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Post by freedomfighter on Dec 4, 2008 12:55:20 GMT -5
Just a few other things to throw in- New Avengers has been established as the single main book of the Marvel line. It is THE top selling monthly comic on the market. Mighty was always going to be a "spin-off", not as succesful. I wouldn't be surprised to see sales drop with Bendis leaving the book, unfortunately, even as it becomes more of an Avengers book than it has in years. Ok, but let me postulate this, if Bendis had come out with Mighty Avengers first and then come out with New Avengers, which title do you think would be selling better and more consistently? And the sales will likely drop, but it has the chance to be a consistent seller if even enough fans of the old stuff remain. Not every book can or needs to be top ten. Marvel makes a fair amount of money off books that can utilize talents that aren't Bendis like Slott or Gage (who I'm guessing usually aren't paid as much) and can consistently stay in the top 25 as well.
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Post by freedomfighter on Dec 3, 2008 18:04:27 GMT -5
I've been looking at the numbers for a couple of issues of Mighty Avengers and noticed something of interest... www.icv2.com/articles/home/11941.htmlwww.icv2.com/articles/home/12098.htmlseems that new Avengers well into its run is selling significantly better than Mighty even though Mighty is a newer title. Now I'm not a numbers whiz and can't say I know all about sales, but it seems that the addition of Spider man and Wolverine have been a factor in New Avengers retaining its staying power. That's only my take on it. Feel free to offer up your own opinions.
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 30, 2008 16:28:48 GMT -5
some good choices, some real bleh choices... my criteria would have been more of a who would people still be talking about if the comics industry folded. I don't think Emma Frost, Spawn or Venom would've made that cut, among others. It was more of a coolest characters list which is a transient thing. Cool one day, passe the next...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 29, 2008 15:26:50 GMT -5
For the life of me I don't understand why people love this book so. It's not bad, but so many of the themes just seem rehashed and the return of Bucky is just so underwhelming to me as a concept...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 28, 2008 0:14:14 GMT -5
It all depends on who's writing it. If it's someone with a sense of history-- then definitely YJ/Wasp or Vizh/Wanda. if it's Bendis then Wolvie and Phoenix or DD/ Elektra because I'm of the opinion that when he plays with his favorite toys he's much less likely to break them. Hawkeye and Mockingbird...hmm dunno if i ever want to see that again. Clint is much more fun on his own...Want to see Mockingbird back tho'
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 26, 2008 21:33:21 GMT -5
Well this is a much harder task for me than the hero one! it's always hard to figure out what would motivate a group of bad guys to work together, other than money or a shared hatred. But I'll give it a go, and try to keep a 70s theme. Xemnu the titan (Defenders): Just because he looks cool, and in his first pre-FF appearance, he was called the Hulk! Nightshade (Captain America): The quintessential 70s super-villainess, complete with afro-puffs! the Overmind (Fantastic Four): A freaky-looking dude, with very 70s sideburns. Sauron (X-Men): OK, he arrived prior to 1970, but every team needs a flying reptile man. Mercurio the 4d Man (Thor): fire and ice, all in one. Chemistro (Luke Cage): it wouldn't be the 70s without Luke Cage...and Chemistro's look is similar to Mercurio's! Basilisk (independent): just for giggles. Oh man Tana, I swear I was thinking of Basilisk and he just slipped out of my head! Mercurio is a goodie as are Chemistro and Nightshade. I think I like your team better than mine!! ;D
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 26, 2008 11:54:51 GMT -5
Ok, I'll get the ball rolling. One villain I always wanted to see more of was the Orb, so let's let him decide to get his hooks in. An FF villain I wanted to see fight the Assemblers is Darkoth the death demon (look him up, kiddies ) . He also fought Thor once, so he's got reason... We need an acrobatic and or martial arts type to counter the various fighters on the team so let's go with Steel Serpent and the Tarantula. As for a Defenders villain how about the original Korvac? The half man half machine dude who wasn't omnipotent? He's got a grudge to hold. After all the assemblers defeat him in the past and prevent him from using ultimate power to recreate the universe. That's gotta sting... A powerhouse villain who can hold off Thor or Hercules might be Baron Mordo. Let's throw in the original Firebrand because his costume was so darn cool. That's seven, but I also need a villainess (plus it never made sense that the villains always even up. Guys tend to want to have numbers on their side...) so let's add in Black Mamba from the Serpents. I almost threw Ruby Thursday on the team but thought she and the Orb would look odd together So there's my Lethal Legion-- Orb, Darkoth, Steel Serpent, Tarantula, Korvac, Baron Mordo, Firebrand and Black Mamba tho I freely admit I have no idea how this group got together!!
