Comics Spider-Girl's fate officially announced lastnight.

[Miken Ayers]

On Joe Friday's at Myspace comics Spider-Girl's getting moved to Amazing Spider-Man Family. Kind of reminds me of when they put all the 2099 books in to a single magazine.

 

[[A]]

2099.. that was bad

 

[mre]

What does that mean "getting moved to the Amazing Spider-Man Family"?

 

[Venom 1988]

What does that mean "getting moved to the Amazing Spider-Man Family"?

Er...meaning that the series is getting canceled but they will have her stories continue in Family

 

[Styleshift]

Er...meaning that the series is getting canceled but they will have her stories continue in Family

Not a bad deal....hopefully she will take the place of "Spider-monkey and Aunt may agent of F.E.A.S.T".

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Not a bad deal....hopefully she will take the place of "Spider-monkey and Aunt may agent of F.E.A.S.T".

I thought the Aunt May stuff was ok, but i agree we could really do WITHOUT the Spider-Monkey stuff.

i mean; what's the point in basically seeing a great moment in Spider-Man's history being played out by a primate?

I wish ASM Family would go monthly, keeping Mr. And Mrs. Parker as a regular thing, and two or three rotating stories featuring Peter and different supporting cast and villains....

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Hey Cap, is Sal okay??

Anyway, these things never last. They're giving Spider-Girl a slow death, instead of an outright cancellation, so there's less outrage. She will have truncated short stories in Family for 8 or 9 issues before that book is cancelled. :-/ Just my cynical view. Still, for Spider-Girl fans, I suppose that's better than nothing...

 

[shinlyle]

Way to go, Marvel. Now, you should just cancel Ultimate Spider-Man, and move it into the ASM Family title with Mr and Mrs Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Girl....then I only have one Spider-book to buy from you each month.

So, how many issues do you think it will be before they "discontinue" ASG stories? I'll give it 5....IF ASMF even lasts that long. Of course, if this causes sales to go up on ASMF, Joe Q will attribute it to everyone loving BND.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Hey Cap, is Sal okay??

As far as i know....

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Way to go, Marvel. Now, you should just cancel Ultimate Spider-Man, and move it into the ASM Family title with Mr and Mrs Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Girl....then I only have one Spider-book to buy from you each month.

So, how many issues do you think it will be before they "discontinue" ASG stories? I'll give it 5....IF ASMF even lasts that long. Of course, if this causes sales to go up on ASMF, Joe Q will attribute it to everyone loving BND.

Why is it Marvel's fault?

Joe allowed SG to continue LONG after it should have been cancelled.

 

[shinlyle]

Why is it Marvel's fault?

Joe allowed SG to continue LONG after it should have been cancelled.

Well, seeing as how Marvel did a very piss poor job of promoting it, drumming up interest for it, or giving it any attention at all. If it had been an Avengers title, that would never have happened. Marvel really had a bad tendency of letting potentially promising titles "die on the vine".

 

[Doc_OCK_4MUGEN]

Why is it Marvel's fault?

Cause they're killing everything that is not OMD/BND Spidey...

Joe allowed SG to continue LONG after it should have been cancelled.

And now He's killing it Post-OMD... It is not a coincidence... He's shoving the readers the Satanic Spidey down their throats... and eliminating anything that reminds people about the better times on Spidey... back when he wasn't Satan's BFF...

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Well, seeing as how Marvel did a very piss poor job of promoting it, drumming up interest for it, or giving it any attention at all. If it had been an Avengers title, that would never have happened. Marvel really had a bad tendency of letting potentially promising titles "die on the vine".

That's ridiculous.

Listen, Spider-Girl HAD a fanbase.

What happened to it?


The book started out it's first year selling X amount of issues. (for the sake of arguement, let's say 50,000 units)...ten years later, those fans had all abandoned the book, and it was barely selling 12,000 units a month. Why? I don't know. But abandon it they DID.

So you're telling me you want Marvel to invest in a book with no fans? Or a book they know will make money for the company?

That's like owning two cars; a brand new sports car, and a clunker with a cracked engine block, and instead of spending money maintaining the NEW vehicle, you want to spend money paying a mechanic to patch up the clunker, even though you KNOW it's just a matter of time before it dies.

Spider-Girl HAD it's shot, but the fans who started out with it all left for whatever reason.

That's not Marvel's fault.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Cause they're killing everything that is not OMD/BND Spidey...



