Point One

....well crap. It's just like the Cable teaser with him in shadow; I got all excited at the pretty art then scrolled down to Loeb. Ahem, I mean LooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOoooeeeeeeeeeeeeeb!!!! :argh:

I like Marvel's characters, I really do, but I've just been hating some of their big ideas, event over saturation and lack of heart in continuity. I remember in the 90s the little 3d graphic would be in the corner to fill you in on the other goins on, and even if you didn't immediately read it, you could picture where it fit in with minimal effort. Only a small fraction of the books I read still do that, and it makes me sad.

This whole thing is making me wonder what the "SHOCKING EVENT" will be. It's funny, I remember when I first really got into comics in the 90s and I'd love a big event. Now they're all too common or they just don't strike my fancy. I've completely avoided Fear Itself and it messed with Thunderbolts! :cmad:
 
Looks like there's two new members to the new Defenders:

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This is a pretty boring teaser run. Nova's reveal was interesting but the next two were things we already knew about. Heck, Defenders already had a series of teaser reveals a couple weeks ago. And they've been promoting the Ultron stuff for months.

If this magically appears at $3 I'll get it (yeah, right), and at $4 I'd skim it to decide. Anything above that and I won't even pick it up for a look through.
 
If Nova weren't involved, I'd be 100% uninterested. But unfortunately, I need to know what's going on with him. NEED! :o

Agreed. That's likely why I'll bother with it.

....well crap. It's just like the Cable teaser with him in shadow; I got all excited at the pretty art then scrolled down to Loeb. Ahem, I mean LooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOoooeeeeeeeeeeeeeb!!!! :argh:

I like Marvel's characters, I really do, but I've just been hating some of their big ideas, event over saturation and lack of heart in continuity. I remember in the 90s the little 3d graphic would be in the corner to fill you in on the other goins on, and even if you didn't immediately read it, you could picture where it fit in with minimal effort. Only a small fraction of the books I read still do that, and it makes me sad.

This whole thing is making me wonder what the "SHOCKING EVENT" will be. It's funny, I remember when I first really got into comics in the 90s and I'd love a big event. Now they're all too common or they just don't strike my fancy. I've completely avoided Fear Itself and it messed with Thunderbolts! :cmad:

It's the "Syndrome in INCREDIBLES" theory. If everything's a big event, nothing is.

I do agree on the oversaturation part. Even with the New 52 and all their other imprints, DC still publishes fewer comics a month than Marvel. Marvel just needs to take a breather and allow their books to sink or swim on quality, because events just aren't hacking it anymore. FEAR ITSELF #1 needed reprints to crack 100k and the later issues likely won't manage that. Aside for modest 1k-3k boosts for smaller titles that proved fleeting, the crossover had no effect on any titles it crossed over with, and all the various mini's and one-shots sank like a stone in sales. SPIDER-ISLAND isn't faring a whole lot better, even with a brilliant retailer gimmick to promote the first issue.

Marvel's caused their readership to OD on the stimulant of events. It's starting to stroke out. The problem is that's all they know, besides relaunches. Editorial strategies have become little different than the battle plan a MEGAMAN boss uses. It looks awesome until you figure out the pattern, then it's a cakewalk. But they can't change. They refuse to.

This is a pretty boring teaser run. Nova's reveal was interesting but the next two were things we already knew about. Heck, Defenders already had a series of teaser reveals a couple weeks ago. And they've been promoting the Ultron stuff for months.

If this magically appears at $3 I'll get it (yeah, right), and at $4 I'd skim it to decide. Anything above that and I won't even pick it up for a look through.

Ironically, it would do Marvel a lot of good to be willing to invest in this as a promotional exercise and make it as cheap as possible. $2.99 for 64 pages of material alone would be fine, and even cheaper would be better - encourage shops to over order and readers to read. But that's not the strategy Marvel use. I'd be stunned if this sold for under $4.99 to be honest. I mean, Marvel are willing to sell annuals with 50% reprint material for that price, and reprints cost nothing.

Nick Fury and Ant-Man join the Defenders. I'd automatically have assumed that Ant-Man is Eric O'Grady, but we don't know if Scott Lang will survive AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE or not; if he does, he could be a Defender now. That isn't to say O'Grady couldn't simply appear in two team books; Wolverine, Beast, and Spider-Man do that all the time, and even Storm managed it for a stretch.

