Marvel Now - Part 3

[javi1024]

Originally Posted by hippie_hunter

It's being reported that Dark Avengers will be cancelled in May, Winter Soldier will get cancelled by summer, and Captain Marvel will as well if the crossover with Avengers Assemble doesn't boost sales.

That's sad to hear. I loved Brubaker's run and I was willing to give the new writer a shot.

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow_King

I think it has more to do with the quality of some of the NOW titles than it does the fact that NOW exists. There have been some really good books because of the "not relaunch." So if I'm spending money on good new books, yeah I'm gonna stop spending it on average old books.

That doesnt contradict my point. It still supports the statement that NOW is canibilizing some of the smaller titles.

[Scarecrow_King]

I know. But I'm saying that it's at least good books and not bad ones that are cannibalizing the smaller ones. With DC's New 52, we lost some really good books in favor of crappy ones.

[THANOSRULES]

Yeah looking at December sales..the Ultimate books are really struggling.

Frankly i don't know what can save the franchise at this point...the ace of course would be the "line wide event" 616 Vs Ultimate crossover we've been told would never happen..but has clearly been teased as possible.

It's a shame because Hickman's stint on Ultimates was very high quality..havnt read much of the Humphries stuff...but i read the first issue or two and it was just too convoluted of a plot. The Ultimate U is in such a shape that I think it's beyond repair...and frankly not necessary anymore.

[hippie_hunter]

Originally Posted by THANOSRULES

Yeah looking at December sales..the Ultimate books are really struggling.

Yeah, I just looked at those numbers, asides from Ultimate Spider-Man, those sales are horrid.

It's a shame because Hickman's stint on Ultimates was very high quality..havnt read much of the Humphries stuff...but i read the first issue or two and it was just too convoluted of a plot. The Ultimate U is in such a shape that I think it's beyond repair...and frankly not necessary anymore.

The whole point of the Ultimate Universe was to present a continuity that was new and fresh. When it's over a decade old, it's not exactly new or fresh anymore. That's the biggest problem with the line and nothing can really fix that.

[Havok83]

The Ultimate line should have ended with Loeb's Ultimatum a few years ago. They should have given it a break for a few years and then relaunched a brand new Ultimate universe last summer with the release of the Avengers in theaters. They could have slowly created books as more movies came out. A new Ultimate Spiderman could have also launched last year with an Ultimate Wolverine mini series this year to prepare for a relaunch of Ultimate X-men next year

[JewishHobbit]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow_King

I think it has more to do with the quality of some of the NOW titles than it does the fact that NOW exists. There have been some really good books because of the "not relaunch." So if I'm spending money on good new books, yeah I'm gonna stop spending it on average old books.

Havok's still right because he mentioned all the double-shippings. If all the great NOW titles were single shipping then people would have extra money to support those smaller, average titles (and especially the smaller great titles).

So yeah, NOW is cannibalizing the middle-comics due to high prices and double-shippings.

[Scarecrow_King]

I don't buy enough titles for double shipping to be an issue for me. Usually I actually like it, since I'm only buying a few titles a week and look forward to getting more of a book that I enjoy.

[JewishHobbit]

It becomes an issue for people who buy their budget. When I plan for, say, 8 Marvel titles and 4 of them double-ship... suddenly I can't afford the 8 titles I buy so I have to drop 4 books to afford the double-ship. When I'm enjoying all 8 titles, that's where it gets frustrating. I use to cut from the DC side of things since I'm more of a Marvel guy but I've decided to stop doing that. I cut from the bottom of my buy list with a focus on Marvel books. They're over-priced and double-ship, thus causing the problem. Why not cut the problem out by the roots?

In the past 3 years I've gone from 15 Marvel books down to about 6 due to this and I'm debating on cutting more

[Scarecrow_King]

Why exactly are some books prices at $4 and others $3? Just because they can get away with it?

