The current state of disarray at Marvel

[jjreason]

I followed Hulk through until they revealed the mystery surrounding Banner, so that one's easy to drop.

I have never read Jane Thor, Kamala, or young Nova other than their appearances in other books I read so I can't speak to them.

Miles is fine, and the treatment of him has been pretty faithful in tone to Parker's beginnings as a teenager. I'll read this through the Civil War issue(s) and make a decision.

Iron Man is too much of a stretch, but if the main part of the story stays with Tony & the fallout of Civil War I'll stick with it. Have to wait & see.

It just seems like they're trying awfully hard to diversify NOW - they're hitting us over the head with it.

[Tom Foolery]

I forgot about Nova. Yeah, that kid will always be an impostor to me. Bring back Rich Rider!

I don't mind the diversity. I find the concept that every new hero is either a minority, a female, LGBT, or a combination thereof maybe straining credulity a little, but giving young readers a wider variety of heroes they can identify with is a positive thing overall.

If the character is fun and interesting to read, I'll read it. I couldn't care less if it's a middle aged white dude, or a 16 year old Pakistani Korean lesbian.

What does annoy me is that lots of great new characters get introduced and then forgotten, In favor of even newer characters. What happened to the Runaways? Or the Avengers Academy kids? Why can't one of them be the new Iron Man?

[Tom Foolery]

Here what's coming in the fall from looking at that new Marvel NOW 2.0 magazine, and my level of excitement for each book.

Avengers 1.1 I can't tell, is this one of those retcon books that takes place in the past, or is it the original Kooky Quartet in the present. Eh. I'll give it 1 issue.

Champions. The young heroes quit the Avengers and start their own team? Sounds fun. I'm in. They should've got Peter David to write it though *coughYoungJustice*.

Occupy Avengers. Bleh. One issue to hook me.

Avengers. So, the ANAD Avengers who didn't quit and join the Champions.

Uncanny Avengers. I'll keep getting this.

U.S.Avengers. Hell yes! I'll buy anything Al Ewing writes. He's so much fun to read. And any team that has both Squirrel Girl and Thunderbolt Ross' Red Hulk on it is just golden. Looks like this is replacing New Avengers.

Ultimates2.0. Again, Al Ewing means I'm in. And the current Ultimates book is good.

Great Lakes Avengers. Could be funny. Don't bait and switch me with Mike Allred covers though, Marvel. Not cool.

Squadron Supreme continues. Nope.
Thunderbolts continues. Nope.

Invincible Iron Man 1. Riri Williams AKA Mary Sue dons the armor. I'll check it out for a few issues, but I'm more excited for...

Infamous Iron Man. Dr Doom IS Iron Man. Sold.

Capt Marvel. Nobody can get a handle on this character. This is like her fifth ongoing in five years. I'm leaning towards no.

Hawkeye. Kate Bishop's adventures in Los Angeles. Yes!

Capt's America Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers. I will continue to get both of these.
Silver Surfer continues. Yes.
Black Panther continues. Yes.

Jessica Jones. About damn time. Yes.

Unstoppable Wasp. Janet never got her own series, but the new kid warrants an ongoing? Shameful. And yet I will check it out for an issue or two.

Dr Strange continues. Yes.
Dr Strange Sorceror Supremes. He gets a second ongoing because he has a movie. I'll give it an issue or two.

Mighty Thor continues. Yes.
Unworthy Thor. The original Thor picks up the Ultimate Thor's hammer/axe. Jason Aaron has been doing good work on Thor, so I'm in.

Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat continues. Nope.
Black Widow continues. Yes.
Moon Knight continues. I'm thinking probably not.
Squirrel Girl continues. Oh Absolutley Yes.
Punisher continues. I mean, I guess. Goddamn Steve Dillon *ugh*
Daredevil continues. Yes.

Kingpin. Hmmm. Intriguing. I'll check it out.

Bullseye. Hmmmm. Not so intriguing. I'll give it one issue.

