Episode 1247 - Comic Talk
Pants
Posts: 567
This episode is dominated by discussion, speculation, theories and more about the 'Marvel NOW!' relaunch. (1:07:43)
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Matthew
B.
Harvey Awards: well, congrats to those nominated! I'm sure they all quite deserving.
Pants!: Have a good time at SDCC! Man, I wish I could get there someday.
Oh, as for the end piece : While I thought it was very creative, it was very discordant. I think Pants did a better job with his "...this all would will be edited out..." NOT! - episode. ( episode 1211 What Fools We Are)
I agree that these books are getting to expensive to be spending 4 bucks on 22 new books.
I'm always skeptical about time travel issues, temporal displacement often leads to more problems than solutions.
Have fun at the Convention, ultra jealous of those who will be going, I look forward to listening for all the big breaks.
I've already said this, if the $3.99 and double shipping hijinks keep up when this launches, I'm out. The only title I'll be keeping is Amazing Spider-Man. I've already talked about it in the other thread so I won't repeat it here. Dropping Fantastic Four will not be easy, having Fraction take that title over when Hickman left was my nightmnare and it seems to be coming true.
The rumored list of titles and creators @JamieD was referring to was on Bleeding Cool. http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/03/checking-the-marvel-now-rumour-checklist/
Best of luck to both Katie Cook and Mike Norton. The whole family, especially my daughter is rooting for Katie.
While I would understand why a creator would be hesitant to take a great concept and hand it over on a work for hire contract I think there is a bigger factor at play.
Marvel and DC have supported the launch of completely new characters and titles.
And we haven't bought them. And so those titles and characters (e.g. The Order, Simon Dark just off the top of my head. I am sure more could be named) get cancelled, and the talent on those titles get moved over on to brand extensions of proven content. And then we buy THOSE. We message to them as publishers that we would rather read Fraction and Kitson do another Thor book then have them do something new. So I think at least some of the blame for the aversion to new characters is that we, as readers, have created a toxic environment for them.
Even Runaways-- a fantastic title and intended to be Vaughan and Alphona's gift to the Marvel Universe (that is how Vaughan described making characters he loved that he knew he was selling outright. His giveback to the Marvel Universe he grew up with) had trouble selling. Even the original Vaughan/Alphona run had to get relaunched in the middle to survive. And when Runaways later became a fan favorite and sold really well in collections (and has sold huge to libraries)... a Runaways title can't be sustained. Because there seems to not be an audience for it.
So, yes, I agree that part of the lack of new characters is from creators being wary of creating what they will not own. But I also don't get the feeling that the Big 2 are asking them to make new toys, because we keep telling them that we don't want them.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/10/marvel-ends-9-titles-as-marvel-now-begins/
CAPTAIN AMERICA #19 (bye bye Brubaker)
UNCANNY X-MEN #20
NEW MUTANTS #50
X-MEN LEGACY #275
INCREDIBLE HULK #15
THE MIGHTY THOR #22
Matthew
More importantly- and this is another example of how Marvel NOW! not being line-wide benefits some titles that are going strong- while Captain America is getting restarted, Brubaker and Lark's Winter Solider get to just continue doing what it is doing. And I hear that title is fantastic (I am waiting for the first HC). So as far as I am concerned, it is good that the Brubaker Cap can come to an end, and get handed over to someone that might have a little more enthusiasm for it.
Marvel RIGHTFREAKINGNOW is a measured response to DC, no doubt about that. We all know they can't reboot, it goes against their philosophy and they'd come off looking like also-rans. They'd also be foolish to interrupt DD and Winter Soldier and the other books generating new heat. So, it's a bit of a relaunch, and a bit of a reshuffle, and a bit of a "re-branding" a la Age of Heroes and Shattered Heroes and Picking up the Pieces Heroes and Whatever Else They've Done To Heroes. But I digress....