While I am sure that's Silver Surfer in that image - since he's on the main roster - he's colored a bit more blue than silver than usual. So for a split second I wonder if Iceman may end up joining the team, or having a cameo. He was actually a Defender for a stretch of time, during the era when Beast led the team in the mid to late 80's when the first volume ended. He's done very little in the X-Men besides show up for years (akin to Colossus, only Iceman's an older character), and he's a character who could benefit from expanded horizons. Plus, he's not only worked with Namor recently, his powers could easily revive Namor if someone tried the ol' "dehydration" attack on him.
 
Oh god... Loeb is writing Nova... I'm giving up on Marvel when Point One starts...
 
Hurgh, the space between that dude's eyelids....can't unsee...someone's getting a mark of Kai-Scarlet.
 
Sigh.

Once again Marvel jerks at the chain of desperate Ben Reilly fans with a tease about reviving him, which is literally the one story they would NEVER do. They'd rather sell Spider-Man to DC than ever bring Reilly back. And even as someone who hated Reilly and that entire saga, it is getting on my nerves. It is bordering on cruel and unusual punishment to tease that same league of desperate, no-hoper fans who genuinely want him back as often as Marvel does. Marvel has thus done so twice this year; an earlier Reilly teaser came up during a batch of SPIDER-ISLAND teasers a while back. It especially gets on my nerves when Tom Brevoort or Joe Q or no end of senior editors act all "holier than thou" compared to bygone editorial administrations, yet they still tuck at those skeletons of eras past to make a cheap buck, or a cheaper shock. Those poor fans who desperately want back a character who no editor, writer, CEO, president, or even fan-fic writer would dare revive don't need to have their fanboy hearts poked at again, at least in my eyes.

I'd bet on it being a 616 version of Miles Morales, perhaps justified as a New Yorker who will manage to "keep" his powers after SPIDER-ISLAND wraps. Now, I doubt such a version would replace Parker, but there'd be nothing barring him from joining the cast of ASM.

The dark horse option is that it's the last MVP clone, who has decided to alter his costume and for some reason fight crime solo instead of just showing up in Initiative/New Warriors group shots. But, I doubt that, too. Even though "Patrick" is a blank slate who any writer could make into whoever he wants.
 
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This interests me simply because it's Lapham, who's work on Deadpool MAX has been outstanding. These characters are supposedly coming out of Uncanny X-Force's Dark Angel Saga. To me that means they may be AoA crossovers that we've never seen.
 
X-Men-related, you say? I'll probably pass. But I guess that's one of the good parts of having a billion stories in one oversized one-shot: lots of people will pick it up for maybe one or two parts and probably wind up reading a bunch of other things they might otherwise have passed on. So I'll wait and see. I'm kind of digging the idea of this Point One one-shot more the more I think about it. Not the content, necessarily, but the idea of cramming a bunch of little tastes of various things into one comic and throwing a ton of marketing behind it.
 
Yeah but it's Uncanny X-Force related, so there's a difference.....that book is everything Uncanny X-Men was and should be again. Gillen has his work cut out for him come reboot time. I've been giving him a free pass because he's wrapping up things and working in Fear Itself.
 
No....a book that is borderline epic. It has major large scale consequences while still keeping in inside the perspective corner of the X-Universe. Kinda like Fall of the Mutants or the core Inferno story.
 
BUY IT DAMN YOU!:o

Seriously, you should try out the initial trade, it's coming out soon. I wouldn't steer you wrong.....:whatever:
 
It's a comic comprising pretty much all of the X-characters I hate most indulging in their murderous ways, which I also hate. I think I can safely say I'll never try it, and even if I did, the deck would be monstrously stacked against my enjoying it. ;)
 
Sigh.

Once again Marvel jerks at the chain of desperate Ben Reilly fans with a tease about reviving him, which is literally the one story they would NEVER do. They'd rather sell Spider-Man to DC than ever bring Reilly back. And even as someone who hated Reilly and that entire saga, it is getting on my nerves. It is bordering on cruel and unusual punishment to tease that same league of desperate, no-hoper fans who genuinely want him back as often as Marvel does. Marvel has thus done so twice this year; an earlier Reilly teaser came up during a batch of SPIDER-ISLAND teasers a while back. It especially gets on my nerves when Tom Brevoort or Joe Q or no end of senior editors act all "holier than thou" compared to bygone editorial administrations, yet they still tuck at those skeletons of eras past to make a cheap buck, or a cheaper shock. Those poor fans who desperately want back a character who no editor, writer, CEO, president, or even fan-fic writer would dare revive don't need to have their fanboy hearts poked at again, at least in my eyes.

