Haven't had the time to comment until now. But I have some time to get in a few comments/ravings.
- Every quarter needs a focus for the variant covers, which boost sales for some books modestly, or at the very least modestly stifle the monthly drops many series have. In this case, it will be a FF 50th anniversary motif. At least that's better than "Wolverine Art Appreciation" or the least successful variant cover scheme, "Marvel Super Hero Squad". Sales figures seem to show that the reason why some variants and some new #1's or 3 digit renumberings see a sales spike for that one month and never again is they're being bought almost exclusively by the hardcore fan who collects that sort of thing, and are not attracting anyone new to try the book. That's disturbing in the long term.
- So, now Ultimate Reed is a villain now? SO glad I am not bothering with that crapola anymore.
- My friend who went to Wizard World Austin claimed that AVENGERS ACADEMY #9 would be Mike McKone's last due to what he said at the con, but he doesn't do the interiors for that; just the cover (as he has for every issue he has or hasn't drawn). Maybe McKone meant that issue nine would be his last cover, as well? Or he would leave after his 9th drawn issue? At any rate, focus shifts back to Finesse and has her meet Taskmaster. This is interesting because Gage has a lot of affection for him; in many issues of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE; during DARK REIGN and SIEGE, he was practically the star. Only after TASKMASTER #3, we have his origin now and know he's definitely not a mutant (or an "almost mutant" like Bullseye and Echo are). It should be interesting. By then TASKMASTER will be over, so it looks like Marvel has definitely been trying to keep him in print somewhere lately. Given his mind, though, Taskmaster easily could have had a kid somewhere and just forgotten. It also looks like Ron Garney won't stay long and Sean Chen will be in. While ACADEMY has always seemed to get rock solid art, if McKone is unable to remain as THE regular artist, it will be a shame that the series can't seem to hand onto one.
- The Hood and the Infinity Gauntlet in AVENGERS, ugh. Look, Venom was hot **** in the 90's, but at least even he never went after that. If any books were to aid in selling others with a cut in price, it would be the top Avengers books. It might free up some wallets to try lessor titles. Call it trickle down economics.
- Mike Deodato will apparently pencil two books within a month, SECRET AVENGERS #10 as well as NEW AVENGERS #9 (where he is helped by Howard Chaykin). Or is one the Sr. Deodato and one is the Jr.? Like the Kuberts or Romitas? At any rate, SECRET AVENGERS #10 is the one I care about, and hopefully the arc is good enough to keep me around. It may get more leeway out of me than THOR, but not much more, for $3.99.
- The glut of Wolverine/Deadpool/Captain America/Thor/Iron Man titles continue, although at least one Deadpool book is now retroactively a mini, so there is some sign of tucking back. One of Thor's titles has also be canceled; ironically, the one that was actually good.
- David Gabriel promised that no new #1 for an ongoing title would be $3.99 in 2011, and he's lived up to that. One way is IRON MAN 2.0 is a 3 issue mini to promote War Machine's relaunch, and as a mini it will still be $3.99. Jeez, Marvel are shifter than the Devil when it comes to details about policy.
- CAPTAIN AMERICA #615 promises "nothing will ever be the same again", and I groan every time I see that in a solicit. But with Brubaker on this title, where he has mostly been left alone, that could very much be true. I do wonder if this may be the start of getting the mantle back to Rogers.
- The .1 initiative starts, and the end result is that INVINCIBLE IRON MAN fans will have a $4 issue #501 to buy, AND a $3 issue 500.1 to buy. That means getting $6 out of that fan base in one month, under the premise of trying to bring in newcomers. Ah, Marvel, you shifty minx. I swear, not even the most crafty drug kingpin is better able to figure out how to suck more money out of a dwindling number of hardcore addicts than Marvel editorial can.
- IRON MAN LEGACY #11 is the end of the second arc, and while I probably have enjoyed this more than the main title for a while, sales are so low that I will be astonished if it is solicited in March 2011 for anything other than a one-shot story so it can be capped at the full year marker.
