Ellis responds to Nextwave's Cancellation (and reveals there's still more to come!)

[KingOfDreams]

It's interesting that Nextwave has people who absolutely love it and then those who absolutely hate it. Not much in between. Kind of like Napoleon Dynamite.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm a kinda/sorta-liker of Napoleon Dynamite. I chuckled the first time through, but I wouldn't watch it again by choice. Most people who hate it just find the title character to be like a living, breathing version of that nails-on-chalkboard sound, I've found. They never really have much of a problem with the movie itself, which is and was marketed as a dumb comedy.

 

[Darthphere]

I lawl everytime I watch it, because its so stupid.

 

[yahman]

Whats the difference, you tell me? And please dont use that humor book bull**** because She-Hulk is a humor book and peoples characters arent ebing changed dramatically.

Im maybe wrong, but IMO 1 Dimensional characters are rarely humorous, hence the ‘expansion/revision’ of their typical characterisation.

P.S. I haven't read Next Wave b4, IMO Comics and humour is never a good mix !!!!!!!(especially when you consider the traditional target audience. )

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Overweight men between their 20s and 40s?

 

[Tropico]

Shut up, Corp! They were called funny books years ago for no reason at all, it had nothing to do with comedy!!!

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I know what you mean. I already loved hating Nextwave, but thanks to this:

I now love ATHF when, before, I used to just kind of like it.

Season 5 of ATHF on Sunday Oct 22nd, 10PM.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

So I guess I better pitch them a book in which Benjamin Grimm is a borderline psychotic, dark, and edgy character for the new millenium.

When you make a book just more of the same, which is what the Thing is and was, your probably dooming yourself to failure.

No you do not have to do a 180 with a character, but you have to do something. Dan Slott seems to think it's about obscure characters and comic references. But it is not. Most people don't know the extent of Marvel history to have a geekgasm when Arcade and Murderworld show up.

Yeah, you do need to preserve recognizable elements of characters, but you need to inject new life into them at the same time. I am surprised She-Hulk is still an ongoing, I like it, but it's really kind of mediocre.

This message board represents a very small portion of readership. I take two guys to the comic store every week (one a Marvel fan) and he loves X-Men, Ultimate Universe, Civil War and New Avengers. But I don't think I've ever seen him read Thing. Those books just don't interest people. And I don't really think it's a shame. When you make a book called the Thing you have to give your general readership some reason to read it, and not just read Fantastic Four you lose.

The first time around Thing's hook was he was not a member of the Fantastic Four. She-Hulk had taken his place and so if you wanted your Ben Grimm fix, you read his book. It actually did alright from what I understand.

Wolverine capitalized on two things. One the "death of the X-Men" as a reason to input this solo story into the MU. Two, the rising popularity of him as a star and the mysteries surrounding his past. They used these things to divorce him from the team and create a successful spinoff. You couldn't do that with Cyclops (however it was accomplished with the original five) or Nightcrawler.

They could do something new with Thing. Take him off the FF, have the Thing ongoing deal with his estrangement from his allies following Civil War (or something). You can still keep the basic elements plus something new, it's not just Thing focused Fantastic Four books.

New things sell books. It's a sad fact you have to face. As much as we "hate" change, I think Quesada successfully parodied us as loving it.

I think our new store owner put it best "at least Quesada is doing things with the characters". Or as Roach says "I like change, just not bad change". Slott to me represents status quo. Let's keep everything the same and boring. Maybe it counters Quesada, but I honestly don't see the solution to him as being "no change". You need the change, I cannot see Spider-Man fight Doc Octopus just like always forever. There has to be something more the next time around, whether it's raising the stakes or changing the character.

There is potential in shifting around these characters. Thing may joke, but what if he did not. What could drive him to change. If you can hit that story and hit it well you can make it stick, and people will love it.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

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