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Marvel Solicitations for May 2010

Where did you see Bruce Hulk up again?
The covers of all the World War Hulks or Fall of the Hulks or whatever the f*** they're doing now. I've been seeing the Hulk on a lot of them, so I assumed Bruce must've regained his ability to transform.
 
That sounds super boring. I see no reason why there should ever be just 1 of anything. If multiple Hulk characters can make for a good story, I say bring 'em.

Unfortunately having multiple Hulks is how you'd say, "super boring". If what you're saying holds true, you want multiples of the same super heroes? That's boring. What's interesting is the dynamic between individuals and wider range of abilities the better. I don't see how having 8 people who get stronger as they get mad is interesting at all. At least savage she hulk adds some dynamic as she gets weaker if she's angry.
 
The covers of all the World War Hulks or Fall of the Hulks or whatever the f*** they're doing now. I've been seeing the Hulk on a lot of them, so I assumed Bruce must've regained his ability to transform.
That's more than likely not the Cosmic Hulk that the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. has running around.
 
Ultimate Universe has nice diversity between it's 4 Hulks atleast. :p
 
So basically every character is going to be 'Hulk'ed' out i some way or the other?
 
I need to see a clear pic of Storm Hulk'd out. That could be pretty cool.
 
Thanos may be the hero versus the cancerverse..he's death's boy and the cancerverse is where "life has won" ...My guess at least..At any rate that is perhaps the best looking cover of the year...it looks like a must buy for me.

I don't like the fact all my favorite books are cancelled, altered , or on hiatus.

No GOTG, NOVA, Mighty, or Iniative...heck no Herc. Seriously , those are my favorite books.

NO Seriously..those are my F-ing FAVORITE BOOKS!

My pull list is going to be reduced. Plain and Simple. Marvel doesnt seem to care what we post on message boards so it looks like i need to excersise my only voice that they care about , my wallet. Too many expensive comics, too much turmoil with books. Too much Bendis.

I have decided not to support Bendis' AVENGERS book. While I agree a change was needed, I'm flat out tired of Bendis (on Avengers). He's had his shake..his stuff was overrated, I'm ready for someone else.

I will check out Bru's Secret Avengers with Guarded optimism. I didnt hate Brus run on X men as much as some, but I've stagnated on Cap, which wasnt really Bru's fault.

I think it is cool Spider Man #2 , which I assume is the new Marvel Adventures SPidey book features SHang-Chi and his Nemisis Midnight...who is probably not going to be the Kree Cyborg he was turned into, but it will be nice to see them.

90 percent of the stuff on these solicits looks like garbage.

Dissapointed that New Warriors does not appear to get another shot..yet.
 
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Frankly, I think Marvel is making a huge mistake with the HULK books. Historically, the Hulk has not been able to sustain two titles for long. Now with the market contracting they were offering virtually an entire line of Hulk titles. They are also "diluting" the Hulk a bit. Before there was Hulk and She-Hulk and they both were distinct, with their own lives and sometimes titles. Jennifer's world was often very different from Bruce's. Now, we have Red She-Hulk, Red Hulk, we have Skaar, we have Rick Jones becoming A-Bomb (a move that, IMO, says it all in the name; a bomb), and now we have other characters "hulking out" for a story. When characters become common place and lose their mystique, their popularity and allure can wane.

Proof?

Wolverine.

If you look at Jan. 2010's sales figures, Wolverine's comics are selling at their lowest point in a long, long time. Frankly, he sells better as an Avenger than he sells solo or even as an X-Man, which is very new for him. Spider-Man, despite anyone's criticisms of ASM, sells better than Wolverine now. But what has happened in recent years to Wolverine to dilute him?

- There is over-exposure; even in the 90's, he didn't have more than 2 titles, and appeared in two X-Men books, beyond one-shot's and mini's. Still, eventually it has made him seem common place. But this is not the main issue.

