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Let's Talk Marvel "Fresh Start"5582

COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
C.B. Cebulski announced, via a YouTube video, that May will bring another relaunch for the publisher. It is dubbed "Fresh Start".

I, for one, am groaning about yet another "relaunch".

Not much is known at this point but the new marketing campaign will kick off in May of this year.

Here's what we know so far:
1. Thor has a gold arm and some type of gold hammer
2. Avengers kicks off with a new #1 but will retain legacy numbering as well. (makes sense, Infinity War out this month)
3. Donny Cates is confirmed to be taking over Venom
4. In fact a few of the big books from Legacy will carry over their legacy numbering and carry two numbers (as they've done in the past)
5. New Ant-Man & The Wasp (makes sense if monthly and movie in July)
6. Dan Slott is coming off Spidey and replacing Bendis with Iron Man, expect an Iron Man #1 in May as part of this intiative.
7. Despicable Deadpool ends with issue 300 in April. Expect a new #1 in May.

*******************************************************************
Here's a campaign timeline. I just threw it together so feel free to correct me:

Oct 2012: Marvel NOW!
Jan 2014: All-New Marvel NOW!
** 2015: Secret Wars **
Feb 2015: All-New, All-Different Marvel
Oct 2016: Marvel NOW 2.0
Sept 2017: Marvel Legacy
May 2018: Marvel Fresh Start


Post 1 IP   flag post
Collector dpiercy private msg quote post Address this user
Booo, Marvel!
Post 2 IP   flag post
Collector Doc_Cop private msg quote post Address this user
As an old timer, all I can say is UGH! I feel sorry for new collectors and readers alike. Nuff said.
Post 3 IP   flag post
Collector KCBatmanFan private msg quote post Address this user
Remember when you'd pick up a comic, and you'd read it, and it was awesome, and you'd look at it and it would say "Number 187" on the front and you'd say "hey, there are 186 more of these out there." And it was that simple?

No wonder newer collectors go crazy. Amazing Spider-Man has been rebooted/reverted to legacy numbering three times over the course of time I've been reading it. I don't know how the heck you'd figure out how to assemble an Amazing Spider-Man collection if you were walking into a comic store for the first time.
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Collector infinityG private msg quote post Address this user
i hate this. really debating if i should jump on board. i liked the reboot for legacy because it tries to preserve some of comic history as well as try to bring in new blood. cant they just keep it the way it is? this reboot crap is ruining everything and just turning collectors off.
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Collector willieCPA4646 private msg quote post Address this user
This current reboot may have to do with the "beating" ( ) MARVEL comics took over the Secret Empire story line and Alex Alonso's sudden departure from MARVEL.
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Suck it up, buttercup!! KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user
Anustart!!!! again.???
Post 7 IP   flag post
COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
Apparently Axel Alonso was talking at last summer's ComicsPRO conference about how Legacy was intended to be a "stop-gap" of sorts before a proper re-launch.

I suspect this is a combination of that and Cebulski trying to make his mark.

Another interesting point is that DC will be a big month potentially for D.C. Comics with the DC Nation #0 one-shot and the start of Snyder's "No Justice" event. It's always a competition for shelf space and market share...
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Collector DJC_II private msg quote post Address this user
Marvel is in trouble.

As a company.

They are fortunate enough to have one of the biggest companies in the world own them.

What's happening is Marvel launches an idea, and lately, they failed.

But they are backed by Disney, so they can launch another idea, which has failed.

But they have the chance to launch another one, and another one... and another.

Marvel will continue to launch new ideas until one sticks. And until such a time arises, you will frequently hear about this fresh start every few years.

Wake me up when they succeed.

Until then, Make Mine Image & DC
Post 9 IP   flag post
Collector infinityG private msg quote post Address this user
House of Ideas running out of ideas...
Post 10 IP   flag post
COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
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I had no way of knowing that 9.8 graded copies signed by Adam Hughes weren't what you were looking for. drchaos private msg quote post Address this user
I think we need to boycott any Marvel comic with an issue number below # 500.

How stupid do they think we are?
Post 12 IP   flag post
COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
Avengers has been rebooted a TON. But I wanted to see how much....

Say I'm a new collector and I just walk in to the LCS. I ask the counter-guy "I want to read modern Avengers, Where do I start?" What do you tell them...

