New Marvel comics (Starting Over, again)

[starfoxxx]

Well, I've got the most recent Marvel (Now!) Previews in front of me, and it looks like they're practically starting every title over at #1, and starting some older titles over again, at #1, of course.
In Joe Quesada's (Marvel's) mind, the best idea to improve sales is to start over at #1 as many times as possible, I guess. And I also guess this has worked for them in the past, so why not do it again.

THANKFULLY, Uncanny Avengers is NOT starting over, and will last at least until #19, and get an Annual #1 (it looks pretty cool, with an Art Adams cover, but I hope whoever Paul Renaud is, he does a decent job with the interior art, especially for a $5 book.
Other titles that will continue their numbering are Captain America (#19 also, and also written by Remender), Thor :God of Thunder #21, Nova #16 (god this looks bad), Hawkeye #19 (may be okay, I just can't get past the new costume), X-men #13, Iron Man #24, Thunderbolts #25 (I never liked the new line-up), Savage Wolverine #17, Superior Spider-man #31 (hard to believe THAT premise has lasted this long), Superior Spider-man Team-up (really?) #12, Superior Foes of Spider-man #12, Deadpool #27.... All-New X-men #26 , Uncanny X-men #20, Guardians of the Galaxy #14 (3 books I would never touch with a ten-foot pole due to the writer), and Ultimate Spider-man #200, also by Bendis. I believe this is ACTUALLY the longest running Marvel title without any stoppages in numbering at this point in time, correct me if I'm wrong. And there are some Marvel Universe (for kids) and Ultimate (not for kids) books that have been around for a while.

Okay, to the AVENGERS titles.
I already did Uncanny Avengers.
There's Avengers (just Avengers) up to #28. Every time I pick up an issue of this book I leaf through to see if there's any fighting or if it's all talking. Every time it's been just talking. Not for me.
There's AVENGERS A.I. up to #12. I just don't like this line-up.
Mighty Avengers #9. I picked up the first couple. Meh. I might buy one if the villain is interesting, but so far this one doesn't look that good. I like having Monica back on the Avengers, though.
New Avengers #17 another Hickman book that I dropped because of the tedious pace, and frankly it was boring, IMO. I've heard positive things on these AA borads, so I might pick one up sometime.
Avengers World #5---well, this one so far (from the previews) seems to be all about Shang-Chi (I'm not a fan) and #5 features----Manifold---(yawn). I was hoping with a name like AVENGERS WORLD, that this book would be chock full-o AVENGERS (the way I like it), but this doesn't seem to be the case looking at these preview and covers .....please correct me if I'm wrong.
Also two new Avengers titles are Avengers Undercover (apparently the survivors of Avengers Arena, which I thought sucked, and by #3 they're back confronting Arcade already, so this looks pretty lame, IMO.)
and Secret Avengers starts over at #1 written and drawn by people I've never heard of. How many times has SECRET AVENGERS been revamped at #1 now? Looks like more of the same, but MODOK shows up, so that might be cool. Probably not.
Oh, and A+X #18 is the last issue (at least of THIS run), and Avengers Assemble #25 is in Previews #18, but there's nothing in Preview #19, so if you liked that book, I hope it's not cancelled (but I thought it was weak).

And the multitude of titles that will be starting over at #1 are; Daredevil (hey, I thought this was selling well and heard Mark Waid was writing good stuff (I never checked it out, I'm just not a DD guy). Well at least the revamp will be written by---Mark Waid! If that's not a blatant cash-grab, to advertise #36 as a final issue (32 pages), then come back the next month with DD #1 with the SAME writer and artist AND charge a dollar more for the same number of pages (32)!!!! And the kicker is---the Marvel Previews #18 states (I'm not kidding here)---BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT! Really??? I'd like to meet the Marvel reader who demanded that Daredevil be cancelled then brought back a month later for more money and the same page count, with no change in the creative team!!! Oh well, what do I expect----but come on, man.
Also there's Ms Marvel , she's now a teenager from New Jersey with a HORRIBLE costume.....as an Avengers fan, I'm really disappointed with this one. Just so lame.
And there's Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Moon Knight, Punisher, X-men Legacy (again), Elektra, X-force (again, again), X-factor (yes, again, and I count myself as one of the few oldies that CAN"T STAND Peter David), Iron Patriot, She-Hulk (wow, not again), Captain Marvel (ditto), Invaders (really?), Wolverine ( wait, I thought he was up to #600, oh whatever...), Wolverine and the X-men (rebooted after #42, at least they changed creators), Winter Soldier (of course).... Magneto (?), Loki (??) and DOOP (WTF?)
They also rebooted Ultimate FF, ands All-New Ultimates (in case keeping up with the 616 Universe wasn't confusing enough for you).