Personally, Uncanny Avengers looks interesting, although it may be just to see how long Cassaday can do it. Anyone else reminded of Millar & Hitch on Fantastic Four. I remember thinking the same thing about Hitch back then, "He'll never stay on schedule!" and sure enough, he had Joe Ahearne helping out by the end of the run...
Did you guys mention Bendis on Guardians of the Galaxy? That still sounds interesting. I think 2012 could be the year I learn to love a space-faring rodent...
Maybe I'm unrealistic, but I'm not ruling out an adult Jean Grey returning at the end of AvX, along with the young Jean in the time-traveling X-team Bendis is going to be playing with. I started reading comics after Morrison killed Jean. I think I deserve a two-Jean universe. :)
I wish this was an honest-to-goodness line wide reboot. I would probably buy in to that. DC's reboot has really been fun and I'm enjoying picking up whatever I need to to get a sense of the universe and seeing things unfold. I just don't see getting pulled away from that for what is essentially a reshuffling of the same deck at Marvel.
And I'm sure not paying $3.99 when I can buy two month-behind DC books for that price. Plus Marvel doesn't participate in incentives at DCBS. Add double shipping to that and I'm out.
One question are all going read and review all the new Marvel Now books like you did with the New DCU books.
All this NOW stuff is is just rebranding. New number 1s top sales charts. Do you really think there won't be a new FF Thor Cap , etc? Relax and read, or get off the merry go round if the ride seems boring. It's unfair to deny new readers the chance to discover these characters because old farts are wise to "the tricks" that DC and Matvel pull.
Also this wasn't slapped together in haste. The reason for the slower new releases is so the current creators can wrap up their existing runs and the new stuff will have a bigger impact when they come out in smaller doses .
Wish I owned a liquor store with all the whine that was served up on this episode. ;) It was funny to listen to but you marvel guys need to accept the idea that both companies need to change things up to keep trying to put new life in these properties .
But $3.99 twice a month? If they'd drop it to $2.99, I'd actually be willing to try every new number one (since it is spread out over a long time period). Since it looks like they're still doing the free digital copy thing, I might just need to find someone with an ipad to split the cost with.
At our school (Zürich, Switzerland) we students used comics for all sorts of education. We read Asterix in history class, Tintin in French class and Eisner's Contract with God in English class.
Lately, Berlitz, a German publisher of learning materials, is selling comics in various languages. Those books cover the grammar, the use of language in real life and include a dictionary. And are used in schools.
Some folks got into comics through school :D
I would be interested to see that proof. We have heard exactly the opposite of that in experiences shared by some of the retailers interviewed on CGS.
Now it may be that the bump is not as immediate, or as big, as some retailers would like. (And there is also the necessary question of what promotion and advertising local retailers might do at the time of a movie's release to try to get customers to their store). But I would be curious where it has been definitely shown that movies do not sell comics. And is this only taking about monthly periodicals in the shops? Or does this also include bookstores.
An example off the top of my head (and, sure, one example is only an anecdote)-- the Joker hardcover OGN by Azzarello and Bermejo. Came out shortly after The Dark Knight. Movie bait, as the cover even looked like the movie Joker. Sold like hotcakes in the direct market, if I remember the sales charts from the end of that year. And I would guess sold quite well in the bookstores as well. Did the movie really have nothing to do with that? Was the average direct market reader (not the 100 Bullets fan, but the typical guy in the shop) really chomping at the bit to buy a $20 book about the Joker "From the Writer of Superman: For Tomorrow"? Or did the movie sell that book?
Over here they put a sticker on any comic that has some connection to a movie - "now a major picture" and such. And give those comics a major spot in the store. I guess newbies tend to buy them ;)
@KyleMoyer You make it sound like you have to give up Marvel entirely to check out Image or indies... Don't cut off your nose to spite your face! All the publishers have great books right now. I'm loving Saga over at Image, and Double Jumpers #1 from Action Lab totally lived up to the hype, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna give up Wolverine & the X-Men. And honestly, getting away from the House of Ideas seems to make me appreciate it more when I return...
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