(Continued on from Part 1 here.)
Okay so, lets get back to the real world and the current bombardment of the "NEW", "NEXT", "NOW!".
Usually when you hear, see or read any of those three previous words you would expect something, new, current and better, right? Well, sorry friend, but you are out of luck. Remember last year when all of a sudden Marvel decided to end the decades old run of the Uncanny X-men title and spilt it into Wolverine and the X-Men and renumber Uncanny X-men to #1 with Cyclops leading the team.
Wait.., Didn't this happen before?
Yes, a similar thing did happen back in 1990s. I remember, because thats when I spent $100 of my wages every week buying comics, especially X-Men related books. There was a split with Cyclops, 'Blue Team' and Storm's 'Gold Team'. Preorder for that 'X-Men' book was 8 million but supposedly only 3 million sold. Which shows that the decision didn't pay off as was expected.
In 2010, it was announced that Marvel's, 'Architects', (their main writers and artists) would bring a new lease of life to their current and new books. This announcement was welcomed with the usual fanfare with Comic Cons, articles and interviews in non-comic industry media. According to Marvel's Press,
But, the Architects concept obviously did not create the traction or revenue that Marvel was hoping for. Even though the books that got revamped where some of top titles, such as the Ultimate Comics line. The renaming of titles alone was an headache. The Ultimates became The Ultimate Comics The Ultimates. Seriously did no one have an idea for a new name at Marvel Comics? Maybe something like, "The Awesomest of The Awesome". Of course, I'm joking here, but you get what I mean. It's like they just ran out of names for titles.
Then followed the Season One hardcover of some very high profile Marvel characters, such as Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. These were released to celebrate Marvel's 50th anniversary of the Marvel Universe .
“We’re trying to reach an audience that right now is more familiar with our most popular iconic characters from movie and TV screens, as animated features, as video game characters, or characters that they’ve seen or heard of in the news, on t-shirts, sneakers, and popular food brands,” explains David Gabriel, Marvel Senior Vice President of Sales.
Once again, it wasn't about telling great stories but trying to cash in on the movies. Which is a sound business decision, but did it pay off? No, not if you watch how Marvel has decided to renumber books, yet again. On the back of the Season One books comes, Marvel Now! Once again Marvel are trying to 'revitalise' their main characters, as mentioned, on the back of the popularity of the recent movies, such as Captain America: The First Avenger, The Amazing Spider-Man and the hugely successful, The Avengers.
And therein lies the problem. You see Marvel Comics is always changing the numbering of their comic titles.
2011 saw Ed Brubaker and artist, Steve McNiven's Captain America #1 (Vol.6). This on top of the normal run of Captain America vol.5 (1968-2011), the main title which from 2011 would get various names in it's title, such as, Captain America and Bucky, Captain America and Hawkeye, and Captain America and Iron-Man. Just to add to the confusion.
With the on-going announcements of the Marvel Now! titles, it seems that once again Marvel are floundering, trying to stay relevant while at the same time cash-in on the Avengers movies popularity. Take for example these new titles; New Avengers #1, a renumbering even though there is a current New Avengers (2010-), book with Bendis and Deodato. Next is the Uncanny Avengers #1 written by Rick Remender. Followed by, Avengers #1 with Jonathan Hickman as writer.
The X-Men are also part of Marvel Now! with A+X #1, of which (at the time of this writing), there is no info on Marvel.com. There's also All New X-Men #1 with Bendis and Stuart Immonen. This is on top of the regular X-comics. I wonder how many titles Wolverine will appear in this time? It seems that if a title includes Wolverine, it is bound to get an automatic reader base. But, how long before the character reaches over-saturation point and becomes irrelevant? If he's not already there?
And then no one bothers to pick up the titles and like certain DC books, we'll start seeing titles get cancelled and then another bolt of morphine in the arm by way of re-titling and renumbering.
Its obvious that there are a lot of people counting on the success of these books and the amazing talent that are being brought in to work on the new titles are bound to bring something new to the table, but once again I am left wondering : "Wouldn't it have been better to create a whole new universe of 'NEW' Marvel Superheroes? Could there not have been someone in those meetings that brought about the 'Marvel Now!' now titles stick their hand up and say, 'Guys, how about with the talent that is in this room, we come up with a whole new generation of superheroes to add to the Marvel universe and create a whole new ethos. Something that the next 50 or so years we can write about?"
But sadly, it is not so. Instead what the fans are going to get, no matter how awesome the artwork and the writing in these books is, will still be negated by the universe they are in and therefore just rehashed tales of what has already happened before. Not the same way, but similar.
I just can't see the next 50 years being any different if Marvel continues this way.
I am betting that when the new Marvel Now! books arrive, with their many variants of #1s and reprints on the back of sold out orders, there will be a new announcement within 12 months or so, of a new series of books that will 'revitalise' the Marvel Universe. In other words, much of the same, only with new variant covers and a new #1 in the title. As I have said, there are some amazing talents whose keypad and pencils I am not worthy to touch that are involved in these books. But just like the Marvel Architects run of titles, it isn't the talents fault that the books don't achieve the sold out status desired by Marvel or DC - its the confines of their collective universes and the continued reliance on the same formula of the past 70 years that holds them back.