PowerMan/Iron Fist continues. Nope.
Iron Fists. The follow up to Kaare Andrews Iron First series with that adorable little brat as the new Iron Fist? Oh hell yeah, that's worth the first arc at the very least.

Totally Awesome Hulk continues. This might be dropped by then, unless it can turn it around.
Gwenpool continues. Yes.
Uncanny Inhumans continues. Might be dropped. I noticed All New Inhumans is gone. What was the final issue?
Ms Marvel continues. Yes for now.
Moon Girl/Devil Dinosaur continues. I'm surprised this hasn't been cancelled yet. But it's good and I'm still in as long as it's still going.
Mosaic. The first of the new #1s I have zero interest in.

Death of X. The big X-Men/Inhumans event that explains how Scott "died"(I refuse to believe he's actually dead). Yes.

Cage! Nope. God bless Genndy Tartakovsky, but his style is NOT my cup of tea.

Gamora. They announced this ongoing like two years ago. Checchetto's art tips this into the yes column for me. At least for a few issues.

Star-Lord. Haha, Chip Zdarsky's name makes this a yes for me. His Howard the Duck was great.

Rocket Racoon. Mmmmaybe. It gets one issue. The last couple Rocket books were weak.

Thanos. Yes. Despite Lemire writing it.

Clone Conspiracy. The big Spidey Event. AKA Dead No More.

Silk continues. Yes.

Prowler. Hobie Brown gets his own ongoing? Well, I'll give it a couple issues just on principal.

SpiderGwen continues. Yes.
Spider-Man continues. Yes.
Spider-Woman continues. Yes.
Spider-Man 2099 continues. I dropped this when money was tight and I wished I hadn't. Now I'm like 8 issues behind. So, I don't know if I start back up, or if it remains a casualty of war.

Venom. Whaat? Looks to be classic Venom. Intrigue gets you one issue.

Amazing Spidey Renew Your Vows. Oh how I wish this was in the main universe. But either way I'm in. Gerry Conway writing is just icing on the cake. And so is Stegman on art. This book is all win.

Deadpool continues. Of course, yes.
Deadpool Mercs for Money continues. Haha. Gorilla Man, Machine Man, and what looks to be the surly movie version of Negasonic Teenage Warhead all in the same book? Even if this weren't a Deadpool spinoff, I'd be in. Yes.

Slapstick, Solo, and Foolkiller all getting their own ongoings? Not excited for any of those.

Nova. Richard Rider is teased as returning. Yes.

Guardians of the Galaxy is coming to an end. Bendis' run is ending. I'll stick it out to the finish.

[jjreason]

That list is endless. Bloody hell.

[Tom Foolery]

That list is endless. Bloody hell.

Yeah. Now you know how Marvel has 50% of the market share every month. Sheer volume. I'm trying to figure out which books are ending based on what's missing from that list. I dug up last years Freeb issue to see what was solicited. Here's what's gone.

A-Force
ANAD Avengers(obviously replaced with Champions and Avengers)
New Avengers(replaced by USAvengers. Same writer and same cast)
Ultimates(replaced with Ultimates 2.0, so more of a sales boost gimmick)
Capt Marvel is getting relaunched.
Scarlet Witch.
Illuminati. That lasted 7 issues I think.
Hawkeye lasted 6 issues.
Ant-Man. I'm surprised this one is gone.
Vision. But we've known that one for awhile.
Contest of Champions.
Carnage.
Web Warriors.
Drax.
Howard the Duck. Darnit.
Nova.
Star-Lord. When did this one end? I dropped it after like three issues, but I don't remember seeing it on the racks recently.
Venom:Spaceknight.(obviously replaced by Venom)
Howling Commandos. That was done in six issues.
Agents of SHIELD. Also done?
All New Inhumans.
Karnak. This could just be like taking 10 months for one issue to come out.
Angela Queen of Hel. Lasted seven issues.
Old Man Logan.
All New Wolverine.