- Since 2003-2004, Wolverine has spawned two children, X-23 and Daken. While X-23 is probably the more original of the two, both of them serve as "Wolverine Lite" roles and perform many story functions that Logan himself used to perform. Rebel, savages, mysterious past, etc. Daken is even seemingly impersonating Wolverine to no ill effect. Marvel switched out WOLVERINE into Daken's book, retitling it DARK WOLVERINE. Logan himself was left with WOLVERINE: ORIGINS and WOLVERINE: WEAPON X. Ideally, Marvel expected the Logan fans to either support Daken and/or flock to WEAPON X, since that was now the core Logan book. Instead, neither happened. Sales for both titles dropped steadily, and WOLVERINE: ORIGINS is wrapping up soon. The result was the move not only helped Daken NOT gain readers, but it caused Logan readers to flee, and not return. While Deadpool has an obnoxious amount of comics, at least all actually feature him.

- Wolverine's other allure used to be his mysterious origin. Now that origin is neither mysterious or really comprehensible. It actually wasn't as complicated as people made it sound in the 90's, but the whole Romulus stuff in ORIGINS has drastically effected it and made it have more contradictions than the King James Bible.

- $3.99 cover prices; not even Brian Bendis can draw a crowd forever with $4 a pop, why does anyone think other characters can? This price likely killed Jason Aaron's WOLVERINE: WEAPON X in the cradle.

The Hulk is on the verge of this same thing. While the Hulk until very recently has been seen as a popular B-Lister, not as A-List as Spider-Man or Wolverine, Marvel is running the risk of making the same mistakes with him as they have with Wolverine.

They won't admit any, of course.
 
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Frankly, I think Marvel is making a huge mistake with the HULK books. Historically, the Hulk has not been able to sustain two titles for long. Now with the market contracting they were offering virtually an entire line of Hulk titles. They are are "diluting" the Hulk a bit. Before there was Hulk and She-Hulk and they both were distinct, with their own lives and sometimes titles. Jennifer's world was often very different from Bruce's. Now, we have Red She-Hulk, Red Hulk, we have Skaar, we have Rick Jones becoming A-Bomb (a move that, IMO, says it all in the name; a bomb), and now we have other characters "hulking out" for a story. When characters become common place and lose their mystique, their popularity and allure can wane.

Proof?

Wolverine.

If you look at Jan. 2010's sales figures, Wolverine's comics are selling at their lowest point in a long, long time. Frankly, he sells better as an Avenger than he sells solo or even as an X-Man, which is very new for him. Spider-Man, despite anyone's criticisms of ASM, sells better than Wolverine now. But what has happened in recent years to Wolverine to dilute him?

- There is over-exposure; even in the 90's, he didn't have more than 2 titles, and appeared in two X-Men books, beyond one-shot's and mini's. Still, eventually it has made him seem common place. But this is not the main issue.

- Since 2003-2004, Wolverine has spawned two children, X-23 and Daken. While X-23 is probably the more original of the two, both of them serve as "Wolverine Lite" roles and perform many story functions that Logan himself used to perform. Rebel, savages, mysterious past, etc. Daken is even seemingly impersonating Wolverine to no ill effect. Marvel switched out WOLVERINE into Daken's book, retitling it DARK WOLVERINE. Logan himself was left with WOLVERINE: ORIGINS and WOLVERINE: WEAPON X. Ideally, Marvel expected the Logan fans to either support Daken and/or flock to WEAPON X, since that was now the core Logan book. Instead, neither happened. Sales for both titles dropped steadily, and WOLVERINE: ORIGINS is wrapping up soon. The result was the move not only helped Daken gain readers, but it caused Logan readers to flee, and not return. While Deadpool has an obnoxious amount of comics, at least all actually feature him.

- Wolverine's other allure used to be his mysterious origin. Now that origin is neither mysterious or really comprehensible. It actually wasn't as complicated as people made it sound in the 90's, but the whole Romulus stuff in ORIGINS has drastically effected it and made it have more contradictions than the King James Bible.