These are all new volumes, just this decade (I skipped a LOT more and included different teams, etc to illustrate this point)

Avengers (2010)
Avengers Academy (2010)
Avengers Assemble (2010)
Secret Avengers (2010)
New Avengers (2010)
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2011)
Avengers: Infinity Quest (2011)
What If? Dark Avengers (2011)
Avengers Assemble (2012)
Avengers Vs. X-Men (2012)
Uncanny Avengers (2012)
Dark Avengers (2012)
Avengers: Endless Wartime (2013)
Avengers Arena (2013)
Secret Avengers (2013)
Avengers A.I. (2013)
Avengers Assemble (2013)
New Avengers (2013)
Avengers vs. Thanos (2013)
Avengers (2013)
Young Avengers (2013)
Secret Avengers (2014)
100th Anniversary Special: Avengers (2014)
Marvel Universe Avengers Assemble (2014)
Avengers (2015)
New Avengers (2015)
Avengers Now! (2015)
Uncanny Avengers [I] (2015)
Uncanny Avengers [II] (2015)
Uncanny Avengers: Ultron Forever (2015)
Avengers: Millennium (2015)
Avengers Origins (2015)
Avengers Vs (2015)
Avengers Vs Infinity (2016)
All-New, All-Different Avengers (2016)
Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha (2016)
Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega (2016)
Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill (2016)
Avengers (2017)
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Collector MR_SigS private msg quote post Address this user

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Collector thelastbard private msg quote post Address this user
I'm annoyed, because I feel like they're not listening to readers or retailers. They chose Legacy renumbering... stick with it. It sounds like they might use legacy renumbering as "secondary" numbering like they did with FF and ASM for a while several years ago on some titles. Ok ok... The thing, though, is they need to loosen up on their ridiculous ordering thresholds for variants and other bells and whistles which are alienating fans and retailers. They show off cool covers that a lot of stores don't carry because they are smaller OR they're boycotting OR are priced out of people's reach OR are getting snagged up before normal folks even see them. Add to that the rehash of the bubble-burst practices of the 90's... Make a plan, stick with it, and tell great, accessible stories with amazing artwork and mind-blowing covers. Isn't that what works? DC is doing something right with the talent they're picking up, and they aren't bending over backwards with quite so many crazy covers - they're tapering down and leaning into the "boutique" market (specialty dotcom exclusives) and more A/B covers, less 1:X covers.
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COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
While I know it's almost inevitable to compare Marvel's practices to the "distinguished competition", I find it interesting in this case as May is also a big month for DC.

DC Nation #0 comes out, I think a lot of people are looking at that to gauge what Bendis is up to.

Snyder's "No Justice" also kicks off which rolls Justice League, Justice League America, Titans and Teen Titans all in to one monthly book.

But Supersons, Birds of Prey, Batgirl, Bombshells, Trinity and Harley Quinn are all confirmed cancelled or missing from May solicits with no explanation.

This makes @thelastbard's 'tapering down' comment particularly relevant and meaningful.
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Collector thelastbard private msg quote post Address this user
@JLS_Comics Well, part of what Marvel is going to do is trim down, too... Down to one Avengers title (for now). Maybe they'll do the same with X-Men, too. They always do tolerance tests with the market. "How many books in a particular family can we stretch out and keep overall sales up without impacting the brand." They hit a magic number they decide internally and cut a book here and there to retain meaningful numbers. They're willing to take a hit on a major title for a spin-off if it means the two books combined sell more than the single book by a factor of X%... Things get silly, though, when you have SOOOO many books that people just don't follow.

On the Supersons, PoP, Batgirl, etc, some of them could be due to the Justice League five week event, which is going to spin into multiple teams. They may want a "pause" in there or they're being kind to people's wallets, ha ha... Doesn't it seem interesting, though, that DC does control the number of releases per week fairly well, they balance first issues, new storylines, etc, every week? There's always SOMETHING going on... They have a STRONG marketing team and business strategy behind them, monitoring when things are hitting the shelves week-by-week. You don't have to always love the characters, but you have to applaud them for listening and getting people's attention bit-by-bit.
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COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
I'm pretty sure that Tomasi said Supersons is going to become something else very soon, perhaps that will be on the other side of No Justice.

No word on harley quinn but she is on a no justice JL team, so i guess she's rolled up in that event too. But I will ask Frank Tieri on Saturday


EDIT: I found Tomasi's quote: "Good Crikey my Twitter account is exploding! Brothers and sisters, keep thinking good things! It is not being cancelled for bad sales. There are plans afoot I can't share at this early juncture but you will be happy with the results - Super Sons lives!"
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Collector thelastbard private msg quote post Address this user
@JLS_Comics The other consistent thing both companies need to consider is that if they are going to change around teams to line up with their movie continuities, like Marvel is doing AGAIN right now... they really need to cultivate those film audiences better. What's the point if film audiences aren't buying the books? I mean, you can go into Disney Store and find merchandise now, sure, but it's limited. Box Lunch and Hot Topic (same company) have the occasional graphic novel, but they REALLY need to collect the pop culture and comic worlds. Right now, DC is heading into a great age of comics and trying to working to find solid footing in the film world, while Marvel is killing it on the film side and can't seem to find their right approach for comics. BUT, neither is keying in to untapped markets well enough.
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Collector det_tobor private msg quote post Address this user
As long as a movie does 4 or 5 times it's production & pr costs, their holding company should give them good support. When Marvel started, they slowly built the characters and then their world.
Then all kinds of changes started to occur and someone thought they could do whatever they wanted. And no one stopped them.
Some good and lots of WTF times.
DC has had some really great people in charge who were fans that could do business as well. Some of dc has improved a lot, some has a long way to go.