and maybe you've heard of these Marvel comics, and will want to pick up the #1 (!!!!) issues of Amazing Spider-man, Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four, and Hulk. Because you KNOW all #1 issues will be worth mega-bucks someday.....

I don't even want to mention the FIVE-issue mini-series, What If?..Age of Ultron (but I just did). I don't even know what happened during Age of Ultron, don't confuse me with a What If? please...

There are two titles I'm actually intrigued by, New Warriors (better be good, for $4) , and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude by ABNETT and LANNING. Now these guys know how to write the Guardians, remember their great run a couple years ago that was CANCELLED? Well if you've never read it, seek it out. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Too bad this is just a two issue mini.

I hope this update (a state of the Marvel union, if you will) does now portray me as a hater....believe me , I LOVE the Marvel Universe. But it's pretty depressing to look through these Marvel Previews every month and see the crap that Marvel's churning out, when it wouldn't take much to convince me to spend a ton of money on comic books month after month. A decent story and some nice art. But the product is just not good, again, IMO.

Also, if anyone can recommend any of these new books, send me a message or post on this thread......who am I kidding?, no one reads new comics anymore.

Until Uncanny Avengers starts sucking......starfoxxx

[Shiryu]

I have been reading most new stuff, in one form or another, so I can shed some light here.

There's AVENGERS A.I. up to #12. I just don't like this line-up.

It's not very good, IMO. Having Hank and the Vision around is great, and the Doombot is hilarious, but the plot has been quite slow so far. Vision also has new powers, result of an upgrade following the recent Ultron event, and, despite being logical and modern (for example, he can split his body into millions of nanobots now), they take some of his charm away. Also, Hank Pym is revealed to be bipolar.

Avengers World

It seems promising and I liked issues 1 and 2... but it's by Hickman, so plot develops at snail pace.

Avengers Assemble #25 is in Previews #18, but there's nothing in Preview #19, so if you liked that book, I hope it's not cancelled (but I thought it was weak).

To my knowledge, it has indeed been cancelled.

Daredevil (hey, I thought this was selling well and heard Mark Waid was writing good stuff (I never checked it out, I'm just not a DD guy). Well at least the revamp will be written by---Mark Waid! If that's not a blatant cash-grab, to advertise #36 as a final issue (32 pages), then come back the next month with DD #1 with the SAME writer and artist AND charge a dollar more for the same number of pages (32)!!!! And the kicker is---the Marvel Previews #18 states (I'm not kidding here)---BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT! Really??? I'd like to meet the Marvel reader who demanded that Daredevil be cancelled then brought back a month later for more money and the same page count, with no change in the creative team!!! Oh well, what do I expect----but come on, man.

This is an interesting one. It was indeed doing really well in terms of response and sales, and there was outrage on the web at the prospect of Waid leaving. Apparently the restart follows Matt admitting his secret ID publicly and relocate to Los Angeles, possibly following the death of Foggy Nelson (who has been diagnosed with cancer a few months ago). I think Marvel just decided to piggyback the whole new #1 thing to give it some more publicity. It's still a really good book to read though, probably the best thing Marvel is publishing at the moment (even better than Uncanny Avengers, it's more lighthearted).

Also there's Ms Marvel , she's now a teenager from New Jersey with a HORRIBLE costume

I'm not sure on what happened to Carol Danvers, but this is a new Ms Marvel. She has an interesting backstory, being a Pakistani immigrant in the US. Reviews for #1 were good, but she's not a character I'm interested in.

Loki (??)