And now He's killing it Post-OMD... It is not a coincidence... He's shoving the readers the Satanic Spidey down their throats... and eliminating anything that reminds people about the better times on Spidey... back when he wasn't Satan's BFF...

Is he killing it, or have the fans that shouted it's praise from the rooftops ten years ago all abandoned it?

Jesus Christ, next some of you guys will probably start blaming Joe for global warming too, lol.

 

[Galactus]

Jesus Christ, next some of you guys will probably start blaming Joe for global warming too, lol.

"Dear Joe

It has come to my knowledge that a lot of brimstone and other stuff are leaking out from Your underground lair, causing a green house effect on the world of humans. I wish You could do something about it.

A concerned citizen of planet Earth"

 

[shinlyle]

That's ridiculous.

Listen, Spider-Girl HAD a fanbase.

What happened to it?


The book started out it's first year selling X amount of issues. (for the sake of arguement, let's say 50,000 units)...ten years later, those fans had all abandoned the book, and it was barely selling 12,000 units a month. Why? I don't know. But abandon it they DID.

So you're telling me you want Marvel to invest in a book with no fans? Or a book they know will make money for the company?

That's like owning two cars; a brand new sports car, and a clunker with a cracked engine block, and instead of spending money maintaining the NEW vehicle, you want to spend money paying a mechanic to patch up the clunker, even though you KNOW it's just a matter of time before it dies.

Spider-Girl HAD it's shot, but the fans who started out with it all left for whatever reason.

That's not Marvel's fault.

Look, I'm WAY too tired to even concieve a rational argument, right now (Gears of War 2 CONSUMED my sleep), so if I came across as a little too angry, it's probably because I have all of 5 books from Marvel that I actively enjoy reading, and Amazing Spider-Girl is one of them (DD, Cap, USM, Wolverine [until Millar leaves], and ASMF being the others). Watching the only monthly that features my favorite character making progress in his life get cancelled as it getting REALLY DEEP into a GREAT story arc just annoys me to no end.

As for Marvel not pimping it, I can't recall a time when they DID promote it. I remember reading about the book in Wizard, and seeing the book on shelves, and that's all I ever heard of it until I started coming to the Hype. I'd never seen an ad, an event, anything involving Spider-Girl. She was just....there. MC2 came up around her, and the entire line was cancelled (thankfully, as the supporting characters were pretty lame), and that left MayDay in her own universe.

May's had the deck stacked against her since the beginning, and I guess it's a blessing that she made it this long.

I will say that, despite how paranoid it sounds, Doc_Ock_4Mugen's explanation
feels about right. I hat eto sound all "conspiracy theory" and everything, but the numbers haven't changed THAT much since BND, and for them to cancel it as they get further and further away from the "good ol' days" of a married Spidey, well, it just seems to convenient to be coincidence.

Still, with all that, if more people would simply buy the book, this problem would take care of itself.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Look, I'm WAY too tired to even concieve a rational argument, right now (Gears of War 2 CONSUMED my sleep), so if I came across as a little too angry, it's probably because I have all of 5 books from Marvel that I actively enjoy reading, and Amazing Spider-Girl is one of them (DD, Cap, USM, Wolverine [until Millar leaves], and ASMF being the others). Watching the only monthly that features my favorite character making progress in his life get cancelled as it getting REALLY DEEP into a GREAT story arc just annoys me to no end.

As for Marvel not pimping it, I can't recall a time when they DID promote it. I remember reading about the book in Wizard, and seeing the book on shelves, and that's all I ever heard of it until I started coming to the Hype. I'd never seen an ad, an event, anything involving Spider-Girl. She was just....there. MC2 came up around her, and the entire line was cancelled (thankfully, as the supporting characters were pretty lame), and that left MayDay in her own universe.

May's had the deck stacked against her since the beginning, and I guess it's a blessing that she made it this long.

I will say that, despite how paranoid it sounds, Doc_Ock_4Mugen's explanation
feels about right. I hat eto sound all "conspiracy theory" and everything, but the numbers haven't changed THAT much since BND, and for them to cancel it as they get further and further away from the "good ol' days" of a married Spidey, well, it just seems to convenient to be coincidence.

Still, with all that, if more people would simply buy the book, this problem would take care of itself.

I agree. It just seems to me like Joe is doing every thing in his power to keep Spider-Girl alive in SOME capacity....yet even when he throws fans a bone, they grab it and beat him over the head with it.

I mean, if he didnt want the married Parkers to appear ANYwhere, i really doubt they'd be appearing in ASM family (the first two issues of which i really enjoyed btw)...

