Marvel comics currently not selling that well; blaming recent initiative for more creators and characters of color becomes convenient new way to willfully ignore overwhelming systemic problems with the comics industry
Marvel Comics on 02016 sales drop: 'Diversity doesn't sell' [to the current white-male hardcore customer fanbase/retailers remaining?]
Marvel executive says emphasis on diversity may have alienated readers
Marvel Exec Clarifies Comments That 'People Didn't Want Any More Diversity'
The outrage over Marvel's alleged diversity blaming, explained
Brian Hibbs: Marvel is injudiciously publishing too many titles
No, Diversity Didn't Kill Marvel's Comic Sales ["Blaming "diversity" only goes so far when it is series about white men and teams of white men that have been dropping the furthest... There are many potential explanations for why Marvel's sales have declined since 'Secret Wars' - the decision to relaunch titles that were already selling well, a weak slate of new series, reader fatigue with the seemingly unending string of events and crossovers, a desire for more escapist stories at a time when Marvel was prepping for an event about fascism, steep competition from DC's Rebirth relaunch, poor marketing outside of the direct market, etc. - but the publisher's current focus with "diversity" is not among them."]
Orbital: A retailers perspective on diversity in the news [the books sell, especially as trades; the notion that Marvel has really actually tried diversity doesn't hold; pricing, variant covers, events, crossovers, tie-ins and reboot saturation]
Beyond The Pale (Male): Marvel, Diversity And A Changing Comics Readership
It's Not Diversity Marvel, It's Poor Implementation [if Marvel was serious about diversity, it would build up new IP characters who stand on their own, rather than render its core iconic universe unrecognizable with one-note sake-of-change gender/racial/sexual preference replacements/stunts]
On Marvel and Diversity and Sales and Such [Comic Reviews by Walt]
Marvel exec blames lackluster comic sales on diversity; all evidence says otherwise
Is social justice ruining Marvel Comics?
How are retailers reacting to Marvel's next huge event, Secret Empire, i.e., Captain America(!) and Magneto (Holocaust survivor!?) as Hydra Nazis? "cautious to actively negative"
Open Letter To Marvel Comics re: Secret Empire & Diversity
Marvel remove X-Men artwork after cartoonist hides anti-Semitic and anti-Christian references in work [Indonesian artist Ardian Syaf made numerous references to the protests in Jakarta]
> Marvel to start advertising comics before movies and on TV
Hickman: "Marvel and DC basically have static IP because none of us are stupid enough to create new IP. Until the deal changes, it is what it is."
Marvel can only do faux diversity- few want an Iron Man who is black/female/gay/not Tony Stark, but they have to use "Iron Man"- it's part of the same dynamic why Marvel has to keep re-using, re-arranging, re-imagining, and re-hashing its IP: because no creator in her right mind is going to make really new intellectual property/characters for Marvel-Disney under the work-for-hire regime.
Update: Franklin Harris, July 02016: Characters vs. Trademarks ["But with comic book creators not wanting to imagine wholly original superheroes only for Marvel and DC to claim ownership, and with Marvel and DC nevertheless desperate for new characters that might reach new, historically underserved audiences, it becomes a zero-sum game. The only solution is for Marvel and DC to reimagine the characters they already own... Recasting the Ghostbusters is easy. Coming up with new characters and concepts is hard... Is repurposing characters originally envisioned as white men the best way to get [more kick-ass female role models]?"]
Update: Related: And now a female Doctor Who announced.