I am with Alan Moore, in that the main two comic book publishing houses haven't produced anything new. They are just rehashing the old in the hopes of holding onto their market share, at the cost of a loyal fanbase which is beginning to get fed up with the same rehashed storylines and the same character arches. Of course this is good for the smaller publishers as it means that they can be more adventurous with titles they produce, thus reaching the former Marvel and DC Comics diehards and cash-in on these same frustrated fans who no-longer need a kick of super-hero books, when titles such as Sweet Tooth, Hellboy, Skullkickers and The Boys. Sadly the latter is coming to an end soon.
Readers are also beginning to realise that they need to be frugal with their money in a recession environment. In the past, readers who would have spent their income on single comic issues are now buying more collected trades. More readers are beginning to look to books from independent, smaller titles as they look to read books that are not superhero based. And this of course will cost the main two (Marvel & DC), because they are reliant upon the superhero books to keep them earning their market share. Although the Vertigo line for DC is doing very well. This does not mean that readers are not going to buy these books, but the levels are going to drop.
Evidence of readers dropping off books were seen in the cancellation of titles that came out from DC's New 52.
How readers and the fan base come to accept the Marvel Now! releases will only be evident in 2013. As both a fan and a reader, I am hoping that the stories are strong and the artwork amazing - for something that we haven't seen or read before and not (as mentioned) just rehashed ideas and concepts.
(ARU), Aruneshwar has a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media -Digital Film-making. He took a semester of Multimedia earlier last year which kind of set him up for comictrade.co.nz, a New Zealand online comic store. On the creative side, Aru is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about the 30yrs of Institutionalised Slavery of Indians in Fiji from 1885 -1915. He is a prolific script writer and writes in all comicbook genres which include several graphic novels for his own company,Rising Sun Comics. Aru also uploads a digital comic series on Facebook called, Zero as well as completing his first crime-noir graphic novel, The Circle. He is also trying to finishing off coloring and lettering a superhero comic book mini-series he co-created with Mike Burbeck called, Incredi-Girl.
Okay so, lets get back to the real world and the current bombardment of the "NEW", "NEXT", "NOW!".
Usually when you hear, see or read any of those three previous words you would expect something, new, current and better, right? Well, sorry friend, but you are out of luck. Remember last year when all of a sudden Marvel decided to end the decades old run of the Uncanny X-men title and spilt it into Wolverine and the X-Men and renumber Uncanny X-men to #1 with Cyclops leading the team.
Wait.., Didn't this happen before?
Yes, a similar thing did happen back in 1990s. I remember, because thats when I spent $100 of my wages every week buying comics, especially X-Men related books. There was a split with Cyclops, 'Blue Team' and Storm's 'Gold Team'. Preorder for that 'X-Men' book was 8 million but supposedly only 3 million sold. Which shows that the decision didn't pay off as was expected.
 |
| X-Men - 1991 series |
In 2010, it was announced that Marvel's, 'Architects', (their main writers and artists) would bring a new lease of life to their current and new books. This announcement was welcomed with the usual fanfare with Comic Cons, articles and interviews in non-comic industry media. According to Marvel's Press,
"The very fabric of the Marvel Universe is changing and the Architects are the ones leading the charge! Marvel’s Architects initiative spotlights the writers and artists telling the most exciting and impactful stories that rock the Marvel Universe to its very core every month.“These are five of the top writers in comics and they’re writing some of the best Marvel comics ever” said C.B. Cebulski, SVP Creator & Content Development. “Each of their projects lays the groundwork for the future of the Marvel Universe and in 2011, their plans—which are being seeded in their current work as we speak—will come to fruition. There’s never been a better time to be a Marvel fan.”Some of my favorite writers were involved, like Jason Aaron and Ed Brubaker. Jason Aaron's Scalped series through DC comics' Vertigo line is worth every cent. Bendis created a Hispanic-Black Spiderman. And we all know how that was received. I, for one, was glad that Spidey was now similar in skin color to me. But was not happy that he had to share two different ethnicities. It seemed that just being Black or just being Hispanic wasn't enough. But it did create a character that made those of us deemed as minorities in the comic book fan-base, finally feel we had a well-established superhero character that we could share with our peers and family, albeit a younger age group.
But, the Architects concept obviously did not create the traction or revenue that Marvel was hoping for. Even though the books that got revamped where some of top titles, such as the Ultimate Comics line. The renaming of titles alone was an headache. The Ultimates became The Ultimate Comics The Ultimates. Seriously did no one have an idea for a new name at Marvel Comics? Maybe something like, "The Awesomest of The Awesome". Of course, I'm joking here, but you get what I mean. It's like they just ran out of names for titles.Then followed the Season One hardcover of some very high profile Marvel characters, such as Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. These were released to celebrate Marvel's 50th anniversary of the Marvel Universe .