And, D.C., DON'T change the comics to match the tv shows or movies.
At the very least, having different stories told by different "people in charge" can cause a LOT of conflicts in trying to maintain wanted continuity.
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COLLECTOR JLS_Comics private msg quote post Address this user
Marvel's full May solicitations should be out tomorrow (Thursday 2/22)
Post 21 IP   flag post
Collector Rafel private msg quote post Address this user
KISS - Keep It Simply Stupid!!!
Post 22 IP   flag post
COLLECTOR conditionfreak private msg quote post Address this user
MUST.....RESIST.....BUYING......MODERNS.....
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Collector Lonestar private msg quote post Address this user
Two thumbs down. Nuff said.
Post 24 IP   flag post
Collector Oxbladder private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by KCBatmanFan
Remember when you'd pick up a comic, and you'd read it, and it was awesome, and you'd look at it and it would say "Number 187" on the front and you'd say "hey, there are 186 more of these out there." And it was that simple?

No wonder newer collectors go crazy. Amazing Spider-Man has been rebooted/reverted to legacy numbering three times over the course of time I've been reading it. I don't know how the heck you'd figure out how to assemble an Amazing Spider-Man collection if you were walking into a comic store for the first time.


Believe it or not before all the rebooting at Marvel and DC there were LOTS of people who spoke about not collecting certain titles that were late in a run because they would get all confused or felt they would have to pick up tons of back issues, etc. Swear to God. When both companies announced their first reboots this was one of the reasons they gave. The numbers backed it up (the trend is that copies sold drops as the numbers grow) to a certain extent (of course they never consider that people may just not be into the book for whatever reason).

Now they reboot because there is good money in it. Collectors like their #1's. Of course Marvel and DC never consider that if they produced a solid book then they should never have to fluff their sales numbers with reboots and variants. Right now they spend so much time listening to their bean counters they have failed to understand that the market has changed and big numbers on all titles isn't ever coming back. Some titles can have number near or over 100K but more than likely it is going to be a huge range. What actually matters is the sales trend holds. If the line continues to descend then you have to try fixing the product if it holding steady then you have a product that is working out and you can count on it month after month to provide X amount in f income and POSSIBLY more if you listen to the readers suggestions to make even better.

/rant
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Collector X51 private msg quote post Address this user
Marvel lost me as a customer of new comics for life in about 2001. I don't care what they do at this point. I'll go see the movies until I'm tired of those too.
Post 26 IP   flag post
Collector Logan510 private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by X51
Marvel lost me as a customer of new comics for life in about 2001. I don't care what they do at this point. I'll go see the movies until I'm tired of those too.


That's around the time I stopped buying new Marvel books as well...aside from the random special projects that a favorite creators I liked worked on.

I'll occasionally glance through a new Marvel book at the LCS, but it's mostly undecipherable to me these days.

Thank goodness for back issues.
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I'll probably wake up constipated. Pre_Coder private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by conditionfreak
MUST.....RESIST.....BUYING......MODERNS.....


YOU CAN DO IT!
Post 28 IP   flag post
Collector X51 private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Logan510
Quote:
Originally Posted by X51
Marvel lost me as a customer of new comics for life in about 2001. I don't care what they do at this point. I'll go see the movies until I'm tired of those too.


That's around the time I stopped buying new Marvel books as well...aside from the random special projects that a favorite creators I liked worked on.

I'll occasionally glance through a new Marvel book at the LCS, but it's mostly undecipherable to me these days.

Thank goodness for back issues.


Evidently during that time, they let John Romita Jr. do model sheets for all the characters and used his lousy art as a template for how the characters should look. It was horrid.
Post 29 IP   flag post
Suck it up, buttercup!! KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by conditionfreak
MUST.....RESIST.....BUYING......MODERNS.....



Also resist the variant craze!!!

There are - insert profanity of choice here - people bidding up ASM 797 homage variant covers to the same or more than ASM 238 - the cover they are paying homage to.

I just don't understand.....I would hands down take the original 238
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