I'd bet on it being a 616 version of Miles Morales, perhaps justified as a New Yorker who will manage to "keep" his powers after SPIDER-ISLAND wraps. Now, I doubt such a version would replace Parker, but there'd be nothing barring him from joining the cast of ASM.

The dark horse option is that it's the last MVP clone, who has decided to alter his costume and for some reason fight crime solo instead of just showing up in Initiative/New Warriors group shots. But, I doubt that, too. Even though "Patrick" is a blank slate who any writer could make into whoever he wants.

I really don't think it's going to be a 616 version of Miles Morales for the simple reason that it would distract from and undermine the publicity surrounding Ultimate Spider-Man. Plus, if folks were confused about how one continuity has Peter Parker still as Spider-Man while another has Miles Morales as Spider-Man, it would be even more confusing to have another version of Miles Morales in a different costumed "spider" identity.

Nor do I think it's Ben Reilly, either. Marvel has stated over and over that Ben Reilly is dead, that his story is done, and they have no plans on bringing him back.

That said, I think most likely candidate for the new Scarlet Spider is Kaine. After all, like Ben Reilly, Kaine is Peter's clone, and in this case, Kaine is more of an ruthless anti-hero, which this teaser definitely seems to imply the new Scarlet Spider is (he's even doing a kind of "Mark of Kaine" move on the guy). Plus, it's clear that Kaine's story arc is one of redemption, so having a darker version of Peter trying to find the light, as it were, seems likely, although technically, Venom already fits that bill.

However, the real interesting option could be that the new Scarlet Spider is Mary Jane Watson. After all, it's been emphasized in Spider-Island that she didn't have powers repeatedly only to discover she actually does, thus it suggests that not only will she be instrumental in helping Peter towards the end of the event, but perhaps the swerve could be that she still has them after Spider-Island is over. Plus, given the hoodie, the costume could very well hide her gender.

Then again, the other swerve could be this is really Peter himself in a new costumed identity.
 
X-Men-related, you say? I'll probably pass. But I guess that's one of the good parts of having a billion stories in one oversized one-shot: lots of people will pick it up for maybe one or two parts and probably wind up reading a bunch of other things they might otherwise have passed on. So I'll wait and see. I'm kind of digging the idea of this Point One one-shot more the more I think about it. Not the content, necessarily, but the idea of cramming a bunch of little tastes of various things into one comic and throwing a ton of marketing behind it.

It is a good idea if Marvel were willing to take a risk and price it accordingly so it hits as many hands as possible. The ambitious price would be $1 or less. The reasonable one would be $2.99. The likely one will be $3.99 and probably $5.99 due to the page count, as Marvel is always penny wise and pound foolish.

DC's New 52, love it or hate it, took some stones. There were a lot of half measures and cop-outs to it, but it was at least a willingness to dip a toe into less shallow water. Marvel, especially post Disney deal, are scared wimps when it comes to risk or daring. Right now their entire strategy to the New 52 is to assume the fetal position and hope it crashes and passes. If not, though, I bet that next creator summit will be very interesting.
 
Thing is they don't indulge in it. You see the repercussions of their murderous ways both external and internal.
 
It's a comic comprising pretty much all of the X-characters I hate most indulging in their murderous ways, which I also hate. I think I can safely say I'll never try it, and even if I did, the deck would be monstrously stacked against my enjoying it. ;)

Even Psylocke....? Damn, I didn't think anybody hated Betsy....:csad:

Then again, the other swerve could be this is really Peter himself in a new costumed identity.

Which is something that makes me groan but I have the feeling that's where we're headed. :dry:
 
I really don't think it's going to be a 616 version of Miles Morales for the simple reason that it would distract from and undermine the publicity surrounding Ultimate Spider-Man. Plus, if folks were confused about how one continuity has Peter Parker still as Spider-Man while another has Miles Morales as Spider-Man, it would be even more confusing to have another version of Miles Morales in a different costumed "spider" identity.