- I can't guarantee I will still be around THOR for issue #620. I just hopped onto ASM and at this point, it looks like a trade in the budget is due. Dan Slott is often far better with pace and story per page than Fraction is.
- Looks like ASM #655 is a one shot story to showcase Marcos Martin's artwork, while issue #656 is the one that really counts for storyline. Feb. 2011 will likely be after the first BIG TIME arc, so we'll see if I am still around. I liked the debut issue, but ASM these days likely has short slack from me, even with Dan Slott the lone master of it's destiny (aside for editorial, who always throw in monkey wrenches). At any rate, it looks like Mac Gargan's days as Venom are gone, and thank heaven for that. Now I just wonder how long Eddie Brock's tenure as "Anti-Venom" lasts. $654.1, again, looks to be an exercise in mooching an extra issue from the fanbase, although to be fair, ASM shipped three issues a month for two years, so it isn't as nasty a move.
- Looks like SPIDER-GIRL #4 picks up where the end of THE GAUNTLET left off. In terms of her character, it makes sense. In terms of me, who only knows of the story in SAGA summaries, it may be a disaster, but we'll see if Tobin can pull it off. Plus, why is Clayton Henry taking a one issue break just to draw MARVEL SUPERHEROES #11, which sells so low people don't even buy it to burn it for heat in 3rd world countries?
- At the very least, some of those 54 trillion stock Iron Man covers that I have seen done for the past four years can be recycled for stuff like IRON MAN MAGAZINE.
- ARCADE: DEATH GAME look awesome for an editorial near cluster ****. It was intended to be a story told in three annuals; AVENGERS ACADEMY, SPIDER-GIRL, and YOUNG ALLIES. Only, WHOOPS, YOUNG ALLIES was canceled so fast, Marvel solicited an issue it'll never publish (which, to be fair, they haven't done very often since about 2002). Plus, maybe someone told someone that releasing an "annual" for SPIDER-GIRL when it hasn't even lasted a full quarter of a year made even less sense than WOLVERINE #1000. Thus, it is re-solicited as a 3 issue mini series, two of which ship this month. It looks great, frankly. Young Allies and Avengers Academy teaming up to battle Arcade, and just to meet. Plus, David Baldeon, from YOUNG ALLIES, will pencil it. In a way, I am looking forward to this more than ONSLAUGHT UNLEASHED, which is written by the actual YOUNG ALLIES writer.
- The Marvel strategy for Daredevil; have Black Panther take over his book, because Black Panther cannot support his own title, in a "stealth take over" much as with INCREDIBLE HERCULES and DARK WOLVERINE. Now, it took INCREDIBLE HULK readers at least a year or so before they figured out the switch wasn't just a gimmick, and to (sadly) leave. It took even less time for WOLVERINE's readers to figure out that they didn't want to pay for Daken. How long will it take DAREDEVIL's readers to ditch T'Challa? Meanwhile, the actual Matt Murdock is being reborn in, well, DAREDEVIL REBORN. When Marvel did this trick with Herc, they got a modest seller for about 2 years before the increase in price helped the sales fall down the chute. When they did it with Wolverine, they accomplished the incredible feat of having what was once Marvel's top character sell at his lowest levels in about 15-20 years. Now they attempt the trick with Black Panther and Daredevil, both C and B list franchises (respectively). If anyone cannot predict how badly this is going to go for both DD and T'Challa in terms of sales, then your lack of common sense, intelligence, reality, and history is so low that you have the perfect stuff to work for Marvel editorial. Betting on BLACK PANTHER: MWOF #515 whatever to dive below DD's normal sales before long and DARDEVIL REBORN to NOT sell as well as DD did is fairly easy. What Marvel has done with DD is create a "jumping off point". DD's readers will leap off it after SHADOWLAND, and not return...ever. Maybe 2/3rds of them will read REBORN, and I doubt they will give T'Challa much chance. I could be wrong, but recent history favors me being right. While comic companies struggle to create "jumping on points" that actually work, they seem adept at creating the opposite.