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 26, 2008 3:17:41 GMT -5
Been having so much fun with dlw's thread that I decided to go the other way. What group of villains would you like to see banded together to fight the Avengers as Masters of Evil, Lethal Legion, etc... We'll play by the same rules, bring in an X-Villain, an FF foe, a Defenders defiler, an independent villain the Avengers haven't fought before and a couple of previous Avengers foes or even single Avengers foes, i.e. an Iron Man villain or what have you. Try to adhere to the same timeframe as the other post- 1970s- 80s Of course if you want to go off on your own tangent, add a few wrinkles I may not have covered then by all means, go ahead!
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 23, 2008 18:03:27 GMT -5
Doug, wasn't that actually the Squadron Supreme - the 'good' guys of a parallel Earth? They got duped by the government into becoming their stooges but once the Avengers left they started to re-think things. That's how they wound up taking over the planet - good intentions and all that. On the other hand, the Squadron Sinister was created by the Grandmaster and were actual bad guys. Of course, they're all really the Justice League in disguise! Hmmm... Yes, they were the Squadron Sinister when they first appeared in Avengers, but in the later Serpent Crown saga that Englehart wrote and Perez drew, they become the Squadron Supreme. Was it not the same reality? I know of what you speak -- that President Nelson Rockefeller was under the influence of the Serpent Crown, etc. So the Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum, and Nighthawk who fought the Avengers were not the same people who fought them several years later? The two squads are not one and the same. In fact I think in Thunderbolts, during Nicieza's second run with the book, they tried to explain exactly why the Grandmaster chose the Squadron Supreme to act as his templates for the Squadron Sinister, but the two teams are not the same people...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 23, 2008 0:49:24 GMT -5
I think the Angel's appeal is mainly visual. Same for Hawkman, although the medieval weapons are a visual draw for him. Red Wolf was a name that crossed my mind, but my only experience with him is the 1-2 issues he was in the Avengers. I was never a fan of the Eternals, in large part because of Kirby's art. It's fortunate for me that Marvel continued to reprint his Silver Age material, because had I only to judge his body of work based on his return to Marvel... yuck. [the former statement was a shameless plug meant to encourage you to hightail it over to the Silver Age Artists thread and weigh in on Kirby in the Bronze Age] ;D Yeahhhhh, I stay away from Kirby's latter work as both a topic of discussion and as purchases... Find the fervent Kirby fans and I get along better that way. I am however now looking through my super teams and came across the Liberty Legion. Hey, Invaders too...Blue Diamond, Red Wolf, White Tiger, Scarlet Witch, Golden Girl (from the Kid Commandos), Black Bolt, and a reformed Purple Man... Sigh, now I'm just getting silly. Good night
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 22, 2008 14:04:05 GMT -5
By the way I am surprised to see the Angel on several squads. I've always laughed at the guy as he is the only X-man you can beat by just locking him in a small room... but then again I am putting Red Wolf on a team, so who am I to make fun??
