!) especially in regards to revisiting Laura's friendships with Mercury and Dust, only to answer that there were no plans for them to appear at all. Hellion specifically received multiple inquiries during that same Q&A; in fact for years he has been one of, if not the, leading question-drivers on Laura's books because it's a relationship many fans are still widely invested in, and want to see developments like NYX #8 and Laura Kinney: Wolverine #7 meaningfully followed up on. The fact that this can be asked again and again and again and again and yet nothing actually be done with it leads to a sense of alienation and that fans' interests are not being considered.

Art is certainly subjective, and artists need some freedom to tell the story they wish to tell, but when it's also media intended for consumption there comes a point where not listening to readers becomes negligent in what the books are meant to be. Instead, readers are met with patronizing sarcasm, (White) disregard, (Brevoort) or outright hostility (Lowe).

It's an incredibly frustrating experience when it seems that editorial is only willing to acknowledge feedback that promotes what they want to believe. This is most evident when viewing the letters columns. Looking back through back issues in the 80s and 90s I'm often astonished at just how nasty some of the letters were that were not only printed, but even responded to! Yet that provided a sense that concerns were actually being heard. Now I seldom see meaningful criticism in the letter columns, and almost exclusively praise and cheerleading as if there is no such criticism at all.

But it’s still better than nothing!

If you’re interested writing TO Marvel- [email protected] ([email protected] for fans pissed off about “One More Day”)

Also if you haven’t- try sharing and signing the petition; I haven’t updated it to include NYX or anything recent… but it still might help?

That said, you make a fair point. A lack of belief isn't necessarily something a person "devotes" themselves to, so my wording admittedly wasn't the best. I probably should have structured the poll differently. I included "(or lack of)" because I wanted the poll to be inclusive of people whose relationship with religion isn't primarily centered on belief, such as some secular Jews and other people who identify with a religious tradition without having theistic beliefs. Many people, such as secular Jews i’ve spoken with, have said things such as, but not limited to; “who said anything about belief?” I was trying to account for perspectives similar.

He knew.

The bastard KNEW.

At least three inhabited planets reduced to rubble, a dozen galaxies placed under threat of annihilation, the Earth caught in the center of a battle that would be waged for the fate of all existence against a mad tyrant seeking to remake all of creation in his own vile image.

And President Lex Luthor knew about it. MONTHS in advance. And he kept it to himself to make himself look good. And then he lied about it. And he used a convicted fugitive TO lie about it. And then he tried to kill us all so he could reign over the ashes.

(A "war poster" created during Luthor's administration and the Imperiex War)

The Imperiex War as it has come to be known was an assault on the Earth that caused devastating damage to Topkea, Kansas, the island of Themyscira and half a dozen other locations and was instigated by the mad alien Imperiex. Seeking to undo the "imperfection" he sensed in the universe by destroying all of creation as we know it and resetting things with a new big bang. Which would, of course, kill all beings in THIS universe not counting all the sentient beings he killed in his regular military actions against planets that happened to be in his way. The death toll on Earth was upwards of 7 million, the death toll in the wider universe is beyond our ability to count.

And Lex Luthor knew about it nearly a year in advance.

Superman had gone off to fight one of Imperiex's probes during their FIRST planetary assault. Bringing back information about Imperiex's plans, his army, his tactics, everything we could possibly have needed to begin assembling defensive plans and marshalling resources for the arrival of the enemy's first wave.

Save that most of that defensive posture would probably have including a combined plan, using the Earth's superhuman defenders as the vanguard and spear point in any counterattack. And they'd get most of the credit, because they'd do most of the fighting and bleeding for Earth's future. As they most often do.

Instead he waiting until the attack arrived, catching world governments AND the superhero community flat footed so that he could make the "hard choices" of basing most of his defensive strategy around allying himself with Pokolistani dictator General Zod and literal space god of tyranny Darkseid. Also giving him the leeway in the midst of a global panic to "draft" superheroes outside the confines of the law (even Article X, which he never invoked despite this being the kind of situation it was made for), toss them out on hastily planned suicide missions so that eventually he would be the one making grand speeches and standing for the flag in the aftermath.

And we won. Barely. Because our heroes are the kind of people who can find the light in a situation like that and pull our fat out of the fire. After 7. Million. Deaths. And the devastation of a major American city that in many ways still hasn't recovered.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, because they are VERY good at their jobs, uncovered a trail stating that President Luthor did intentionally sabotage Earth's defense for the sake of his own popularity. Using this information they got him to commit to testify about it under oath, using the psychic powers of the Martian Manhunter as an actually effective lie detector test. Backed into this legal corner Luthor then pardoned and began working with internationally convicted terrorist Manchester Black, using Black's mental abilities to shield and misdirect the Manhunter's scans. A bit of legal chicanery that temporary cost both Lane and Kent their jobs and their reputations.

It was only after Black turned on Luthor, shortly before Black's suicide that the truth began to come to light. A desperate Luthor once AGAIN keeping the existence of a massive Kryptonite meteor a secret for weeks in an attempt to either solve it himself OR shift blame to Superman and then finally settling on a Vault Tec style plan to ride out the crashing of the asteroid and reign over the Earth's ashes. He failed, again. And this time when he was caught on national television ranting like a madman in a public brawl with Superman wearing Apokoliptan war armor there was no pretense left to be had.