Retailer Brandon Schatz writes a column at the website Comics Beat called The Retailer's View, which is pretty self-explanatory in its title. Past topics have included "Quite A Lot Of Variants," "Top Sellers and Bottom Dwellers," and "Should Printed Single Issues Go Away?" You get the idea.

In Schatz' most recent column, "A Disgrace To The Industry," Schatz recounted a story of receiving hate mail about the column calling him "a disgrace to the industry" before delving into an analysis of another "disgrace to the industry," Marvel. The entire 2000-plus word essay can mostly be boiled down to the most common, basic complaint about Marvel that pretty much everyone agrees with: that Marvel relies too much on gimmicks and refuses to innovate for the long-term health of the industry.

We're not saying Schatz doesn't make a good argument, or that they aren't 2000+ well written words, just that his main thesis isn't a controversial or outrageous criticism that Marvel's never heard before. Marvel can't not know how heavily they rely on gimmicks. It's not a shocking revelation that cuts to the core of Marvel's identity, like "Axel Alonso isn't the world's dopest hip hop fan" or "maybe spend less time on Twitter."

Schatz argued that Marvel Legacy, touted by Marvel as an industry-changing cataclysm, was more like a distillation of Marvel's past decade of failed, gimmick-driven strategies:

There are ways Marvel can break this cycle – but absolutely none of them appear to be present in their Legacy marketing. In fact, the company actually seems like they're regressing through a series of even older ideas, leaning harder on the crutches that are already straining from the weight. It's clear from where they've been they know how valuable a well marked jumping on point can be, but they've squandered that form of marketing through a lot of bad faith moves that have left retailers and fans less willing to give up their hard earned dollars. So instead of trying to innovate, Marvel has decided to look back and roll out… old numbering? Corner boxes? The return of FOOM? What? These changes are purely cosmetic, and do nothing to address the real problems that exist in the company.

So what happened next? According to Schatz, he was punished for his transgression:

Was removed from Marvel's Secret Retailer FB group after we posted this article at @comicsbeat https://t.co/CRzM0maIMn — Brandonimal Crossing Schatz (@soupytoasterson) July 6, 2017

Also, we would have brought our concerns up in private, but those messages are either ignored or deleted. So. — Brandonimal Crossing Schatz (@soupytoasterson) July 6, 2017

Which begs the obvious question: Marvel has a secret retailer Facebook group?

Yes, it's true. The existence of the group was quietly revealed back in April in Brian Hibbs' Tilting at Windmills column:

This has led to Marvel taking several pretty unprecedented-for-them steps, the chief of which might be in holding a retailer summit in New York as well as building a "secret" Facebook group to discuss Marvel marketing with retailers. While it might be possible to argue the full value of these efforts (the Facebook group, in particular, only allows "positive" posts on Marvel, so is less of a valuable conversation between peers – Marvel does not openly participate in any other retailer-focused messaging boards or Facebook groups), it does represent some sort of move towards more open retailer communication that has been mostly absent in the decades since Marvel's bankruptcy.

But that was the same month that Marvel had its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, after all, so it's understandable that it would fly somewhat under the radar.

In a conversation with Lion Forge and Catalyst Prime senior editor Joseph P. Illidge, Schatz provided more details on the expulsion:

Thank you. Currently asking "why" to pertinent parties, as we've broken none of their rules. — Brandonimal Crossing Schatz (@soupytoasterson) July 7, 2017

None of their spoken rules. — Joseph P. Illidge (@JosephPIllidge) July 7, 2017

…press release in April. And then, that we "blur the lines between retailer/journalist" when another retailer does the same thing for… — Brandonimal Crossing Schatz (@soupytoasterson) July 7, 2017

…the same site. Another retailer who DID break the rules, and was afforded a direct convo, and is still in the group. It's been fun. — Brandon Schatz (@soupytoasterson) July 7, 2017

Bleeding Cool reached out to Marvel for comment on this story, but they have yet to respond.