 

[moraldeficiency]

I'll say I wasn't aware of the book's existence until about two years ago. Anyone like me that jumped ship before heroes reborn (we call ourselves the nonmasochists) and came back after that crap was far over probably didn't know much about it. Marvel did do a crap job of promoting it (being mentioned in Cup of Joe does not count, only current marvel readers read that) they had a female character that was actually cool without being a super-***** as most seem to be mandated as and they really didn't touch it. One of the reasons Spider-Man took off early on was that the comic actually appealed to women, but apparently if bendis doesn't love you and you're not written by hudlin then if you're a chick you're pretty much screwed. Hell the new female Black Panther (it's probably storm by the way, there it's spoiled) has gotten more press as a concept than Spider-Girl (a well written comic about a female superhero) has ever recieved.

I would say the death of this is probably from zombie morons that just have to get every freaking varient cover of whatever event bendis pulls out of his ass (it'll start with some super chick that's a *****, it'll have a crap load of pointless fighting, a bunch out out of place dialogue, then it will be resolved by another super chick [there now I've spoiled every bendis event he has ever or will ever write; stop buying them.]) which marvel pimps out and mandates a crapload of tie ins designed to trick people out of their money. Spider-Girl doesn't get crossovers, isn't mentioned in any public way and has been forced out over time.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

I think what it is, basically, is that the "Girl" versions of established characters have never really lasted. I think PAD's Supergirl lasted the longest, at around six and a half years, or maybe She-Hulk. I guess fans dismiss them as having already "seen it before" with the male versions...

The fact that Spider-Girl made it to 100 issues in it's first volume to me shows that Marvel was indeed committed to the title for as long as they COULD be. I mean, Joe doesn't have an unlimited budget to run the publishing department. And as i said earlier; pumping money into a sinking ship is not really what i would call "good business-savvy".

 

[moraldeficiency]

Marvel tried to cancel the title repeatedly, I became a spider-girl fan because of one of those fan drives to save it. I would say there are very few books right now that have the level (though not numbers) of support for the character.

Joe's been pumping money into sinking ships before if it's a pet project of his. Black Panther anyone?

No, but being buisness savy does mean you think long term as well as short term and you give an idea (especially one with a pretty good fanbase) the respect and marketing it deserves. I can promise you this, if Spider-Girl was being written by say bendis, this book would have recieved the promotion, attention and publicity most books by marvel have always gotten. They had the chance to really capatilize on this and run with it in many different ways that would have actually courted female comicbook readers (that most rare of beasts) which could have transitioned into mainstream marvel readers bringing in that all important new reader we hear so highly of. Sometimes in buisness if you have a niche market and a really good product, even if it isn't currently selling well, you don't abandon it because of what it's success could mean, you do things like market it and get the word out, not leave it completely up to the consumer. That isn't buisness savy, that's just being shortsighted. But then again, joe was brought in to fix the problems of the 90s (short term gain over long term alienation) and though he had it right at first he's been slipping back into the exact same mistakes he was supposed to correct. So maybe this is just another example of Marvel overextending itself, which is always followed by a sharp market crash and a stabilization core concepts and ideals abandoned for the flash of a varient cover and something new and shiny.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Marvel tried to cancel the title repeatedly, I became a spider-girl fan because of one of those fan drives to save it. I would say there are very few books right now that have the level (though not numbers) of support for the character.

Joe's been pumping money into sinking ships before if it's a pet project of his. Black Panther anyone?

No, but being buisness savy does mean you think long term as well as short term and you give an idea (especially one with a pretty good fanbase) the respect and marketing it deserves. I can promise you this, if Spider-Girl was being written by say bendis, this book would have recieved the promotion, attention and publicity most books by marvel have always gotten. They had the chance to really capatilize on this and run with it in many different ways that would have actually courted female comicbook readers (that most rare of beasts) which could have transitioned into mainstream marvel readers bringing in that all important new reader we hear so highly of. Sometimes in buisness if you have a niche market and a really good product, even if it isn't currently selling well, you don't abandon it because of what it's success could mean, you do things like market it and get the word out, not leave it completely up to the consumer. That isn't buisness savy, that's just being shortsighted. But then again, joe was brought in to fix the problems of the 90s (short term gain over long term alienation) and though he had it right at first he's been slipping back into the exact same mistakes he was supposed to correct. So maybe this is just another example of Marvel overextending itself, which is always followed by a sharp market crash and a stabilization core concepts and ideals abandoned for the flash of a varient cover and something new and shiny.