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 22, 2008 13:45:36 GMT -5
RE: the Inhumans and the Squadron Supreme: You do whatever you want. When I was thinking of this thread as a way to stimulate the boards (which have fallen into a woefully-miserable lack of posting in the past week), I was looking at heroes and hero-groups who were prominent in the Bronze Age. While the Inhumans certainly were, having two books dedicated to them during the period, it's been my opinion that outside of Crystal and Medusa they don't have characters who have much of an identity outside the confines of the Royal Family. While you could argue that for the Guardians of the Galaxy, I just wasn't thinking of the Inhumans when I created the thread. My apologies. As to the Squadron Sinister, they spent the decade as bad guys and didn't turn good until Gruenwald's mini-series (and even then one could argue that their intentions might have been good but were certainly misdirected). Hence, I didn't consider them. But what the heck -- do what you want. Salem's Seven, the Legion of the Unliving, the Sinister Six, the Frightful Four... have at it! you have naught to apologize for my man, except for maybe making me spend a half hour going through my old books trying to figure out who would be on my team An exalt for sparking me out of a creative rut. I'm still trying to figure out who to put on a team with Red Wolf and Ikaris...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 22, 2008 0:17:01 GMT -5
Had enough fun with my first roster that I might as well rock out another one... (hey rosters change every year or two anyway!) My first team disbands leaving a vacuum and returning Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch (2 Avengers) come back to the fold. Their first recruit is a youngster who they encounter fighting the Sphinx in New York-- Nova! (My independent). The Sphinx's centuries spanning plan involves warping the time stream so he knows his own end. And that brings along the might of the Guardians with Vance Astro (my GOTG) being the only one who knows current time well enough to stay around and help right the slight alterations that have already occurred due to the Sphinx's machinations. My X-Man is Sunfire, just because he's so darn cool visually. I'd find a way to shoehorn him in My Defender would be Hellcat because she's never really had a classic run as an Avenger and this might be a good chance... And I'm gonna skip adding an FF member because I've already broken the rules before. I almost added Karnak from the Inhumans, but then I remembered an even more established Avengers tradition- a reformed villain joining the fold. Of course my criteria is that the villain be not overwhelmingly evil and not a classic villain who diminishes the roster of great adversaries by switching sides. Believe me I agonized over this and decided I just couldn't use Batroc (ze lepair!!) so instead grabbed The Shroud, who isn't a full villain anyway... but could use the exposure to the Avengers way of doing things. So that's my second roster-- Vizh, Wanda, Nova, Vance Astro, Hellcat, Sunfire, and The Shroud... heh, still fun and still obscure! Surprised no one has grabbed Spider Woman yet. Or asked about the Eternals. I'm always surprised Sersi made it and Ikaris didn't.
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 21, 2008 23:38:33 GMT -5
Gah!! I am getting too old! I knew I had it worked out in my mind that the team could have the standard-Avengers roster of 7 members, but the way I presented this only has 6. THAT, would be because I forgot to say you could take a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who were prominent guest-stars in the pages of The Defenders, The Avengers, and The Mighty Thor during the Bronze Age!! So, if anyone wants to take a mulligan and respond again, that would be great! Well I already broke the rules so it doesn't affect my roster, but why are the Inhumans not allowed? After all, me and Doc Bong both added a couple of them anyway Might as well open up the floodgates...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 21, 2008 14:27:26 GMT -5
OK 1 member of the FF... Medusa. Hey, she joined!! Would love to see her without the onus of Black Bolt like a yoke around her neck. Plus the hair is like having steel whips at her command, a power that only occasionally gets illustrated to its fullest. 1 X Man Havok. Great costume at the time, visual appeal and always had trouble with the idea of being a hero. Is actually seeking a way to control his powers and runs into my two Avengers... Yellowjacket and the Wasp. Hank at this time period was being twisted poorly by Englehart. Would love to give him control of the team like he's had in the past and really shine. Maybe reassert some of that passion into his and Jan's marriage and show why they got together in the first place... which brings me to my muscle of the team, Defender... Hulk. (yeah he's an founding Avenger but you can count his appearances as a member of the A-team on one hand...) A true wild card, almost as much a problem as he could be a help, but between Hanks' brain and Bruce Banner's maybe a little help could be forthcoming for poor old Havok. Medusa may even let them in on the forbidden secrets of the Terrigen mists if it'll help both Bruce and Alex Summers. Finally my independent character...tough, can I have two? Oh why not, dlw will just have to give me a demerit... My two independents... Iron Fist and Mordred the Mystic. I foresee a big war between k'un Lun and Wundagore and these two guys trying to stop it. When master Khan and the High Evolutionary go at it in a battle of science versus sorcery all of our stalwarts are caught in the middle. Would be fun! So that's my final team... YJ, Wasp, Medusa, Havok, Hulk, Iron Fist and Mordred... hah this lineup would only appeal to me