[Doc Ock]

Being newer to buying comics on a weekly/monthly basis. I think the twice a month thing is stupid. I hate it, of course its my fault for going beyond Spidey as I said I wouldn't but I'm slowly trying to get caught up on Avengers (three issues behind, easy catch up), Thor God of Thunder(two more issues to catch up on, easy), and plan on going for All New X-Men next(once I find the dang first issue) and stopping there hopefully(although have great interest in GOTG too and maybe the new X-Men and UXM coming, ugh! So many!). If they only came out once a month I probably would of caught up already. I started this only in the second week of January buying comics and would like to able to go over to DC too and pick up four of five titles I have interest in. But I can't yet.

Maybe I shoulda stuck to trades?

[THANOSRULES]

yeah its tough to keep up with buyin them if you dont do pull lists or dont have enough ducats..

double ship can be fun every once in awhile especially when a great arc is there or you just want to plow through some standalone tales..its gone way too far though.

The spidey double ships back in the early 90s / late 80s were somewhat fun..so were the cap ones in the Gruenwald era...but those were just short term gimmicks.

[Havok83]

I dont have time to keep up with books that double ship. Im an X-men fan first, but Ive ventured beyond that and have read the Avengers books since New Avengers relaunched the line years back. Not only do you have more Avengers books than ever before, but most of them come out twice a month. With Now, its easier to just drop the non-X books bc its just too much to keep up with now. Once I stop reading a book, its hard to pick it back up especially once Ive fallen behind. I cant even keep up with the X books anymore and Ive dropped WaTX for similar reasons. All New X-men has pretty much been the only one Ive read in the last month on a regular basis. If most of the titles werent double shipping, Id be reading a larger selection of titles

[Hawkingbird]

This is why I love the British Panini comics they're the same price, but have more in. Unfortunately it means we're two years behind real Marvel continuity and on Fear Itself

[TheCorpulent1]

Nobody should ever be subjected to Fear Itself.

Shame about Captain Marvel. I was looking for a jumping-on point when Dexter Soy finally left, whenever that might've been. His art was the only thing keeping me from reading the series. I've read all the issues with fill-in artists so far and enjoyed them. Carol herself is growing as a character nicely, leaving behind the alpha flygirl, Hal Jordan stereotype personality and developing into a real person.

[JewishHobbit]

Originally Posted by Havok83

I dont have time to keep up with books that double ship. Im an X-men fan first, but Ive ventured beyond that and have read the Avengers books since New Avengers relaunched the line years back. Not only do you have more Avengers books than ever before, but most of them come out twice a month. With Now, its easier to just drop the non-X books bc its just too much to keep up with now. Once I stop reading a book, its hard to pick it back up especially once Ive fallen behind. I cant even keep up with the X books anymore and Ive dropped WaTX for similar reasons. All New X-men has pretty much been the only one Ive read in the last month on a regular basis. If most of the titles werent double shipping, Id be reading a larger selection of titles

Yeah, pretty much how I feel. I only read X-Men until New Avengers and then I branched out big. Now I'm back down to just X-Men plus Daredevil (for the time being, as I might try the cosmic books) and I'm even looking for X-Books to drop. I'm thinking about dropping Uncanny X-Force, though I'm curious about Bishop. Wolverine & the X-Men feels like just another X-title now so I might drop that as well. If not for double shippings, none of those would be in danger.

[Panthro]

Originally Posted by TheCorpulent1

Nobody should ever be subjected to Fear Itself.

Or Civil War . Or AVX.

Shame about Captain Marvel. I was looking for a jumping-on point when Dexter Soy finally left, whenever that might've been. His art was the only thing keeping me from reading the series. I've read all the issues with fill-in artists so far and enjoyed them. Carol herself is growing as a character nicely, leaving behind the alpha flygirl, Hal Jordan stereotype personality and developing into a real person.

I actually picked up the first trade on a whim seeing as how the initial reviews seemed pretty positive, but still haven't gotten around to reading it. Still, news of imminent cancellation is a little saddening.

[BoredGuy]

still don't understand all the hate on Civil War.
Yes, Tony and Reed were douche-nozzles
But that event is what made me fall in love with Cap, as well as with the art of Steve Mcniven
I mean, c'mon, Cap jumping out of the Heli-Carrier and Herc smashing Clor made the whole thing so worth it.

Granted, I started out an X-fan, so I'm sure some old Avengers head will tell me how ignorant I am in about 3, 2...

