Wall Street Journal: Marvel Sez X-Men NOT Human!

The front page of the Jan. 20th WALL STREET JOURNAL (I kid you not): 'Is Wolverine Human? Judge Answers No; Fans Howl in Protest' along with a full-color shot of a Wolverine action figure! Marvel and Toy Biz have been fighting with the Customs Service to classify the Marvel action figures as 'toys' rather than 'dolls' to qualify for lower import tariffs (The toys are manufactured in China) Only non-human figures (Monsters, aliens, animals) qualify as 'toys' Human figures (GI Joe, Barbie, et al) are classified as 'dolls'.

Marvel fought to have all their action figures classified as 'non-human' and thus, as 'toys'. (Although how a Mary Jane Watson or Storm figure wouldn't be classifed as 'human' is beyond me...)

Judge Judith Barzitay ruled that since the characters had unusual powers and abilities, they were NOT human, and thus their figures were 'toys', not 'dolls'.

Marvel Comics applauded the decision.

X-Men writer Chuck Austen has some choice quotes against the decision.

This year is the 40th Anniversary of the creation of the X-Men, whom Marvel has now proclaimed to be 'non-human'.

The irony is obvious.

Wonder what Stan Lee thinks of this?

Interesting. For a company that has sure treated them like humans, you gotta wonder what all those 'X-Men vs. mutant haters' stories mean now...

That's right: NOTHING.

Marvel sells out again. But as always, they'll probably get away with it.

<Interesting. For a company that has sure treated them like humans, you gotta wonder what all those 'X-Men vs. mutant haters' stories mean now...

That's right: NOTHING.

Marvel sells out again. But as always, they'll probably get away with it.>

Well, frankly, I have little sympathy for the mutants here; the Mutant Anti-Defamation League has been rolling over for so long that I'm not surprised Marvel thinks they can get away with stuff like this. Where were they when the producers of X2 decided not to put any genetically challenged actors in the cast? I'm definitely going to stop sending them donations, I'll tell you that much...

-Bryan Harris

For those interested in the full transcript, it's up at X-Fan thanks to the site's editor, Brian Wilkinson, being quoted in the piece.
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?s=& threadid=15157

Note that this was a 'middle column' story. The WSJ traditionally uses the middle column on page 1 for a lighter feature-type story. There've been several collections of these, of which I have 'Dressing For Dinner In The Naked City' and the recently released 'Floating Off The Page'.

Surprising error in the story; they claim it's the 40th anniversary of Wolverine himself.

Also, this applies to all the Marvel/Toy Biz figures. For example, the article covers the judge's thoughts on why Kraven and the Mole Man are also non-human, which certainly contradicts various Marvel Handbooks.

This is another victory for Bush

Wolverine is down with the brown. It is all racism.

Of course they're not human... they're homo superior

Okay, sure, irony, right, right...Who cares? So Marvel wants to save a little money on their toys, more power to them. Oh no, they're denigrating the X-Men's status as human beings. So? These are toys. Of make-believe characters. That are generally only loosely based on the comics anyway, from what I've seen. I mean, I like to think of myself as a comic book nerd, but come on, getting upset because Marvel wants to save a few dollars? Puh-lease.

Eric 'Stirge' Sturgeon

who cares. Cheaper toys for all.

And hopefully Marvel/Toybiz will pass on the savings to the consumers.