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 20, 2008 14:36:13 GMT -5
let's face it, a woman he professed love for, a close friend he fought alongside for years, manipulated a bunch of events that brought about his death. then he was brought back with the knowledge that he was dead, which would mess with anyone's mind. now he was made to believe that his dead wife was still alive by skrulls only to have the phony die in his arms... wow, that was the kind of stuff that made wanda go over the edge in bendis' thinking, so to not put Clint in immediate psychiatric care makes absolutely no sense. after all aren't these avengers about not making the same mistakes and making sure the members are well taken care of? just throwing that out there...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 13, 2008 0:43:23 GMT -5
The good-- he's getting his own cartoon on BET. The bad--it's on BET. The bad--the current comic is relaunching-- why after Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson did such an (imo) amazing job for three issues is the book relaunching evidently with Hudlin back again? (one can say the reprints of their brief run were due to the low print run and skrull invasion tie in, but that has not been the case across the board. many lower selling books didn't do all that well with an invasion tie-in) The bad-- the comic book Panther will evidently be a woman now?? Isn't that desperation move number 7? I can only thank God it would be blasphemous to change his skin color, because that would've been the move otherwise I'm sure... Well the bads outweigh the goods. Shame and I was looking forward to reading another issue of the Aaron/Pearson Panther like few books out there. they really got me excited about this book. marvel has gone with a big name (Hudlin) who hasn't delivered a good issue of Panther yet and has garnered terrible sales, but got a cartoon deal through BET (which I believe he runs so that wasn't all that hard), and let a great creative team who sold issues essentially walk away from the book. Even sillier if you actually watch the cartoon and want to read about the male Black Panther that's on screen, HE WON'T EVEN BE THE STAR IN HIS OWN BOOK! Why? Just why? splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/10/djimon-hounsou-to-voice-black-panther-in-bet-animated-series/
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 11, 2008 0:31:43 GMT -5
I haven't read WCA yet, so no vote for the moment. I didn't know about his change in sexuality though. I hope the throwaway panel mentioned by FreedomFighter is not referred to when he was stuck in the Avenger's space station with Quasar for months ^^'' haha. no. the panel I refer to is the one in this link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Livlight.PNG(note: it appears you have to cut and paste the link...) although it is interesting to note that the marvel.com profile on Miguel doesn't say anything about him being gay. And so far only Dan Slott has confirmed it. And maybe he spoke out of turn. One can join the Gay and Lesbian Alliance without being gay,I'd imagine...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 9, 2008 23:52:44 GMT -5
I liked him. He came at a time when Roy Thomas was trying to do some old style Avengers comics during the run on WCA. Sure he changed sides quickly, but the Vision's intro was done like that as well. I really don't like that they changed his sexual orientation in one throwaway panel. It was a cheap stunt that came out of nowhere. If they had plans for the character and did more with it or explained it, I would've enjoyed it. But other than that it's pretty much a footnote brought up only when Marvel wants to say "we have a gay Avenger..." As to his powers, yeah a bit blah but only because no one took the time to really explore them. But he had potential- creatve could've played with his ethnicity, his sexual orientation (is he bisexual? he dated a woman or two during his WCA days, or was that something to live up to a Latino macho stereotype), how other members react to him (Thor, Hercules, Hawkeye, US Agent for example strike me as being among the least comfortable around gay men), Firebird with her strict religious upbringing probably has some strong reaction to gay men. All in all still rather have Miguel than 90% of the people in the current rosters...
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 5, 2008 0:06:55 GMT -5
I think several would be independents, especially the Vision, Reed and (gasp) Captain America (I just don't think he'd feel right if anyone ever found out he had an allegiance to a particular party). I would also flip Wonder Man to Republican (he's an actor now, but for much of his life was a big business type) and Invisible Woman to Democrat (she and Reed rarely agree on anything ).