- $3.99 cover prices; not even Brian Bendis can draw a crowd forever with $4 a pop, why does anyone think other characters can? This price likely killed Jason Aaron's WOLVERINE: WEAPON X in the cradle.

The Hulk is on the verge of this same thing. While the Hulk until very recently has been seen as a popular B-Lister, not as A-List as Spider-Man or Wolverine, Marvel is running the risk of making the same mistakes with him as they have with Wolverine.

They won't admit any, of course.

You're so right about the hulk franchise brother. I really really dont understand how marvel does business sometimes. Sometimes they decide to rock the boat when no rocking was even needed. Planet Hulk was a critically well received story, people were liking the direction Pak was taking the hulk and it was received well. So what does marvel do? They go in the opposite direction undo everything. They make Hulk dumb again, add a red hulk, make Rick Jones A-Bomb for no reason, and above everything else, they pretty much ignore all the progress Greg Pak made during his run. Now we have this nonsensical World War Hulks thing, why? WHY? Pak had a good thing going with the hulk and now they're doing this?! They think all these new hulks are going to draw people in?? Sigh....

Oh and yeah Wolverine is a complete mess. But its too late, marvel's already damaged him beyond repair. Marvel really needs to calm down with this over saturation thing. It really does kill characters.
 
You're so right about the hulk franchise brother. I really really dont understand how marvel does business sometimes. Sometimes they decide to rock the boat when no rocking was even needed. Planet Hulk was a critically well received story, people were liking the direction Pak was taking the hulk and it was received well. So what does marvel do? They go in the opposite direction undo everything. They make Hulk dumb again, add a red hulk, make Rick Jones A-Bomb for no reason, and above everything else, they pretty much ignore all the progress Greg Pak made during his run. Now we have this nonsensical World War Hulks thing, why? WHY? Pak had a good thing going with the hulk and now they're doing this?! They think all these new hulks are going to draw people in?? Sigh....

Oh and yeah Wolverine is a complete mess. But its too late, marvel's already damaged him beyond repair. Marvel really needs to calm down with this over saturation thing. It really does kill characters.

I always personally wished the Hulk could have made more of a life on Sakaar and stayed in space a while. I thought PLANET HULK was wonderful in providing a new world and transformation for the Hulk himself that I was a little annoyed that it all had to end because of a crossover event. Still, Pak did that himself, as in writing it, so it had his blessing. And, compared to HOUSE OF M or CIVIL WAR, had more a clear narrative, a clear beginning, middle, and end (even if, like many events, it was not all executed as well as it could have; not even Brubaker can hit a perfect bullseye for an "event" as he does with normal CA issues). Plus, well, space makes everyone better. Except Spider-Man...he'd screw it up with whining, I imagine.

Marvel makes these decisions because they want to sell more books, and they see that any character who gets hot can sell more books. But, rather than slowly build, they go for the full cash in immediately, which usually works well for the short term, and crashes in the long term.

Which leads us to Deadpool. In a way, what is happening with him is almost too similar to what happened to Punisher and Ghost Rider in the early 90's. Now, by then, both were not "new" characters. Both were created in the 70's. Just the times happened to favor anti-heroes, and both benefited from it. But, quickly, one book wasn't enough; they got two, and then even three. On top of having cross-overs and/or guest appearances in every ongoing series under the sun, and atop of that the occasional one-shot or mini. It sold well for a while, but the crash happened and then both tanked so bad, they had to be rested for a good, long while (as in at least 5 years) before they could support their own books again. And even then, it wasn't easy; Punisher's first MARVEL KNIGHTS stab bombed, as did Ghost Rider's. Both, not by coincidence, did so because both launches took the characters too far from their roots; Punisher became some supernatural demon slayer, and Ghost Rider became some guy in an office building. Lo and behold, relaunching characters without relying on their strengths backfired, a lesson Marvel has failed to learn with Namor, or the New Warriors, or Dr. Strange, almost literally every single languishing franchise that they have been unable to relaunch successfully. Who the **** wants to read DOCTOR STRANGE when he's powerless and needs some random teenage girl, who is SO a refugee from RUNAWAYS it isn't funny, doing all the magic for him? What NEW WARRIORS fan wanted to see them drawn terribly doing a reality show? I mean come the hell on, Marvel. Imagine if they "re-invented" Wolverine as a teenage boxer in a suit of armor, and then were stunned it didn't sell. Well, golly gee!