[Optimus_Prime_]

Originally Posted by BoredGuy

still don't understand all the hate on Civil War.
Yes, Tony and Reed were douche-nozzles
But that event is what made me fall in love with Cap, as well as with the art of Steve Mcniven
I mean, c'mon, Cap jumping out of the Heli-Carrier and Herc smashing Clor made the whole thing so worth it.

Granted, I started out an X-fan, so I'm sure some old Avengers head will tell me how ignorant I am in about 3, 2...

For me it was the fallout. Making every battle into a cliche' "hero vs hero". Age of Ultron seems to be the first all out brawl against a villain we've seen in a while.

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by BoredGuy

still don't understand all the hate on Civil War.
Yes, Tony and Reed were douche-nozzles
But that event is what made me fall in love with Cap, as well as with the art of Steve Mcniven
I mean, c'mon, Cap jumping out of the Heli-Carrier and Herc smashing Clor made the whole thing so worth it.

Granted, I started out an X-fan, so I'm sure some old Avengers head will tell me how ignorant I am in about 3, 2...

Bc alot of it didnt make sense in terms of how the characters were acting. It wasnt plausible to believe that many longtime friends and allies would turn on each other like that. There was one scene which had SHIELD launch a missle at the Runaways and Young Avengers in the middle of a public market. WTF? Not only did they attack children, but they did it in a setting where they risked killing them and a bunch of innocents. Wasnt that the premise behind why CW started? The event and the Pro side lost all credibility for me after that. They made things into too much of a black/white situation where you were automatically labeled a criminal and hunted if you didnt agree. It was BS

[THANOSRULES]

Originally Posted by BoredGuy

still don't understand all the hate on Civil War.
Yes, Tony and Reed were douche-nozzles
But that event is what made me fall in love with Cap, as well as with the art of Steve Mcniven
I mean, c'mon, Cap jumping out of the Heli-Carrier and Herc smashing Clor made the whole thing so worth it.

Granted, I started out an X-fan, so I'm sure some old Avengers head will tell me how ignorant I am in about 3, 2...

Once you got over the ridiculous out of character actions and dialogue I guess it was OK...still pretty tough to get over that. That stuff just transcended any ability for me to like it.

The whole point of the Ultimate Universe was to present a continuity that was new and fresh. When it's over a decade old, it's not exactly new or fresh anymore. That's the biggest problem with the line and nothing can really fix that.

Yeah I agree..it also seemed to be kinda a more realistic, plausible, and maybe movie friendly world too. Now everything is so convoluted its impossible to even see our earth as the setting.

[BoredGuy]

Originally Posted by Havok83

Bc alot of it didnt make sense in terms of how the characters were acting. It wasnt plausible to believe that many longtime friends and allies would turn on each other like that. There was one scene which had SHIELD launch a missle at the Runaways and Young Avengers in the middle of a public market. WTF? Not only did they attack children, but they did it in a setting where they risked killing them and a bunch of innocents. Wasnt that the premise behind why CW started? The event and the Pro side lost all credibility for me after that. They made things into too much of a black/white situation where you were automatically labeled a criminal and hunted if you didnt agree. It was BS

Oh wow, I didn't even know about that
I guess that's what I get for not reading tie-ins
You guys should really try it, seems to make these events a bit more tolerable
lol

[JewishHobbit]

I've since adopted that mentality. For Civil War and Secret Invasion I bought everything. Siege and Fear Itself I bought the tie-ins I was already reading and only the extras that interested me. For Avengers vs. X-Men I just bought the tie-ins that I was already reading. It still didn't make AvX that tolerable for me, but I think that was the main plot's fault. It did manage to save my wallet though, so I appreciated that. I plan on doing the same with Age of Ultron.

[javi1024]

I've bought every major MU event since Civil War and have finally seen the decline in quality. I think I've stuck with them because Civil War introduced me to the larger Marvel universe and the events kept me current. I probably wouldn't have bought AvX if it wasn't the culmination of everything the X-Men titles have been about since Decimation, and obviously that was quite a waste of money. I have no interest in Ultron so I will not be reading this new event. This is where I make my event fatigue stand.

[CConn]

Eh, I kinda thought Secret Invasion was better than Civil War. The dialogue and characterizations in CW were just insufferable.