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 2, 2008 22:53:55 GMT -5
It seems to me that the decision of whether Steve Rogers' oldfashioned values are quaint and naive in today's world is mainly an editorial one. After all, Superman over at DC spouses pretty much the same set of values as Cap, but there's not a strong sense among writers or fans (as far as I know) that he should have his worldview revamped for more contemporary tastes or even be replaced by a character more in tune with the times. Actually, it's probably worth noting that considering he's the flagship of the industry, Superman's comic sales are surprisingly low, and his film languises in development Hell. I'd actually argue that Superman is MORE quaint and old-fashioned than Cap, and DOES need to be revamped. Not to make him ultra-dark or any crap like that, but to make him fun and fresh. Byrne did it in 86 and it's time to revamp him again. The problem is that frankly, for most younger readers in particular these days, Superman just feels..... irrelevant, I'd disagree with several points there. Firstly, I'd dispute that Marvel have in any way implied that Steve's values don't stand for America. If anything, I'd argue that Civil War/The Death of Cap have demonstrated VERY clearly that Steve Rogers stands for what America SHOULD be, and that it isn't living up to that potential. Not that Steve is outdated and needs to find America, but that AMERICA has moved in the wrong direction and needs to find the morals and values Cap stood for- and I know for a fact that's how Ed Brubaker sees it as well. Whereas Superman just kind of languises there pretty far down the sales charts. He's a bigger icon than Cap, DC can't AFFORD to shake things up with him to the degree Marvel have with Cap, just as they can never kill Peter Parker. Actually, I do't think it's because he's the opposite, I've always seen it as Castle being almost what Cap COULD have been had he been shaped by Vietnam instead of WW2. Both were good, honourable, patriotic men who went off to fight in a war- and one man was MADE by it, the other destroyed by it. There's a tragic parallel there to my mind. Steve Rogers is what Frank Castle could have become.... but never would be. I've never seen any indicator that Marvel stood by Sally Floyd's moronic speech, just one writer. And I do think you're misinterpreting it- as I said above, it's not that MARVEL rejected him, it's that America did.... and the way Marvel are playing it, America were absolutely wrong to do so. The thing is, 'Mob Rule' is also known as 'Democracy'. Cap had a chacne to fight the law legally, he didn't take it. I'm not saying the right thing to do was sit down and shut up, but I absolutely don't think the right thing to do was to go out and defy the law openly rather than tackling it in debate and courts. How many incredibly bad things would have happened in America if every time a law was passed someone didn't like, they took to beating up policemen and breaking open jails? I was under the impression justice, civil rights and freedom meant respecting democracy and the will of the people. A couple of things... Frank Castle came back from Viet Nam and was seemingly normal. It was the murder of his family that set him off. So it had nothing to do with his being forged in wartime, but rather an incident that happened during his everyday civilian life. Now whether that's been retconned in the last few years I dunno, but drawing a parallel between the two because of wartime service is a bit of a stretch to me, anyway... Frank didn't come back as a raving Viet Nam vet and that's a good thing. he seemed well adjusted and it took the murder of his family to push him over the edge. Also, Cap's sales have been in the toilet numerous times. Even Brubaker's Cap was middling at best until he killed Cap off. Look at a chart from October 2005 and several Superman titles were outselling Cap. So Superman as a character was keeping three or four titles afloat at better sales than a single Cap title. Note that Batman was only three or four spots above Superman as well. Not too many characters more popular than Batman, but his title wasn't in the top ten at this time. I think sales as a barometer of the impact the character has outside the comic world are a poor reflection... comicbooks.about.com/od/comicnews/a/oct05top100.htmSuperman's also had several movies which have made likely a billion plus dollars total, he's also been the focus of God knows how many animated and non animated TV projects, whereas Cap is lucky to have a couple of bad TV movies and straight to video release. The last Superman movie tanked, but was still profitable after worldwide gross and even Batman had a couple of stinkers in there (Batman and Robin? Batman Forever? yeesh!!) before the resurgence with Christopher Nolan. Superman will be back soon enough. I love Cap, he's one of my favorite characters ever, but when I've tried to explain to non comic people which superhero I like, Cap gets a blank stare more often than not. Everybody knows Superman. And DC has to make certain decisions that limit the character because he makes millions every year in merchandise, licensing et al. It's a smart mature decision to keep the core of the character intact so that hundreds of thousands of people dependent on various business linked to him make money. A good writer can work within those limits--plenty of writers turned in great stories without having to kill or wholly revamp characters every ten years. And I'd say most of Byrne's changes to Superman have been completely undone. The Superman mythos were far more interesting with most of the stuff the character had amassed over the years than without it.
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Post by freedomfighter on Nov 1, 2008 13:29:57 GMT -5
True both have similar outlooks, but Cap has the extra burden of being a living symbol of he establishment. Supes is a big boyscout and would likely do anything the gov't. asked of him, but he doesn't have the onus of being a gov't agent. In fact in the wake of the Bourne and recent Bond movies, being a rogue who's against the tight rein of a gov't agency which may not have people's best interest at heart is seen as much cooler. Cap is tied to an era of the greatest generation and to the sixties when it was still cool to wear a hat and have a buzz cut. Superman is far more timeless in his appeal and he's not tied to a particular ideal. Cap's penchant for speeches must be included here, he's always had a much more preachy tone than Superman (who almost seems world weary with his duties as the most powerful hero on earth), which made for some mildly interesting stories but recent writers have stayed away from his "rah rah, American ideal" stuff which is overall a good thing, I think. I feel that's why Bucky as Cap has caught on in a way; it's like someone has twisted Cap into a funhouse version of his intensely moral code. I've noticed many "What If" type stories end up with Frank Castle getting Cap's shield somehow-- he's the virtual antithesis of everything Cap stands for, but it's fun to destroy the archetype and put the concepts on their heads. It's a shame to me, as Cap represents so many interesting ideas, man out of time, a crusader when everyone else is renegade, and indefatigable, and unconquerable. I fear that no writer will ever truly tap the stuff that forged him. Steve watched his mother die slowly, wasting away and his father died depressed and a drunken failure. Of course he hates to see any life go unfulfilled, any chance go wasted. Sadly everyone zeroes in on his speeches without the genesis behind them. It's like not knowing why Batman hates guns so. Since so few actually understand the character most incarnations and interpretations are doomed to failure. My two cents on the subject...