Rather than slowly build and maintain Deadpool, Marvel is cashing in their chips now. It will backfire, probably by 2011 or 2012, and the character will be so toxic that he won't have any series at all. One hopes that this doesn't happen to the Hulk, as he is a far longer lasting character. Taking away what makes him unique and special, which isn't simply a design and explosions, takes away his essence and reason for existing. Besides, Jeph Loeb has so poisoned the franchise with his run, that I'm not sure Pak can skillfully revive it as he once did with a story that links up with Loeb's.

The irony is when both Marvel and DC occasionally want to make a bit of a stunt, what do they do? They offer some "preview" book that is cheap. Not long ago, it was a comic that was a dime, or nine cents. Now it might be a $1 first issue, like VERTIGO is doing. It is like they understand that cheaper comics bring more readers, or at least encourage readers who might not otherwise give a launch a chance to do so, but don't apply it. Marvel's strategy of making a #1 issue the most expensive is both cynical and short sighted. They did that in the 90's, too, (a #1 issue might be $1.95 or $2.50 while a regular issue might have still been, say, $1.25 or $1.50), and it didn't work out then. I think one major problem is the current editorial administration both acts as if nothing ever got done at Marvel before 2000, while also being too afraid to slow down the car to think about being lost or making a wrong turn.

Marvel doesn't make a wrong move with everything, but some moves, boy, if you have any memory or perspective, they make you scream, "What are you, NUTS!?" And while some people will go, "every decade had their rubbish stories or ideas", the thing is, one can actually learn from the past, by acknowledging and studying it, not assuming a modern age is superior to a past one just because we have cell phones and "24" now. Some of the Hulk stuff is one of those areas.
 
Unfortunately having multiple Hulks is how you'd say, "super boring". If what you're saying holds true, you want multiples of the same super heroes? That's boring. What's interesting is the dynamic between individuals and wider range of abilities the better. I don't see how having 8 people who get stronger as they get mad is interesting at all. At least savage she hulk adds some dynamic as she gets weaker if she's angry.

Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier
She-Hulk is the same strength level regardless of rage( I believe)
Rulk gets hotter as he gets angrier
A-Bomb has a baseline strength level just like the original Abomination
Lyra actually gets weaker as she gets angrier
She-Rulk's strength seems to be constant but who knows
Skaar can trigger his transformations as will, and we don't know where his strength matches up against Hulk and Rulk

So we don't have as many redundant characters as you think. Really only She-Hulk, She-Rulk, and A-Bomb.
 
Skaar also has the Oldpower. He didn't seem to be as strong as the Hulk or much of a match for him when they fought, though.
 
Yeah how the messed up SOn of Hulk also factors there, I was really liking that book with Lim on art, then 1 month I'm like what the F is This crap? Some bad Heavy Metal rejected story? Why ambush a book like that??
 
Skaar also has the Oldpower. He didn't seem to be as strong as the Hulk or much of a match for him when they fought, though.

I love how inconsistent superstrength is in comic books. You just know that when they fight for real next time, Skaar's gonna get his hits in and inflict some damage before Bruce pwns him.
 
Worked for Incredible Hercules. ;)

Only for a few years.

And it didn't work for DARK WOLVERINE. Fans realized they'd been swapped for Daken and fled.

Lesson? Every strategy wares thin if spammed without variation too often.
 

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