Marvel Comics blabbery

I believe they just violently killed Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in a recent issue (no, really)

on an unrelated note i'm super into X-Statix right now, or at least I have been for a dozen issues or so--it's funny, ~90s edgy~ (they spend a third of their time in-fighting about marketing deals & manufacturing drama for ratings on their televised superheroics, the writers must have watched Natural Born Killers a bunch or something), surprising. none of the characters are likeable, but i'm most of the way through all 38 issues, so i'm sort of looking forward to the end.

The Milligan/Allred run on X-Force/X-Statix isn't really typical of the 90s though, their take on superheroes as cynical celebrities was pretty unique. (The only precedent I can think of is Verheiden's "The American".) I hated the way it ended though, even if it made some thematical sense, given the way theit X-Force started.

The Milligan/Allred run on X-Force/X-Statix isn't really typical of the 90s though, their take on superheroes as cynical celebrities was pretty unique

right, i've gathered as much--picked it up after gillen/mckelvie's young avengers run, read an interview where they cited it as a big influence.

the writers must have watched Natural Born Killers a bunch or something

hoos I always find it curious that someone as political in life as you can be so enthusiastically into as virulently anti-labor a company as Marvel! but there's one writer of X-Statix and it's Peter Milligan

PS it's from the '00s, not the '90s, and feels distinctly an artifact of that time to me. Also if you didn't read Milligan & Allred's 12-issue run on X-Force that set up -Statix, pause the latter and go back immediately!

^^^ yes, do that

it's from the '00s, not the '90s,

yeah i saw that just now looking at the wiki and was surprised, to me it feels very "gen x cynical" (whatever that means idk) but i suppose all the reality tv reference points probably mark it more clearly as an early 00s thing

hoos I always find it curious that someone as political in life as you can be so enthusiastically into as virulently anti-labor a company as Marvel!

i only really know what i hear alluded to around here and what i read in that mammoth jack kirby thread! i suppose i should grab the sean howe book or something

They don't pay royalties or foreign publication fees.

Charles Soule's She-Hulk to be cancelled after #12. If rebooting and renumbering a title after every creative team change is the way forward, I just want to go on the record as really really hating it.

No worries, they'll also be renumbered for roughly six months whenever the number of cumulative issues from all seventeen volumes of a given title hits a notable benchmark ending in '00'.

I wish the writing in the Soule issues was anywhere as good as the art.

I wish the plot idea was anywhere as good as... I don't know, 1/2 of all Marvel comics plots of the last decade

I can't tell if it's Soule's style that leaves me cold (for any of his books) or if he's just, you know, not very good.

I think he's a bit shit tbh.

Charles Soule's She-Hulk to be cancelled after #12. If rebooting and renumbering a title after every creative team change is the way forward, I just want to go on the record as really really hating it.

Though I think this one is less reboot and renumber than "miserable failure" sales-wise. Last issue sold 1/5 the copies of the current Hulk title for me, which is already one of the weaker big-name titles.

i always liked what i'd read of soule's she-hulk, felt very fraction's hawkeye to me, which was a good thing in my (uh) book.

Ditto, I was sad at the hatin' on it ITT.

Yeah, I like Soule's She-hulk, will be sad to see it go, as I was with Superior Foes

There are 13 different covers for Marvel's first new Star Wars title. Fuck this shit.

i think you only need to buy one to read the comics story

variant covers are bullshit and an act of disrespect to readers and of financial violence to retailers

true, but remember polybags? now THAT is an act of disrespect to writers

Do not understand the pull of variant covers. Surely nobody buys these for speculator value any more? Is there even any such thing these days? And if you like the picture, fuck, download the JPG from Marvels's site and buy a cheap-cover copy.

Varient covers are the crystal meth for collector nurds and the greasy sharks that surround them. The worst of the type are the guys who worry about a comic store putting as stamp or sticker on a Comic Book Day freebie. I'm not sure if that rung of hell is above or below the record collector nurds.

People worry about that?! I haven't had anyone complain to me, at least, or I would have started laughing.

So does the nerd variant cover market subsidise the rest of us?