I believe it's Loki Agent of Asgard. I did read #1 and it was pretty good, but it requires a knowledge of some recent backstory.
As you probably know, the original Loki died a few years ago, during the Siege of Asgard. Thor eventually resurrected him as a child, free of the experiences and the inherent evil that had made him the Loki we know, but still with the innate potential to become so again. Despising his older self, this young Loki has been through a few adventures, first with Thor, then with Volstagg and then with the Young Avengers (for a while, he was accompanied by a raven with the memories and personality of the old Loki). He did show a tendency to scheme, trick, double cross and use others, but usually in order to save the day or achieve some selfish but not threatening end. In short, he is quite the tormented character. Very recently, he has tricked Billy of the Young Avengers to age him to a young adult look, so he has gained more magical powers (but still far less than he held originally). He is also drawn and written in a manner very reminiscent of Tom Huddleston from the Thor films.
In the meanwhile, Asgard has been split into Asgard itself, moved to the depths of space and where an embittered Odin lives alone, and Asgardia, a place on Earth built with Stark technology and ruled by Idunn, Gaea and Frigga as the "All Mother" triumvirate.

[ultron69]

This is one of the many reasons I don't buy new comics. I absolutely despise the constant renumbering of titles. What a ridiculous, cheap, cheesy, insulting ploy to (temporarily) raise sales. I can't believe this actually still works. I guess it must, though, since they keep doing it.

[Marvel Boy]

A few thoughts:

Part of the thinking of re-numbering/re-starting titles also concerns TPB sales. I've read discussions that suggest that it's hard to sustain TPB sales with large-numbered volumes. Ergo it's easier to sell a Vol. 1 TPB versus a Vol. 15 TPB. (The exceptions seeming to be such mega-hits as Fables, Sandman, Y the Last Man and such). Thus by re-numbering and re-starting, they are increasing sales both of the monthlies and hopefully the collected editions.

As for the new titles, being a DD fan, I was distressed over the cancelling and re-launch (most notably the price hike). However, given the events that lead up to the change (Matt publicly admitting his DD identity, his possibly getting disbarred in NYC and moving to San Fran), I can see the reason for the re-start. Waid and Samnee have done an excellent job so far. Plus, in the interim, Waid and Peter Krause are doing a DD digital Infinite comic called Road Warrior that sounds very interesting.

The two X-force teams (Cable's outlaw team and the X-Men's squad) are merging into one group. PAD has a new twist with X-Factor by having the group being an officially sponsored team of a high-tech corporation called Serval Industries. Moon Knight is written by Warren Ellis, who is always chock full of cool ideas. I like Moon Knight but Marvel needs a consistent ideal for the character. Spector has had as many identities as he has multiple personalities.

I LOVE Ghost Rider but Marvel, he belongs on a motorcycle! Plus, I don't like the art.

I'm interested in Invaders and FF mainly because of James Robinson, whose DC work I have enjoyed. At this point though, due to budget reasons, I'm more interested in FF.

Of course, Peter is back and so you have a brand-new #1. I don't mind because if I want to read Spider-Man, I want to read of Peter Parker not Doc Ock.

[starfoxxx]

Okay, so the New Captain Marvel (#1 out in March) will be Carol Danvers, in a red, blue, and yellow costume (with a sash). I think this is the same one Carol's been wearing recently (Mar 2014), but without that HORRIBLE mask. It's not bad, without the mask, but I still prefer her second, all-blue costume best. The costume for the teenage MS. Marvel is derivative of Carol's, but with stockings and no gloves (apparently this hero can "morph"....this series just looks so bad, IMHO, especially the costume.

I honestly don't mind Carol getting "bumped up" to Captain Marvel status (isn't she a captain in the service, too?)
I wasn't very connected to Mar-Vell or any of his "legacy" of male predecessors. I liked Monica taking over the name, and her growth to live up to heroic status that came with it. I actually admired Marvel for keeping Mar-Vell dead from cancer for as long as they did, resisting a cash-grab reboot, and honoring his legend. But for me, a perfect world would have Monica as CM, and Carol as MS Marvel.

oh, and I leafed through the New Warriors #1, and it looked pretty lame.