- HEROES FOR HIRE looks cool, but given how low most of the SHADOWLAND mini's sold, I do wonder how long it will last. It also looks like Iron Fist ISN'T the one doing the hiring. Interesting.
- HAWYEKE: BLIND SPOT is a mini that basically replaces HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD, as Jim McCan is aboard.
- FANTASTIC FOUR #588 is the issue after their death of a member, and as it technically is not a new launch, it is $3.99 for no damn reason. I still have my doubts about the death lasting all year, since the FF will turn 50 in 2011. I honestly don't want any of them to die, although they've been around so long that it is the only story that gets attention, and sales have spiked since THREE started, so it isn't like Marvel was wrong in their choice here. That is a great Alan Davis cover.
- I am SO glad POWER MAN & IRON FIST was planned before sales for SHADOWLAND: POWER MAN were known, because there was NO way Marvel would have planned another five issues if they knew those sales. But that's a good thing for Iron Fist fans, as Fred Ven Lante will have another five issues with him. Hey, if Marvel had instead launched it as an ongoing series months ago, it would have been lucky to last ten issues.
- ONSLAUGHT UNLEASHED is a mini in which, it seems, the Young Allies and Secret Avengers team up to fight Onslaught, who has come from the same universe as Rikki Barnes/Nomad came. In a way it makes sense; Nomad came from the HEROES REBORN universe of Counter-Earth that was made possible after Franklin Richards wanted to save all the heroes who "died" to stop Onslaught, which meant Onslaught was still there, as they'd basically all jumped into his energy to make it stable enough for the X-Men to blow up with a tag team attack (seriously, that is what happened). I just am in no mood to see Onslaught again, and Filip Andrade's art is okay for a back up strip I am paying for anyway, but part of me hesitates to buy it for $4 a pop on it's own. Much like Humberto Ramos, who drew the cover, he may excel at characters who don't need human proportion, like Onslaught. And at the very least, Onslaught is a worthier threat for the Secret Avengers than kung-fu dragons and ninja.
- THUNDERBOLTS has a crossover/tie in with another title? What next? Joe Quesada refuses to answer a direct question?
- Greg Pak launches a SILVER SURFER mini, which if memory serves is his first since ANNIHILATION in 2006. I am partisan about trying it. While Marvel won't launch new ongoings at $3.99, they have no qualms about spitting out 14,000 mini's at that price.
- Here is an example of Marvel editorial being stark raving mad. They go on their scheme to add triple digits to all their titles to relaunch them and claim history, etc. Then they launch DEADPOOL TEAM-UP at #900 to let us know they know how insane that is, and count backwards. Haha, funny. But then they release WOLVERINE #900, and it is dead straight. Now, we get WOLVERINE #1000, probably because WOLVERINE #900 didn't tank. That is something that WHAT THE--!? might have mocked in the 90's. Now Marvel is beyond satire.
- NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT #7 has been solicited, but sales stink. Who knows how long it will last.
- TAKIO, which is an all-ages offering by Bendis and Oeming, is being sold as a 96 page HC at $10. Now, based on the great sales of SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, this looks like even more of a good deal. But it's being packaged to sell to an all ages, new kid audience. Obviously, Marvel understands that offering a high page count for a low price is a great way to attract kids, or their parents, or new fans in general. This is literally proof. So why, I ask, can they not figure this out and broaden the approach for their entire line? Why can't DC? Why can't ANYONE!? This proves that it isn't that people who run the big two comics don't know how to try to sell to newer audiences or to cut a break to bring in a crowd. They know. They're just too stupid, incompetent, or downright greedy to extend the policy. Marvel would rather sell 50 people a $5 comic than 100 people a $2.50 comic. And that's fine, for short sighted aims. Just don't believe it when someone from DC or Marvel brass gives an interview and sounds like a kid being electrocuted trying to figure out why comics can't grow their audience. They know exactly what strategy to try. They just aren't willing to try it when it counts, with what it would count with.
February