The ones I really don't understand are those sub-Calvin and Hobbes variant covers by - is it Chris Eliopoulos? They're just so... creepy and sad.

It subsidizes retailers and/or pumps up numbers for titles - with the Amazing Spider-Man #1, between two stores I ordered 300 copies IIRC. My price on that would be $670 - I got one 1:300 sketch variant that I sold for $200, two more non-sketch variants of that cover that I sold for $100 apiece and ~10 other variants that sold for $10-75 apiece. I made back all my ASM#1 money before I sold a single issue. That was with a blockbuster, though.

A lot of the variants Marvel solicits these days sell for no premium, you can just order them if you hit a target of some kind - which is a massive PITA. If I normally order 40 of something and they have four variants that are tied to it but - I now have to order 60 if I want the 40 I need for the target plus five of each for the people who want Skottie Young or whatever Deadpool variant is out this week. So I just don't bother with most variants that aren't incentive variants I can sell to defray costs.

Variants can pump up numbers in situations like Star Wars - there's a 1:500 incentive variant and people are talking about ordering 500 just to get that one, when they might sell 100 of the issue itself. I'm not willing to bet that kind of money and have 400 extra copies on the chance I get a mint variant and can find a buyer. I grew up around comics and baseball cards, so I know how speculation works out with this stuff.

I got one 1:300 sketch variant that I sold for $200

I'm glad it helps your store stay afloat, but I just don't get who's made enough to do this. It's not as though it's an actual original sketch, just a printed copy on a crappy floppy

MAD enough

there was a 75th anniversary hagiography on network tv tonight that i taped, curious to see how marvel presents its own history these days

Someone asked me to recommend them issues of Deadpool, which I've never read, so would welcome yr suggestions.

nah

I've never read much Deadpool but I've been enjoying the recent Brian Posehn / Gerry Duggan Deadpool run via Marvel Unlimited. A nice mix of goofy fun stuff and some surprising character depth. I remember liking Gail Simone's Deadpool / Agent X issues back in the early years of the 21st century too.

Kind of looking forward to the day when all this Spiderverse silliness hits Marvel Unlimited

^word

reading the slott silver surfer right now, leaving me a little cold, but the writing is funny

OG Joe Kelly Deadpool run rules

Thank you BG and DJP for the DPool recs, have passed them on

I never followed Marvel in the Liefeld era and Deadpool feels a bit like a private joke I don't get

Or at least I kind of associate him with Robert Kirkman-style comics with no heart and lots of lovingly detailed gruey body stuff

Is that wrong? Or is that right, but the comics are still ok?

Pretty much every Deadpool thing I've read has been hot garbage, but I haven't read much/any of the Deadpool runs that are considered "classic" so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

Half of Joe Kelly's run was spent making fun of Liefeld's nonsense and the other half was spent making fun of the rest of the Marvel Universe

It'll be interesting to see how all the currently Hickman/Avengers/8 months later countdown stuff reads when collected. There are enough intertwined story bits right now that reading it monthly is kind of rewarding. All the stuff he introduced at the beginning of his run has been kept in play and is now starting to flush out!

I can't really think of many other writers/comics events that have juggled different teams and events while keeping all the balls in the air

i find hickman exhausting and unpleasant to read. I'd like to request a moratorium on full page every issue recaps and black page / white text "NOW" dividers.

I used to be on the fence! It's a time investment and it definitely doesn't work for everyone, but pondering how certain characters would react to events, to each other, with the different players and personalities in play and doing it over months instead of pages is something I think he's gotten better at.

his SHIELD series stuff really fell flat for me originally but Secret Warriors was where I got on board with his Marvel work and went back to read the FF/Ultimate FF stuff

i like how bendis has basically just carried over his avengers plotlines/characters to the x-books he's writing now.

can't get on w/ hickman at all.

nice thing about Marvel right now is they have two completely different events with the same set of characters and don't seem to care at all. not sure how I feel about Axis, but it's somewhat interesting

which is fine with me. having strong continuity across the entire line just means you don't get to do what you want with characters

Jason Aaron's Thor is still pretty great!