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 30, 2008 7:07:53 GMT -5
But even that has its limits. You note that about PĂ©rez, but he himself is now running horibly late on "Legion of Three Worlds" over at DC, so the same care was not exercised there. That said, I agree in principle- another example I can point to is Bryan Hitch, who, after being consistently late on the Ultimates, has been at least four issues ahead all the way through his Fantastic Four run. Sadly, that has been quite badly scuppered by huge inker problems leading to delays anyway, showing that no solution is flawless. I have to say, I doubt it. The only titles that affect other titles with delays are major crossover books (And if that bothers you, 'Secret Invasion' has been by far the best ever in that regard, so maybe companies are learning....) But I don't think reducing the amount of books would help, because most of the big-name 'slow' artists are only working on one at a time anyway. (Hitch, Perez, Coipel, Jones, Cho, McGuiness....) Actually, I find that to be a bad sign rather than a good one- and I think Tom Brevoort sums it up best: www.marvel.com/blogs/Tom_Brevoort/entry/1323Market share is irrelevant when you remember that the overall profits of the company have gone down, and we're in the middle of a recession which means Marvel profits overall are substantially down in any case. Beating DC isn't much comfort if you're fighting to be king of the scrapheap. But we need to remember that DC TPB sales are traditionally stronger than Marvels, and they are probabvly better money-makers- not to mention that Warner obviously have far more fiscal flexability than Marvel, and DC may well be considering a price rise of their own in any case. Brevoort is talking about competition and a healthy marketplace, but it certainly doesn't put Marvel in a bad place. The domination in the US television market has shrunk since the advent of cable but the top money makers are still happy to be on top, obviously... And I thought that Secret Invasion was one of their top selling crossovers ever and was bringing new audiences to the books. I'm genuinely curious, is Marvel having a bad year or a good year? Either sales are good and the books are performing thanks to a several month long crossover and the other crossovers that preceded it, or they're not. Every thing I see from Marvel's promotion is that the books are killing DC and selling better than several years ago. Is this mistaken? Actually I just re-read the blog and the reader responses and one retailer was talking about how pleased he was with the fantastic sales on Marvel's product, so it seems that more than yours truly thinks they're doing well. Regardless of whose decision it is, Joe Q or higher ups, the public face and the guy who says everything is Quesada and I've yet to see him shy away from taking credit for the direction of Marvel, so I think he's gotta take the hit for a price hike as well
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 29, 2008 14:33:55 GMT -5
Let's see, back in the 60's, Stan wrote just about the entire Marvel line every month, and Kirby storyboarded most of the books! I guess they were just over-achievers. It really isn't comparable. I have a deep and abiding love for the silver age, but if that stuff was coming out now, there's no way anyone would accept it. We're FAR more tolerant of flaws in older books than we are in new- and that's understandable and justifiable, but it's still true. The problem is, who decides what books Marvel should slash? Lots of the miniseries' these days are event tie-ins (E.G. Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four), and they sell extremely well. THere's the entire Marvel Adventures line or the "Marvel Classics" line, neither of which sell well at all in single format but both of which do great in TPB. There's the Ultimate Universe which is soon to undergo a resurge in popularity as well. What exactly are the books they should be cropping? (Bearing in mind that DC put out far more books than Marvel already) Actually Marvel has done quite well in recent memory. In fact according to Diamond sales, Marvel achieved over 50% of every book ordered by retailers in Sept. www.newsarama.com/comics/081020-diamond-sales-charts.htmlNow considering that, why exactly would they need to raise prices so significantly? The reason you raise prices is because you're not making enough money to cover your costs and create a profit. But if you're Marvel, you're outselling your rivals and your books are priced well above inflation already. So why the extra cost? It would actually make far more sense for DC to be considering the price increase as they are having a tougher road to profitability. I'm sure there's a ton of reasons Joe Quesada can give, but I think this is a terrible time to consider a HUGE price increase.