“We’re trying to reach an audience that right now is more familiar with our most popular iconic characters from movie and TV screens, as animated features, as video game characters, or characters that they’ve seen or heard of in the news, on t-shirts, sneakers, and popular food brands,” explains David Gabriel, Marvel Senior Vice President of Sales.
Once again, it wasn't about telling great stories but trying to cash in on the movies. Which is a sound business decision, but did it pay off? No, not if you watch how Marvel has decided to renumber books, yet again. On the back of the Season One books comes, Marvel Now! Once again Marvel are trying to 'revitalise' their main characters, as mentioned, on the back of the popularity of the recent movies, such as Captain America: The First Avenger, The Amazing Spider-Man and the hugely successful, The Avengers.
And therein lies the problem. You see Marvel Comics is always changing the numbering of their comic titles.
With the on-going announcements of the Marvel Now! titles, it seems that once again Marvel are floundering, trying to stay relevant while at the same time cash-in on the Avengers movies popularity. Take for example these new titles; New Avengers #1, a renumbering even though there is a current New Avengers (2010-), book with Bendis and Deodato. Next is the Uncanny Avengers #1 written by Rick Remender. Followed by, Avengers #1 with Jonathan Hickman as writer.
The X-Men are also part of Marvel Now! with A+X #1, of which (at the time of this writing), there is no info on Marvel.com. There's also All New X-Men #1 with Bendis and Stuart Immonen. This is on top of the regular X-comics. I wonder how many titles Wolverine will appear in this time? It seems that if a title includes Wolverine, it is bound to get an automatic reader base. But, how long before the character reaches over-saturation point and becomes irrelevant? If he's not already there?
And then no one bothers to pick up the titles and like certain DC books, we'll start seeing titles get cancelled and then another bolt of morphine in the arm by way of re-titling and renumbering.
Its obvious that there are a lot of people counting on the success of these books and the amazing talent that are being brought in to work on the new titles are bound to bring something new to the table, but once again I am left wondering : "Wouldn't it have been better to create a whole new universe of 'NEW' Marvel Superheroes? Could there not have been someone in those meetings that brought about the 'Marvel Now!' now titles stick their hand up and say, 'Guys, how about with the talent that is in this room, we come up with a whole new generation of superheroes to add to the Marvel universe and create a whole new ethos. Something that the next 50 or so years we can write about?"
But sadly, it is not so. Instead what the fans are going to get, no matter how awesome the artwork and the writing in these books is, will still be negated by the universe they are in and therefore just rehashed tales of what has already happened before. Not the same way, but similar.
I just can't see the next 50 years being any different if Marvel continues this way.
I am betting that when the new Marvel Now! books arrive, with their many variants of #1s and reprints on the back of sold out orders, there will be a new announcement within 12 months or so, of a new series of books that will 'revitalise' the Marvel Universe. In other words, much of the same, only with new variant covers and a new #1 in the title. As I have said, there are some amazing talents whose keypad and pencils I am not worthy to touch that are involved in these books. But just like the Marvel Architects run of titles, it isn't the talents fault that the books don't achieve the sold out status desired by Marvel or DC - its the confines of their collective universes and the continued reliance on the same formula of the past 70 years that holds them back.
I am with Alan Moore, in that the main two comic book publishing houses haven't produced anything new. They are just rehashing the old in the hopes of holding onto their market share, at the cost of a loyal fanbase which is beginning to get fed up with the same rehashed storylines and the same character arches. Of course this is good for the smaller publishers as it means that they can be more adventurous with titles they produce, thus reaching the former Marvel and DC Comics diehards and cash-in on these same frustrated fans who no-longer need a kick of super-hero books, when titles such as Sweet Tooth, Hellboy, Skullkickers and The Boys. Sadly the latter is coming to an end soon.Readers are also beginning to realise that they need to be frugal with their money in a recession environment. In the past, readers who would have spent their income on single comic issues are now buying more collected trades. More readers are beginning to look to books from independent, smaller titles as they look to read books that are not superhero based. And this of course will cost the main two (Marvel & DC), because they are reliant upon the superhero books to keep them earning their market share. Although the Vertigo line for DC is doing very well. This does not mean that readers are not going to buy these books, but the levels are going to drop.
Evidence of readers dropping off books were seen in the cancellation of titles that came out from DC's New 52.
How readers and the fan base come to accept the Marvel Now! releases will only be evident in 2013. As both a fan and a reader, I am hoping that the stories are strong and the artwork amazing - for something that we haven't seen or read before and not (as mentioned) just rehashed ideas and concepts.
(ARU), Aruneshwar has a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media -Digital Film-making. He took a semester of Multimedia earlier last year which kind of set him up for comictrade.co.nz, a New Zealand online comic store. On the creative side, Aru is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about the 30yrs of Institutionalised Slavery of Indians in Fiji from 1885 -1915. He is a prolific script writer and writes in all comicbook genres which include several graphic novels for his own company,Rising Sun Comics. Aru also uploads a digital comic series on Facebook called, Zero as well as completing his first crime-noir graphic novel, The Circle. He is also trying to finishing off coloring and lettering a superhero comic book mini-series he co-created with Mike Burbeck called, Incredi-Girl.
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