Nor do I think it's Ben Reilly, either. Marvel has stated over and over that Ben Reilly is dead, that his story is done, and they have no plans on bringing him back.

That said, I think most likely candidate for the new Scarlet Spider is Kaine. After all, like Ben Reilly, Kaine is Peter's clone, and in this case, Kaine is more of an ruthless anti-hero, which this teaser definitely seems to imply the new Scarlet Spider is (he's even doing a kind of "Mark of Kaine" move on the guy). Plus, it's clear that Kaine's story arc is one of redemption, so having a darker version of Peter trying to find the light, as it were, seems likely, although technically, Venom already fits that bill.

However, the real interesting option could be that the new Scarlet Spider is Mary Jane Watson. After all, it's been emphasized in Spider-Island that she didn't have powers repeatedly only to discover she actually does, thus it suggests that not only will she be instrumental in helping Peter towards the end of the event, but perhaps the swerve could be that she still has them after Spider-Island is over. Plus, given the hoodie, the costume could very well hide her gender.

Then again, the other swerve could be this is really Peter himself in a new costumed identity.

Marvel obviously doesn't care about confusion if it means cold hard bucks. Waiting two years to clear up the hiccups of BND with OMIT proves that. If Marvel editorial thinks adding Morales to ASM could boost sales for it - especially as DC's New 52 will knock it out of the Top 10-20 for a few months - they'll politely ask Slott to work it in at some point. ASM is one of their top selling comics lately and they'll want to keep it in that position. Having it be outsold for a while by BATGIRL would be embarrassing.

That said you've come up with some better theories about this than I did. Kaine would be an odd choice because he's supposed to be physically larger than Peter, and he had his own distinct costume. Yes, it was very 90's (spandex, spikes, and pads with a tattered cape), but that's his look. You're right that the "dark redeemed hero" angle is being taken by Brock and Venom, but since Brock is set to join Thompson in VENOM soon, this could be Slott's way of filling that gap in his series. Kaine also has long hair, though. Making him dress like Spider-Man more directly could be kind of odd. Admittedly, he is wearing a hoodie lately as Tarantula.

Nobody at Marvel, frankly, has the stones to give MJ super powers and make her a heroine. They had their chance with Jackpot and blew it. If they weren't willing to do so then, they won't do it now. That makes as much sense as having Jason Todd return in a story, then have it turn out to be a fake-out, and then to have him seemingly return the very next story and then it turns out to be real. Oh, wait, DC did that. If MJ had super-powers, it would effectively erase a major part of why they supposedly never married, in OMIT anyway, as MJ would no longer be a damsel and could defend herself, even battle alongside Peter. Now, some of the bits with Carlie have unintentionally portrayed Peter as being so afraid of commitment and sharing power with a woman. It could make an interesting arc that all of Peter's hang-up's about women have nothing to do with his powers or enemies and everything to do with his own maturity and views, but I don't think we're heading there.

I had some long arguments about Spidey dating Ms. Marvel at the ASM topic and a few times I stated I didn't want to see it because Spider-Man couldn't handle her. He literally cannot handle being in a relationship with a woman of equal or greater physical power who not only does he not have to be the "uber responsible" one in terms of protection and risk, but HE may be the one who is the party being worried about. Yeah, Black Cat was his partner a while, but she was never as powerful even with "real" bad luck powers and some treatments by Tinkerer. Peter, somewhere, always chooses civilians to date because he can't handle fighting back to back with some he loves; he always has to keep that separate, and he does so even in EXTREME situations like Spider-Island when relaxing that mentality would have been logically efficient. Of course, fans of the marriage know that Peter can commit long term and love someone, and that MJ was a tough cookie without powers or SHIELD training. But, it isn't the same.

And it is a shame, because I do think such a relationship could be a lot of fun; like a more fun version of what Reed & Sue have but don't exploit (mostly because Reed always is in his lab being distant). Plus, having Spidey seriously date some super-heroines would be a good way to distract from the fact that he can never marry again, at least for a while. It'd beat coming up with another Mary Sue cipher once Carlie runs her course.

Peter in a new identity would suck, but...who knows. We did have IDENTITY CRISIS and those four identities less than 14 years ago.
 

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