Science Teacher, Comic Book News Editor, Founder of Murphy’s Multiverse
Recorded Sunday, July 27, 2020
(Disclaimer: I know I mispronounced Walter Cronkite’s name. Blame it on my excitement. Lol)
Imagine being a super comic book fanatic turned reporter, then knowing what was going to happen in what would become the biggest box office film in history…but not being able to tell anyone about it. The comic book industry has reached new heights due to successes like Marvel Studio’s Avengers: Endgame, DC’s Wonder Woman & Aquaman. This “firenado” in pop culture has been fanned by the hardwork of scoopers, YouTube vloggers and the multitude of websites publishing this niche culture’s news. There is now a viable & monetarily lucrative news cycle to be considered by advertisers and contributors. This is “Charles Murphy”, Comic Book Movie Insider; not to be confused with the elder brother of comedic icon, Eddie Murphy (and a respected comedian in his own right); may he rest in peace. The contrast between the two Charlie Murphys couldn’t be anymore stark. On one hand, there was the tough guy comedian from Chappelle’s Show. On the other hand, here’s an only child from Michigan that actually prefers to avoid the limelight, loves comic book stories, and chooses to let his writings and detective work as a comic book news editor shine as his avatar.
You may wonder, what value could someone who reports on comic book news for TV, movies & video games have? If you want a bottomline sort of answer: A reliable scooper is like E. F. Hutton; when they talk, comic book speculators listen, which means a lot of money starts moving. That said, it’s much deeper than that. Think about any tough time you have been through in your life….
Did you use any vice to distract you from the mental torment of reality?
Was there a TV show or movie you counted on watching?
Did you obsess over any hobby to take your mind off what seemed like an eternity of frustration & stress?
Well, the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020 has been nothing short of a stressful & frustrating period for 99% of The 99% across the globe. In times like these people are more prone to seek out entertainment to take their minds off of the daily dreads of social distancing; or lack thereof. In the Comic Book Movie space, the quarantine was adopted before productions could complete shows that were planned to have started airing by now. Movies could not release in American movie theaters for fear of the contagion spreading even further and risking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people; possibly millions.
With the machine at a halt, the comic book community of all ages was left without new content for a considerable time period. Many sites, even respectable ones, started conjuring up click bait stories from their crystal balls to keep their ad revenues coming in; basically lying to consumers. I am pretty sure there are going to be a lot of angry rookie comic book investors now that Marvel has returned to production this past week. The newbies listened to the wrong people; spent money on books that will not bring them profit, and they will only have themselves to blame.
Within the last month, we, the Marvel community lost Chadwick Boseman (Long Live The King), but welcomed Johnathan Majors (Ant-Man 3). We have begun to court Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk), and spied on Falcon and The Winter Soldier filming while watching our brothers & sisters in The WB/DC realm begin what looks like an impending break up (Ray Fisher’s accusation of racist abuse and mass firings). It’s sites like Murphy’s Multiverse (www.murphysmultiverse.com) that have stayed focused on the niche culture’s true wants and needs, feeding us all information that we could digest without having to worry about being sick in the morning. While the trades had way more stories outside of the scope of comic books that they could run, many decided to stay silent in hopes to maintain a good relationship with the “big dawgs”, thereby neglecting the needs of the core fans. That left more room for the independent sites’ voices to be heard.
When I ask Murphy (as I like to call him) his view on Murphy’s Multiverse’s place along with the other independent sites, bigger sites like Comicbook.com, all the way up to trades like Variety & Deadline he states:
“I just don’t know that I think I’m that important. Those guys outdo me 100-1… I’m just so passionate about the subject matter that I won’t give up”.
And therein lies the difference. The little guy that speaks the language of the people. The one who knows what the true die-hard fans want to discuss. The hungry reporter that gets the hot story before anyone else can run with it, and feeds the news cycle when there would be no other viable news. The movement will not be televised. There are more like Charles Murphy out here, but with this episode of Everyone Loves A Good Story we focus on this “Charles in charge” and the great things he’s doing as a science teacher in Michigan, while inspiring others to find their voice in this zeitgeist of 2020.
Keeping the inspiration of a generation coming off the high of Endgame at a stratospheric level was never going to be easy, but COVID-19 made it almost impossible. Without self driven people like Charles Murphy, and his partner Charles Villanueva (Phillipines) who find purpose in sharing their passions & knowledge, the millions of YouTube subscribers that follow less than reliable sources may have had a harder road. We owe them our thanks and this is one way for someone like me to give back to them.
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Be well, be whole, be blessed Beloved and thanks again,
Everyone Loves A Good Story 