That's two dozen books gone before the year was finished. And books like Black Panther, Power Man/Iron Fist, and Punisher, etc replaced them during the year.

Over the past few years, I get the sense Marvel doesn't really care about individual titles anymore so much as they do about this "cascade" approach to soliciting books. Reader #1 might get titles A,B,C,D,E, and F. While reader #2 might get A,C,F,X, and Z. And reader #3 buys B, L,R,T, and Z. As long as you're buying Marvel, they dont sweat which titles you buy. And when one drops too low in sales, they replace it with a new First Issue of something that a bunch of readers will "sample" and those sales are aggregately higher than the last issue of whatever book got dropped from the slate to make room for the new book. The endless cycle of relaunches jacks up their overall sales. Sure, some people get fed up and drop books or "drop" Marvel altogether, but there's always someone trying new titles to replace the deserters.

[jjreason]

Total # of books sold at $3.99 and $4.99 is all they care about on a monthly basis, not what it's in them or the history behind them. Who's name can we get on the cover as writer or artist that's going to push units.

[jjreason]

Of possible interest to Chux.....

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... vskys-cage

[anarky]

So, I think I saw that Slapstick lost his job and is poor so he's crazy and grim and gritty and all this other stuff?

That's not completely bizarre or anything.

How the fuck did this guy get scraped off the floor and Sleepwalker still lives in a sort of limbo? Alien cop from the dream world comes into our world when college student falls asleep. That shit could go so many different directions, almost all awesome. (Almost, because that "alien cops are secretly planning an invasion of our world" angle from the end of the series was moronic. Though "alien cop from the dream world on the run from corrupt dream world police force" could go in many different awesome angles itself.)

We all read Slapstick 25 years ago but knew it was a forgettable humor comic that would be gone forever after the final issue of the miniseries. This is lamer than Squirrel Girl becoming more than a single-panel gag.

[Tom Foolery]

Don't be dissin' on the Unbeatable SG now, ya hear? It's Marvel's equivalent of MTMTE

[jjreason]

Everyone should grab Silver Surfer 6 (200). You won't need to have read anything leading up to it - you get a bit of an overview of the last couple of years - and it's a masterpiece of art & writing. Feels everywhere, and Laura Allred's coloring is worth the money EVERY ISSUE, just on its own. Mind blowing.

[jjreason]

Vision 11 - great twist. Sadly, only one issue to go.

[Ran]

Yahoo had another comic related headline on its homepage that I ended up clicking on. Stan Lee was asked who would win in a fight between Hulk and The Thing.

http://comicbook.com/marvel/2016/10/21/ ... the-thing/

[jjreason]

Regretting not sticking with ASM after reading 16-19. Looking back I should have kept going with this & skipped Hulk. Good art & well-paced writing, finishing off with another blow for old PP. I will be sticking with it through the Clone Conspiracy.

[Tom Foolery]

Hahaha. Marvel trolls Red Staters by releasing a new ongoing about a female minority lesbian superhero with the title "America".

It stars Ms. America Chavez, the Latina superheroine introduced in the Vengeance miniseries a few years ago, and who's been seen since in Young Avengers and Ultimates among other team books. She's super strong, can fly, and can literally punch holes to other dimensions. I am amused.
The book will probably last as long as any other underselling Marvel title, so about 12 issues or so, but still. Hilarious.

[jjreason]

There have been times when I was so excited about whatever "event" Marvel was doing that I'd actually read the book in the parking lot at the comic store before heading home. Not sure if I've admitted that before. Long story short, I didn't read Civil War II #7 for almost 3 days - illustrating my level of excitement over this particular series. Like Secret Wars from last year, it feels very much like the bus has already left the station - was there ANYONE at all surprised by the last page of this issue? I can't imagine it. One more issue to go before I can start playing catchup on the 30 or so issues I have on standby that theoretically take place after the conclusion. Smacking my head yet again, Marvel.