Marvel never "tried" to cancel the book. If they wanted to stop publishing it, they would have just STOPPED publishing it. Who do you think was behind those fan drives to save the book? Joe Blow? No. Joe QUESADA.

The very idea that Marvel would TRY to cancel one of it's own books is completely insane. t:

The book WAS adverised. It HAD a fanbase. The fanbase walked away. But you want Joe to drop what he is doing, and take away from books that are selling, to invest in a book that cant even hang on to its core readership.

Lovely.

 

[shinlyle]

Marvel tried to cancel the title repeatedly, I became a spider-girl fan because of one of those fan drives to save it. I would say there are very few books right now that have the level (though not numbers) of support for the character.

Joe's been pumping money into sinking ships before if it's a pet project of his. Black Panther anyone?

No, but being buisness savy does mean you think long term as well as short term and you give an idea (especially one with a pretty good fanbase) the respect and marketing it deserves. I can promise you this, if Spider-Girl was being written by say bendis, this book would have recieved the promotion, attention and publicity most books by marvel have always gotten. They had the chance to really capatilize on this and run with it in many different ways that would have actually courted female comicbook readers (that most rare of beasts) which could have transitioned into mainstream marvel readers bringing in that all important new reader we hear so highly of. Sometimes in buisness if you have a niche market and a really good product, even if it isn't currently selling well, you don't abandon it because of what it's success could mean, you do things like market it and get the word out, not leave it completely up to the consumer. That isn't buisness savy, that's just being shortsighted. But then again, joe was brought in to fix the problems of the 90s (short term gain over long term alienation) and though he had it right at first he's been slipping back into the exact same mistakes he was supposed to correct. So maybe this is just another example of Marvel overextending itself, which is always followed by a sharp market crash and a stabilization core concepts and ideals abandoned for the flash of a varient cover and something new and shiny.

I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

Joe initially said that the comcis should be about the characters and their stories, and less about events and crossovers, the dead should stay dead, and that Marvel should have books out there for easily accesible for everyone...especially fans of the movies who may be led to the comics.

Since then, he's not gone to having a MAJOR status quo shake-up crossover EVERY year for the universe as a whole, and individual shake-ups and major changes for each character as well, 3 or 4 noteworthy characters have been brought back since he took over (Colossus, Harry Osborn, Thor, Magneto), and the books have become so confusing that you have to spend about 20-30 bucks on trades just to prep yourself for the issues on the stands, otherwise, you have no clue what's happening.

Honestly, as far as accecssibility goes, did you ever notice that Stan didn't need an entire intro page to explain what the hero had been up to previously? He had Spidey mention it in passing, and then he moved on.

 

[farmernudie]

Well, if Joe wanted to....he could...

1.) Make ASG 3X

2.) Put the hottest creative teams on it.

3.) Alterante Covers

4.) Talk about it in all his interviews like he would/did OMD/BND

5.) He could continue on a universe for fans of regular Amazing Spider-Man

6.) gimmick covers, etc..

I dunno....he could've done lots of things to help spider-girl which has lots of potential, more than some others....

 

[Themanofbat]

Honestly, as far as accecssibility goes, did you ever notice that Stan didn't need an entire intro page to explain what the hero had been up to previously? He had Spidey mention it in passing, and then he moved on.

I dunno about that one... I remember MANY Marvel comics from the 60's and 70's that had "last issue recaps" that took an entire page of panels showing the "highlights" of the previous issue...

So I'm not sure at what you're trying to get at with that statement...

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Well, if Joe wanted to....he could...

1.) Make ASG 3X

2.) Put the hottest creative teams on it.

3.) Alterante Covers

4.) Talk about it in all his interviews like he would/did OMD/BND

5.) He could continue on a universe for fans of regular Amazing Spider-Man

6.) gimmick covers, etc..

I dunno....he could've done lots of things to help spider-girl which has lots of potential, more than some others....

Except for the fact that;

1) No one's buying it ONE time a month, why would they buy it THREE times?

2) Maybe no "hot creative teams" WANT to write Spider-Girl. Would you have Joe play "musical creators" all day, and shuffle various writers all around on different books that aren't selling?

3) Alternate covers? Maybe, but again; practically no one's buying the book NOW.....why would a different cover to a book with little interest sell more?

4) He's talked about SG in the last two Cup 'o Joes, but apparently still no one cares.

5) Huh?

6) Gimmick covers went out with the 90's.