In fact almost every comic is here...I use a macbook and other than occasional annoying pop-ups when searching , this site seems to work fine. I am actually surprised this site is even available.

I was talking about the difference between preserving an artifact of a racist past, which we should most definitely do, and repackaging a story with racist art in a deluxe volume in order to profit from a movie tie-in. Whether the latter is the intent or not, it's a side-effect of putting the book out now.

Aren't there reprints that just straight up skip any stories featuring Ebony or worse, attempt to recolor Ebony as Caucasian? I think it would be incorrect to say /nobody/ had a problem.

Listen, I’ve been paying keen attention to what’s been happening in both mainstream and nerd culture, over the past few years. Madness is everywhere. People are going off the deep end over utter nonsense. No one can take a joke, and everything and everyone are lumped in on one extreme end of the spectrum or another. 

Consumer revolts of once-unkillable franchises are in full swing, thanks to the culture war between those who pander to the easily-offended, and those who demand quality storytelling. Fans are being labeled as racists and sexists and manbabies because they’re taking a stand for quality writing and faithful characterization. And because they’re actively calling out hypocrites, media shills, and those who become hyper-offended at the drop of a pin. Comics, movies, and TV are becoming more and more about a culture war than about the fun, escapist entertainment that they’re supposed to be.

You, Stephen, are suffering the unfortunate result of that. You want to read a classic Captain Marvel story, but are being blocked from doing so by people who fear the Offense Brigade. You have the wisdom and maturity to understand that the story is a product of its time, and that the negative stereotypes it contains are A) Bad; and B) A reminder of the past, and what parts of the past not to repeat. 

I am now totally convinced that we’re on the edge of a major nerd-culture paradigm shift. The important thing is to stay calm, use your brain, and embrace history and the lessons it provides. Stories and characters are what should be important, here. The sociopolitical context of decades-old stories should come second. 

On the flipside, the opportunity to be able to study the sociopolitical context of decades-old stories is something which modern audiences should not be denied. My first time reading the earliest Superman and Batman stories from the late 1930s was a very illuminating experience, and really transported me back into that era. It would not have been enlightening if those stories had been censored, or, worse, not made available for me to read in the first place.

Something I haven't seen touched on is the staff required to produce such a book. I think it's very likely there were objections at the production and editorial level -- and I can't blame anyone who doesn't want to spend hundreds of intensive hours restoring the likes of Steamboat, or have their name on it, and a company that ordered employees to engage with such imagery over voiced objections could face legal sanction for racial harassment. I would think a supervisor would hesitate to even broach the assignment. 

Back in the day, the location that closed was part of a shopping complex built around a Denver attraction called the Celebrity Sports Center, a huge building with a bowling alley, arcades, and water slides. Once that went under, the complex was anchored with a Home Depot and a natural grocery store. Additional stores and restaurants have been put in since and the parking situation has been an ongoing disaster. Raising the rent to keep pace with Denver's breakneck gentrification was the last straw after Aaron, the manager, left recently. Enough was enough.

As for the Monster Society volume, the times today play very little part actually in the decision not to publish racist depictions of numerous characters, especially on the cusp on a motion picture debut for the franchise. You don't have to be especially thin-skinned to be offended by Steamboat's mammy and Nippo, the Japanese saboteur. Am I correct in assuming that we never met Ebony's mammy or had him involved in voodoo shenanigans? Because if I'm right, Golden Age Captain Marvel is, in fact, more offensive than the Spirit.

Historical context aside, DC would be publishing that volume in the present, and not as a curiosity from an earlier age. It is not kicking off some new line of educationally-relevant historical curios to tickle the fancy of race-study academics and golliwog collectors. It would be sold mass market for the enjoyment of everyone, and rubber-lipped mammies and inscrutable, murdering devil-people are no longer commercially viable properties. Nossuh, Mistah DC reader, suh. So solly.