Marvel Reveals Create Your Own Comics App With Strict Content Rules

By Adam Westlake

Fans of the Marvel universe that want to create their own comics but lack the skill or technical abilities will soon have a new option. The company has announced it's collaborating with Tap Tap Comics to release a new app called Marvel: Create Your Own, which will let users choose a superhero, pose them, and add their own text and dialog. The app isn't available just yet, but is promised to be "coming soon."

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A brief trailer shows the app in action. Fans can choose from a huge selection of heroes, including the Avengers lineup, adjust their pose and the camera angle, and freely write their own story and place speech bubbles. The character can even be placed over a variety of stock background artwork, allowing for scenes to take place in different locations and settings. Plus, the comics can be shared within the app's own community features.

Unfortunately, users of Marvel: Create Your Own will find they aren't quite as free to make "your own" comics. The app comes with a long and detailed list of terms and conditions that prevent just about anything interesting or creative from being made. Along with the obvious, like Marvel retaining full ownership of anything that's made or shared on the platform, there are restrictions on content that prevent almost every possible conflict or form of humor from making it into a comic.

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Here are some examples from the list of what's not allowed:

  • Content that could frighten or upset young children or the parents of young children
  • Sensationalism (killer bees, gossip, aliens, scandal, etc.)
  • Obscenity, bad or offensive language, proxies for bad or offensive language (X@#%!)
  • Double entendres
  • Prescription drugs or over-the-counter medication, vitamins, and dietary supplements
  • Death
  • Noises related to bodily functions
  • Politics (lobbyists, PAC sites, political campaigns, alternative lifestyle advocacies)
  • Other controversial topics (social issues, etc.)
  • A copy or parody of current or past Marvel advertising creative
  • Suggestive or revealing images

    • Just about anyone using the app, including kids, are going to want to create something that breaks some of those rules. While it's likely the app's social features will be heavily moderated to prevent anything Disney wouldn't approve of from getting through, there's also nothing stopping users from taking a screenshot of their creation and sharing it elsewhere on the internet.

    SOURCE Marvel

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