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 28, 2008 8:50:07 GMT -5
Well it's an imported product. I buy Britain's Total Film magazine and it costs me quite a bit as well (almost as much as three comics!!)... But Marvel's sales are up according to Quesada and we're in a recession and the inflation rate doesn't support a price hike of this magnitude. It seems a bit unsupportable.
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 28, 2008 0:29:55 GMT -5
www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18583Read about a third of the way down the column... Man if that's for real I'll probably go from a dozen titles to maybe four, or none. I don't think I'll be able to support this industry anymore. And the guy who writes the column makes a very good point about the "inflation" argument...
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 25, 2008 12:50:40 GMT -5
Of course he goes and contradicts himself over several of the big tenets of the skrull invasion (they can't be detected by any magic users? That's why Dr. Strange, one of the two or three most proficient sorcerors in the known universe couldn't tell who's a skrull and who's not, riiight? Well it ain't that hard according to this issue...)! Actually, there's an explanation for this particular tenet. The reason they were undetectable to Doctor Strange's magic is because the skrulls had captured Doctor Strange and investigated his magic. They've had no contact with demons and therefore no possible way of making themselves immune to that very, very different type of magic. Ok given what I understand of the nature of magic in the MU, that makes no sense to me. For example when Strange conjures up an illusion, he calls out to Ikonn and when he seeks to bind someone, he invokes Cyttorak. So it's not Strange's magic, he calls upon the power of other entities. the demon appears to be a minion of someone very familiar to Strange (not wanting to give a spoiler) and utilizes the same powers and energies that Strange uses. When they've met they known each others spells and how to counteract them and how to use the same spells so it doesn't make sense to me that they are too dissimilar. in fact, if you read the description of the villain in question on marvel.com, it is said that even doctor strange can use this particular person's energies. thus it would seem their abilities and energies are similar enough that if you could fool one, you could fool the other. Also in the Captain Britain M13 series 4 part opener the Skrulls were trying to capture/destroy the magic of otherworld, Merlin et al and it appeared they succeeded at one point, which would indicate they understood the workings of all kinds of magic as opposed to the abilities of one type of user. the magic skrull appears to channelling some demons in that story as well. read the addition about the latest series here in wikipedia... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Britaineven if you don't agree you must admit that marvel has not made this particularly clear.
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 24, 2008 1:17:16 GMT -5
this issue just had terrible terrible storytelling... bendis cannot write a story that works in a superhero fashion. he writes the decompressed, the neo noir, involving super heroic themes in a fashion that has garnered him a following and won him awards. but when asked to write a story about the capes and cowls without it being just a thematic hook to hang on and really utilize heroic themes, it just feels flat. there's no pacing, no rise, no fall, no grand swell. if it were a song it would be twenty notes all played the same. bendis has an endpoint he's getting to and the rest of the pages only serve as fodder to get there. flat, flat, flat. some may disagree by pointing out the aforementioned hawkeye scene. I counter with the hawkeye sequence only works because bendis himself has deprived us of such scenes for several years...
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 24, 2008 1:07:08 GMT -5
I was just happy that bendis actually sort of told a story in this one. I mean, he resolved some nagging issues and set up the future stories in a fairly simple good storytelling manner. I don't like it, but I can't say that its bad... Of course he goes and contradicts himself over several of the big tenets of the skrull invasion (they can't be detected by any magic users? That's why Dr. Strange, one of the two or three most proficient sorcerors in the known universe couldn't tell who's a skrull and who's not, riiight? Well it ain't that hard according to this issue...) I'm also SUPER confused by the skrulls, and how this programming for deep cover worked. These are such easy things to make clear and this book never does that. It's maddening!
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Post by freedomfighter on Oct 23, 2008 18:51:47 GMT -5
a 1. it's a terrible idea. how does poor average joe empathize with spidey when he's on the most awesome super team, is married to a supermodel and lives in a lush Avengers Tower (at first, anyway). yes some of these factors are gone, but even so, in order for spidey to get that empathy, he has to be down on his luck. he can't be on the a-team, the in crowd, he can't be one of the jocks, so to speak. now spidey is just another good guy at this point...
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