It isn't "my theory" about Worldmind; that was what it seemed Abnett & Lanning were going with in NOVA. I think Richard alluded to that much himself, after PEGASUS found him to not be insane and instead they guessed that the Nova Corps were all under some sort of control. While some of the other reasons; the Phalanx virus, being burnt out and rebooted via Earthling technology, are good theories, it seemed a bit obvious to me that DnA are switching the dynamic a bit. Instead of the AI fearing the human will become corrupted by power, the AI has.
Although technically Worldmind has been programmed with the brain patterns of at least one deceased Nova Corps member, so he is technically akin to something like Vision, Jocasta, or Ultron in that he is an AI whose personality is based on downloaded brain patterns, making it fully logical that Worldmind could be corrupted, as Vision was once corrupted by ISAAC or fell for Wanda because his brain patterns liked her. But, no matter.
I agree with you dread about the defenders being always a temporay kinda thing. They were the "heavy hitters" more powerful than the Avengers, but without any stability.
I missed the 01-02 series..out of comics then..I'll have to check on the '05 stuff..I did follow the lateste "Last Defenders" stuff..it was solid on it's own merit, with no shot of catching on.
Part of me wishes marvel would have more of an intrepid spirit when it comes to sales. Some books, you just have to settle for 20-25k sales for a few years to buld the fan base. I think we'll see nova for at least a couple more years. I don't know why marvel doesnt give books with even less sales, more leeway once and awhile. Marvel didnt get where they are by being so reactionary.
I'd rather see a good solid Defenders or Champions mini than the throwaway Marvel apes , manga, fairy tales or Zombies kinda stuff that we so clearly will be mocking 5 years from now. Heck most of us are mocking them now. (i have enjoyed some of the zombies stuff however).
I agree; while I would say that it hard to tell what mini's or ongoings will remain stable at 25k and which will just sink into the sales abyss, even from a business perspective, it can be hard to justify made-for-the-half- off-bin rubbish like MARVEL APES. To be fair, though, Marvel has tried reviving the Defenders about every 2-3 years in some capacity, it seems.
It's hard to launch any team-book that isn't a proven commodity; look at the sales struggles of THE ORDER, AGENTS OF ATLAS, or even CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13. Even some spin-off's of the X-Men don't sell that great anymore. Keeping the Fantastic Four selling at over 50k a month has also become a challenge. The Avengers are the healthiest team franchise right now; it is just a shame it has come at some expense of some others. There is a part of me that wonders what may have happened had Marvel spread the wealth in 2004 and instead of sticking both Wolverine and Spider-Man into 2004's NEW AVENGERS, they allowed Bendis Wolverine but had Spidey join the Four, the team he always interacted with heavily anyway. Would it have boosted both, or neither? Who knows. Maybe in a parallel universe somewhere...
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